Wild, Wacky and Weird: An Arizona Halloween Storytelling

Sedona AZ (October 19, 2018) – On October 25^th at 5pm author Gary Every will perform an all Arizona Halloween storytelling shows at the Literate Lizard.  Mr. Every was a bonfire storyteller at a high priced resort in southern Arizona for several years and some guests began scheduling their vacations around his special All Arizona Halloween storytelling events.  The award winning author says, “Those shows were always so much fun for me as a performer and I am grateful to the Literate Lizard for providing me a space to do some of those stories again.”

Arizona has an extremely colorful past featuring plenty of wild, weird, and wonderful characters and when it comes to the supernatural Arizona has plenty of tall stories to go around.  As soon as the conquistadors arrived in the region they began to leave behind ghosts such as Melchior Diaz and the White Sands Bride.  There are long Hispanic traditions of ghosts la Llorona, Day of the Dead, plus the amazing chachalaka!

There will be cowboy stories aplenty such as the ghost of the stagecoach bandit El Tejano and the romantic tale of The Lady and the Light is usually an audience favorite.  There is the tale of Buffalo Bill and the Lost Mine with an Iron Door.  Jerome is a town famous for its ghosts and it is likely Belgian Jenny and her cat will make an appearance.  When the United States cavalry experiment with camels in the Arizona deserts came to an end many of the camels were just released into the wild, where they survived for decades and ghost stories soon followed.

The flora and fauna of Arizona will not be forgotten.  Learn about how roadrunners and T. Rex are connected.  Even in the afterworld the ghosts of pronghorns are fast.  There is the recent discovery of a species known as grasshopper mice.  Lake Roosevelt has long held urban legends about catfish big enough to swallow a man whole.  Hear how they got there in Mr. Every’s Sturgeon award nominated story Mussolini’s Catfish.

How could any Arizona Halloween storytelling be complete unless it included tales from Sedona.  There is a story called The Monkey and the Coyote which is based on true events. 

Gary Every is the author of Shadow of the OhshaD a collection of the best of his newspaper columns, including stories such as “The Apache Naichee Ceremony” and “Losing Geronimo’s Language” which won him consecutive best lifestyle feature awards from the Arizona Newspaper association.  His poetry has received seven nominations for the Rhysling award for year’s best science fiction poem.  Mr. Every has also been the host of the Pumphouse Poetry and Prose Project for the last six years. 

Won’t you come join us at the Literate Lizard Bookstore in Sedona on Thursday, October 25^th at 5pm for an all Arizona Halloween storytelling. The Literate Lizard (928 862 4018) is located at 1575 West 89A between the the Quicker Cleaner Car Wash and Chocola Tree with parking in the back. Although these stories are meant to entertain adults, the tales will be G-rated and are suitable for persons of all ages.