European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Halloween s the time for ghosts and witches to take flight. This pointy hatted Crone attached to an illuminated Blimp haunts the night sky Over Miami. In defense of witches and ghosts by Sid Schapiro from Ghoulie and hotties and Long Leggett beauties and things that go bump in the night Good lord deliver us Cornish prayer with halloween s arrival saturday comes an ancient excitement stirring in the soul. For there Are still some people Tissair who believe in ghosts. If you have Ever been to a halloween party on a dark night where the scene has been set for attracting All sorts of scary creatures and have walked along Black corridors to an equally dark room where icy fingers and eerie sounds reaching out to you make cold chills run up and Down your Back Well then perhaps ghosts Are still haunting your dreams. Centuries ago when halloween began most people believed in spooky spirits ghoulish ghosts and ghastly goblins. Halloween is a Holiday with roots firmly planted in the ways of the celtic people of England Ireland and Scotland As a festival of the dead Long before the Advent of christianity. The name however is of Christian origin and refers to the evening of oct. 31 All hallows eve which precedes All saints Day on nov. 1. Ghosts Aye Scotland is full of them headless disembodied visible soldiers murderers Beautiful ladies a collection of violently ended spirits from As far Back As the roman times. And the scots like their Cornish cousins knew they should be wary of them even if the ghosts weren t always evil. Nowhere can you find a greater variety of them than in the capital City of Edinburgh which has a reputation for being haunted not just on halloween but All year Long. In fact you can spend weeks there doing nothing but searching out ghost legends from the ghost of Mary Queen of scots who is said to haunt her apartments at Holyrood Palace to a Section of the City that was once notorious for witches and where in 1560, Baron William Johnson chief Witch Hunter of the Cano Gate accused three quarters of the female population living there of being witches and had them burned at the stake. Though today we tend to think of witches As amusing cartoon characters cluttering the sky on flying Broomsticks in bygone Days people were genuinely afraid of them and their Powers. There was a belief that fire would frighten away evil spirits and that is probably the reason for bonfires torches and the Hilltop fires of halloween. But flames never got rid of All the witches for they still exist. Right Here in 20th-Century America. Not the cardboard crones you see around town come halloween. Real life witches women and men. Initiates in the religion known As wicca or the Craft. Goddess worshippers. Pagans with Day jobs spouses and children. Though hard data is hard to come buy there is of course no official Witch registry the Institute for the study of american religion estimates the number of american witches at nearly 200,000. And growing. Despite a persistent image problem. Start with the vocabulary. Witch has been the favorite buzzword of Misog insists throughout history. All witchcraft stems from carnal lust which in women is insatiable stated the Malleus malefic arum a Church document written in 1486 that fuelled a Century Long Witch Hunt. Actually Witch has its roots in the Anglo Saxon word wicca meaning a person skilled in bending or shaping the unseen forces of nature As say a healer midwife or weather prognosticator. The name has been Liverta negative twist much As has happened to  in its original usage a Pagan was merely a person who lived in the country a Heathen someone who lived in the Heath. Obviously there must be something about the Craft that has enabled so Many to embrace it despite so Many centuries of bad press. Many come from a feminist background seeking a spiritual Side to that political movement. Others Are environmental anti nuclear and or animal rights activists who find other religions out of touch with Mother nature. Some Learned of the Craft through science fiction or trips to the occult Book shop. Some were just curious. Whatever the Appeal it can t be found in a sacred text because the wicca Craft has none. Still there Are several Core beliefs shared by virtually All who Call themselves witches. A town called Home by 4,000 witches is Salem mass., known As Witch  this year Marks the 300th anniversary of the Salem Witch trials which resulted in hangings and the jailing of hundreds of citizens in one of the Darker episodes in american history. The City has dedicated a memorial to the 19 souls convicted of witchcraft 300 years ago and Hung at Gallows Hill. All of the symbols and the talk of witchcraft seem ironic in this cheerful pretty new England City of town greens charming old Wood Frame houses Brick shops and neat streets. Nevertheless Salyerr always seems to have witchcraft very much on its mind. Everywhere Are reminders of the occult. It has a Witch Dungeon a Witch museum Witch shops on practically every Corner. The City s police cars carry the town logo of a Witch on a Broom. Salem s daily newspaper carries the same design on its front Page. There s the Witch taxi co. And even a witches civil rights organization pleading for tolerance. Maybe it s about time witches and ghosts too got a better name. A a stare and stripes new York Bureau ret re we bewitched by halloween Tore. Readers action line wet cleaning used to remove stains please shed some Light on cafes pickup Point dry cleaning forms. A previous clerk insisted there Are two methods of dry cleaning. She claimed the wet method was easier on fabric because More dry cleaning fluid is used. Another clerk advised authorizing wet cleaning merely resulted in soap and water washing rather than dry cleaning. What does it really mean if i authorize wet cleaning on the dry cleaning form Michael  Karlstedt Germany it. Col. Joe Cato chief Public affairs office he cafes Europe replies wet cleaning is a process of removing stains from a garment with water. Dry cleaners use the wet cleaning method when they cannot extract stains through the Normal dry cleaning and spot removal process. After accomplishing the wet cleaning dry cleaners then clean the garment using dry cleaning fluids. Because some fabrics such As Wool Are water soluble and May shrink dry cleaners do not recommend wet cleaning for All garments. Your dry cleaning manager can advise you what garments can and cannot be wet cleaned. Both ways of cleaning whether dry or wet use the traditional dry cleaning process. The Only difference is that wet cleaning provides an additional method of helping to remove stubborn stains. To write us readers action line is the readers court of last resort striving to answer some of the questions about life overseas in a military environment or questions about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line co Tara stars and stripes unit 29480, apoaeq9211. All letters must be signed. Please include address and Telephone number. Preference will be Given to those seeking information of general interest to our readers. Page 16 the stars and stripes Friday october 30, 1992