October 31, 2016
In keeping with today’s Halloween customs, I’ll post some photographs of posts and poles that struck me as eerie in one or another fashion.
Definition of eerie:
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chiefly Scottish: affected with fright :scared
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so mysterious, strange, or unexpected as to send a chill up the spine <a coyote’s eeriehowl> <the similarities were eerie>; also: seemingly not of earthly origin <the flames cast an eerie glow>
- in use since the 14th century
Note that not all of them are in diffuse light. Some are in bright sunshine and still had a goose-bumpy quality. (I know, that is not English, but I am also not a native speaker….)
I should have used any one of these, perhaps:
uncanny, sinister, ghostly, unnatural, unearthly, supernatural, otherworldly; strange, abnormal, odd, weird, freakish; creepy, scary, spooky, freaky, frightening; bone-chilling, spine-chilling, hair-raising, blood-curdling, terrifying.
Happy Halloween!
Martha Ullman West
I like goose-bumpy and salute you for creating a new word. Like the images, too, especially the first one. Happy Hallowe’en to you.