In the 1960s, Halloween wasn’t as famous as it is today. If you wanted to be a princess, your parents had to make the dress. If you wanted to be the devil, you had to make the horns, the tail, and the trident out of things you found in and around your house. But that wasn’t the case for Joseph Carbonetto.
He was born into a life of Halloween. His house would be the most decorated. His brother would scare the kids as they came trick-or-treating. And Joseph would be dressed up in his father’s sad clown mask (in reference to Emmett Kelly’s “Weary Willie” clown) and a ragged jean jacket. You could say he was the best-dressed kid for Halloween. It was then, in his childhood, that he found the passion for Halloween.
As most of you may know, Joseph has created many events for Halloween in Stittsville. He spookifies his house with extraordinary Halloween decorations and gives us the Goulbourn Spook Show — a terrifying experience all on its own. Then there was The Manchester Hill Séance he did two years ago that brought over 1600 people. Last year he made the Stittsville’s Haunted Heritage that was made up of 11 to 12 chilling stories in Stittsville’s history.
Now Joseph has a book to share with Stittsville — and the world. He has written an anthology of those stories with Allan McCarville called Legends, Folklore and Other Tales: Stories of a Haunted Stittsville. Each story in the anthology is inspired by actual historical events with the help of a few stories from the local residents. Joseph hopes that the readers can get an enjoyable experience reading the haunting legends that are so close to home.
Joseph has also said that the proceeds from the sales will be going to the Stittsville Library and the Goulbourn Museum. You can find Allan and Joseph’s book online at Amazon and Shopify, either paperback or eBook.
They are also hosting a special presentation and launch of the book at Stittsville Library, presented by Intenseffex, on Sunday March 24th at 3pm and Wednesday March 27th at 6:30pm. There will be readings, a Q&A session, and an autograph/photo session. Joseph and Allan will both be at the event and they are ready to give a spook-tastic entertainment experience.