Spooktober

I love Halloween.

Seriously, all the spooky thing around this time of year is some of my favorite things to experience. It’s cooler outside — flannel is awesome — and it’s a time to start wearing hoodies, and blue jeans without sweaty repercussions… I mean, the list goes on and on.

My family always participated pretty heavily in Halloween. I mean, of course, attending a private school as a young man led to stories of how Halloween was Satanistic, and all that crap, but it never really defined us. To go along with how much I enjoyed it, trick’or’treating was the best thing. When I was young, it was still a big deal around the neighborhood… everyone did it! And half of them did it by themselves. It’s kind of sad, but as I grew older, fewer and fewer houses and kids did it until none did it at all. Then, of course, fear-mongering led to trunk or treating…

I went off on a tangent there.

Anyway. My family participated so strongly that we would decorate our whole front porch with black plastic sheeting, black lights inside, and spooky music. I remember standing on my front porch and decorating the house with my mom, and playing Thriller and Monster Mash on repeat. I still love those songs to this day.

Of course being scared is actually pretty awesome, too. As an adult, realistic fear sucks. You know, being jobless, losing a family member, not being able to pay your bills. All that sucks bad. But the unrealistic ghost and apparition stuff is a different story. It’s fun! So, as an adult we go looking for all the extra spoopy stuff to enjoy in person. Haunted House attractions are some of my favorites, too. Jaycee’s Haunted House was the best when I was kid, but it got shut down for some reason… may have just been how dilapidated the house was. Warehouse 31 is my current favorite, followed closely by Sloss Fright Furnaces and Atrox Factory.  There are a few more in the area, but those are without a doubt my favorites.

I may have a penchant for Pumpkin Spice, as well.

Photo by Leximphoto on Unsplash