check out this article, this is one of the locations i want to shoot for my pitch

this is the article for this link http://www.weirdus.com/stories/NC02.asp i did not write this but pasted it to my blog jm


WHEN ART MEETS OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION: ACID PARK, NORTH CAROLINA

While at East Carolina University in Greenville, I heard a story about a place called Acid Park. Legend has it that one night, a girl was on her way home from the prom. She had dropped a little acid, and right as she took the final turn in the road before reaching home, her car ran off the road and wrapped itself around a tree. The girl's grieving father nailed and pasted reflectors to every surface around his home and the turn where his daughter died.

I decided to take a trip to Acid Park with some friends. We drove to Wilson, which is about 30 minutes from Greenville, then took a left down a very dark, desolate (except for the numerous graveyards) road. On the way, my friends told me more about the Park. They said that the car was supposedly still there, with the tree growing up through it. The father ran out of natural surfaces, so he constructed surfaces and covered them with reflectors and reflective tape in all sorts of patterns. They had heard other stories about the girl's ghost appearing near the car and the father chasing off trespassers with a shot gun.

After what seemed like forever, we finally mounted a small hill and the headlights of my car hit the splendor that is Acid Park. The sight of it caused me to stop in the middle of the road. There were reflectors—millions of them everywhere, even in the trees. The effect was enough to thoroughly freak me out. Without investigating any further, we turned tail and ran.

A few years later I heard the real story about Acid Park. It turns out it was actually created by a local artist with a fair amount of fame. So it's not haunted, but it is cool.
– Julie


ACID TRIPPING
Myself and four of my friends here in North Carolina are captivated by ghosts. After sampling the local abandoned homes, we took a road trip to local legend out in Wilson––Acid Park. With each of us speculating on where it would be, what we would see, and whether or not anyone really died here, we turned onto Wilson Road.

After about five miles and a few hundred abandoned and scary looking shacks, we were sure we had missed it, when I saw what looked to be a massive Christmas tree covered in blue lights. It's hard to describe what we saw, other than just massive towers with windmills, trains, bicycles and every other thing you could imagine on top. And everything was covered in millions of reflectors.

We turned off the lights and it was grotesque––silhouettes in front of a full harvest moon sky. With the heat lightning in the background it was just amazingly cool. At only one point for me was it scary, when the wind started to blow and the frogs stopped croaking. Suddenly the area was filled with creakings and whisperings of these huge towers. Sure enough, you drive down a dirt road to the left of the towers and there is an old car wrapped around a tree... draw your own conclusions.
– RockintheCasbah



THE GHOST GIRL OF ACID PARK
Acid Park is in the town of Wilson in Wilson County, NC. It was built by an engineer in the 60's or 70's for his daughter, Valerie, who died on prom night. She was driving drunk on one of his long country roads that he owned when she hit a tree at 60 mph. She suffered a severe head injury and was trapped in the hot flames and burned to death. The car is still there, wrapped completely around the tree. If you visit Acid Park around 2:00 AM on prom night you can hear her screams.

When her father found out about her death, he went insane. He made 60–foot tall towers out of steel and parts of older cars in the area near her death. There are over 2,000 reflectors and about eight windmills stacked on top of each other. He also made statues out of weird objects such as forks and spoons. Acid Park got its name because it's supposedly the greatest place on the east to trip on acid because of the way the reflectors blow in the wind.
– Joe and Tom Stefano


ACID PARK: A.K.A. VOLLIS SIMPSON'S WHIRLIGIGS
Wiggins Mill Road, between Wilson & Lucama, North Carolina
In 1985, Vollis Simpson's career moving houses was winding down. He decided he needed something to do to occupy his time, so he decided to make art out of the very machinery he was using to transport homes. He began building a series of what have come to be known as Whirligigs.

Whirligigs are devices that spin and make noise in the wind. They can also be used to power machines. Simpson's first experiment in making one was during World War II, where while stationed in Saipan he built one to power a washing machine. The whirligigs are made out of discarded materials, of virtually any sort. Scaffolding, model airplanes, and reflectors are just some of the many discarded objects that can be seen on Simpson's property on Wiggins Mill Road.

Vollis Simpson's whirligigs have made quite an impact in the folk art community. They can be found in a number of museums, and four of them were installed in downtown Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic games.
– Larry Harris



It was a few months ago when my girlfriend, her cousin, and I went to Acid Park. While we were there my car shut off twice, my radio changed stations by itself, and my navigation system told me I was in Mexico. I just thought my car was breaking down but then there were some floating leaves wrapping around my car like a tornado. There was no wind so I don't know what was going on. Then the man who lives in the house started shouting at us. We left for about an hour and then came back to see a white haze in the middle of the dirt road moving towards us. As it got closer it called out the name "Johnathan" and disappeared. I'll never go back!
– Chris


My name is Scott and this is my story about Acid Park, which is in Wilson County, NC, off of Wiggins Mill Road. Ok, first off, I've heard both stories about Acid Park. I've heard the myth and the story that some say is the truth. Really, I can't tell which one to believe. And I really can't explain what it looks like. You have to see it for yourself. It is definitely an amazing site to see. The thing I don't understand is why they say it's a myth, but yet in the site there is a Pentagram in front of the site with the girl that was mentioned in the story, Valerie, in the middle of the Pentagram. Also, if it was a myth then why would the man that some say supposedly made the dedication to the girl Valerie, have made all that stuff in the first place? There are really just too many questions that could be asked in this whole mysterious event. And I don't have all the answers to them, but the questions that I could ask you, along with others, could lead you to think more of this mysterious event to be a myth or a true story. But really all I can tell you is... Make your own conclusions...
– Scott


I first heard about Acid Park from my boyfriend. I didn't believe the story until I actually went to this place. I still don't really believe that the story is completely true. However, I do know whoever built all that stuff is insane. I got this really strange feeling as we were driving down the dirt road. It could have been just my mind playing tricks on me. But when me and my boyfriend were leaving before we had gotten there we turned our radio off, but as we getting on the main road the radio came back on and the clock was flashing. It could have just been that something went wrong with the radio. I don't know, but now I'm totally fascinated with this whole thing. I plan on getting the whole truth about this place and I know I'm going back as soon as I can.
– Angel



My name is Jonathan. I had always heard about Acid Park and the story that goes along with it for a couple years now. I had always wanted to go and see what was so scary about it. Some friends and I were bored riding around one night and decided to check it out. We decided to take our Polaroid because I've always heard that it was the best way to pick up paranormal activity on film. We bought two new packs of film and took three pictures before we got there and the camera worked fine. When we got there, we got out and tried to take a picture and the camera wouldn't work. After careful inspection we tried to take another series of pictures, but it still wouldn't work. Needless to say that the second film cartridge didn't work either.

We returned the next night with a digital camera and got a few very interesting pics. We took a pic of my cousin, standing on top of the car and there are several orbs or balls of light floating around him in the picture. After we got back in the car and tried to leave, the rear windshield wiper mysteriously came on without anyone touching the switch. Mechanical malfunction or something else I don't know. I don't have the camera right now but as soon as I get it back I will send the pics in. As far as the car goes, I don't believe that it is Valerie's car. Who would leave a wrecked car at the scene of the accident? I don't know, you can come to your own conclusions about that but there is definitely something out there. By the way, on the night we returned we bought two new packs of film for the Polaroid, and as before, it worked fine before we got there. But when we tried to take more pics at Acid Park, it wouldn't work.
– Jonathan


Hi, my name is Legacy and I live in Winterville, NC which is about 30–40 min. from Acid Park. I've always heard so much about it from friends. The other night me and a couple people went out to look at it. Yes, it was some pretty intense shit. What ever happened to her father? One of my friends took her camera to take pics of it, and when we did, the camera broke and rewound automatically and we had only taken 3 out of 27 pics...pretty weird huh? Why do you suppose it did that? Just coincidence maybe? I don't think so...
– Legacy

some more blue vinyl

plaintiff and defendant

chapter four of the text discusses an analogy involving documentary viewed as a courtroom setting. the documentary filmmaker is the judge, plaintiff, and defendant. it covers these topics in a couple different topics: plaintiff and defendant, credibility, witnesses, cross examination, order and selection in presenting evidence, and summing up. this analogy applies in the case of Blue Vinyl a documentary by judith hefland. the filmmaker has a weird feeling when her parents take down the wood siding on the family home and decide to replace it with blue vinyl simulated wood grain siding. her parents decide on the siding because of the look and cost, judith senses there is treachery afoot. she identifies the plaintiff initially as herself and her parents, the defendant turns out to be the vinyl corporations, in america in particular is lake charles louisiana and even vinyl business as far off as venice italy. she finds greenpeace witnesses, lawyers for victims of vinyl, the victims themselves, and reputable scientists for her witnesses on the side of the plaintiff and the vinyl public relations people as the witnesses of the defendant. their credibility is established somewhat in the identification of their positions and job titles and educational history in some cases. judith is the lawyer for both sides in that she cross examines every person to get to the bottom of what turns out to be an ugly tale. she then turns around and uses this evidence and facts and hearsay and presents it to the jury which is the audience. she uses this evidence to show the argument for both sides. Blue Vinyl is a reflexive documentary maybe self reflexive in that it inserts the filmmaker herself into this story of a product that most people dont think any thing about, i have a friend whose kids were taken away with his estranged girlfriend who happens to be from lake charles louisiana. after surviving hurricane katrina in biloxi mississippi, it turns out to be a double edged knife when i found out that she took them to live in what appears to be one of the most dangerous places to live (and especially raise kids) in america. once again to be able to find such a small topic like seemingly harmless vinyl (which everyone, including me, has on their house is a real shock and i look forward to its conclusion to find out how miss hefland sums up her case before the jury (me).

here is the link to view this topic

http://www.bluevinyl.org/

some of the ideas that are rummaging around these days are bigger later projects. for this class i really want to focus on some local myths of the north carolina (devil's stomping ground, the crazy reflector man, the night lantern) and actually experience these things by actually doing them overnight with my crew. ghosts abound! what will separate this film from the usual travel fare is the experimental twist/angle i want to include. i have come in possession of my own super 8 equipment, which i wish to use to rephotograph video and reproject this as film ala stan "the man" brakhage. there is some research to be done, legends are fun and i hope to find a group who is on board with me to do this. i have experienced the crazy reflector man personally and it scared the shit out of me. the night lantern and devil's stomping ground is sworn by many to be true. i havent met anybody yet that is brave enough to try it. this is the best time of the year to be up all night filming. that is the idea i am most behind. three stories should fit nicely in 10-15 min and they are fairly local in that they should only be fairly small distances away. perfect case scenario would be to have 3-4 day weekend, camping to do primary filming. totally exciting! leave messages and posts about first reactions. dont want to do this alone after done with film school, kinda scared. just kidding.


check out these links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnVbTH0QU3s

http://greensboring.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=993

http://www.ratrun.com/north_carolina.htm

http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/nc2.html

http://www.prairieghosts.com/brownmt.html

The author of the article, "the film as an orginal art form", hans richter begins by stating that the film camera was originally created for reproduction. This reproduction was used to capture real motion and sound (later). Color was also added later to bring the five senses of humans full circle. The technology and means used, especially nowadays, can truly recreate life itself. The debate that richter has is with what film evolved into and became dominated by is the industry of hollywood and its focus of making money really left the artist behind. Nowadays even more than when this article was written has reproduction become the norm of classic hollywood filmmaking. The stories have even reached an end to the fact that even original film are being remade which is even worse than the original reproduction. The original reproduction (modern hollywood narrative) is imitated art in that hollywood took existing stories, books, literature, plays, and etc. to reproduce art for the eyes and ears of the masses. These masses today more than ever have no time for original art, i mean, why read the book when the movie will eventually come out if the book was successful enough. The latest era of hollywood nonevolution is remaking tv stories and advertisements and feeding this through its meat grinder to leave an unappetizing entree of dead lifeless nonart. There is hope however, many independents still stand behind the teeth of this article in that they take the camera lens and turns it back upon life itself in the form of documentary and experimental film. The documentary has evolved quite a bit since the early days of Primary and HIgh School, Errol Morris, Su Friedrich, and even Spike Lee has the truth to tell, because that is what should be at the skeletal core of documentary is truth. Now there will always be agenda in film and especially television. But these days the news media can no longer be trusted and it is up to a bold few to hold the torch up to the face of the monster and reveal its true fangs and features. Documentary film can reveal so much truth, and honesty is such an important of real important art. Experimental film is what film should recreationally be. It is true expression and idea and cannot be reproduced as easily as a novel or a magazine article. Experimental film feeds on original ideas and reveals the grit and merit of an artists soul. There are no test audiences here to say, "you know what would make this better?" There is still criticism, there is always criticism, but comes at the end of the creative process by intellectuals who take the time to try to identify with it. Their feedback does not kill the art, their feedback discusses the art, and the key word of that discussion is art itself. It is art. No producer will make you change the ending of your experimental film to satisfy an age category or market for example. You are the producer, You are the Art, and the Art is all of us.

shakin' and bakin'

here it is... the first post of what may prove to be one of the best blogs ever. cause who knows? stranger things have happened but anyway, greetings and welcome to my latest and greatest blog page.

the artful documentor