Halloween

I've always liked All Hallow's Eve. Definitely my kind of holiday. My earliest memories of that Spooky Day include dressing up as a vampire as a kid (no princess costume for this girl, thank you very much), for a party at school when I was 6. Afterwards, I recall clinging tightly to the flashing Jack O'Lantern pumpkin head torch with one hand, and my bag of precious sweets in the other, after roaming the neighborhood Trick or Treating. There was an anticipation for going through the bounty of sugar-coated delights in the bag, but mostly was the thrill of walking back along the streets in the deepening twilight. There's that feeling of strangeness. Exciting to be out and about in the darkness. Added to the unreality was also the sight of all of us little ones transformed into all manner of ghosties and ghoulies. Creepy. But the good kind, you know?

I loved the spooky stories. Always a bonus. I remember reading the book Carrie by Stephen King rather early...I think I was around 11 or 12. I never really had to wait for Halloween to enjoy those creepy tales. Even when I was 7 or 8, my parents let me watch some pretty scary movies on TV. Oh, nothing like the modern stuff, no Friday the 13th, Alien vs. Predator or any gory stuff. Mostly the old movies.

Only two that I can remember ever gave me nightmares. The old versions of War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still combined in my childish mind to create one heck of a nightmare. The huge robot somehow ended up invading my living room, its wide visor became the alien eye weapon from War of the Worlds, complete with that awful sound effects as it vaporized the population, where it stood sentry...waiting to atomize me if I stepped outside my bedroom.

I remember waking up screaming from that one.

I suppose that paved the way for my love of all spooky stuff in adult life. Until recently, I always decorated for Halloween. A jack 'o lantern carved from a real pumpkin, fake cobwebs in the corners, plastic spiders, rubber bats, and toy skeletons. And despite not having kids of my own (not a deliberate choice, just circumstance), I buy extra sweets to give out for the local kids in costume that come 'round trick or treating.

But really, I don't have to wait for an actual day to partake in the more scary aspects of the holiday. I can just pick up a book: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, Clive Barker, and John Saul...any of the above authors invite the bizarre and macabre inside quite nicely.

After all, Halloween is not just a date on the calendar...it is a state-of-mind to be savoured all-year-long.