Are You Paranoid About Halloween?

Devil (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

       Now the time is here for youngsters donning costumes to spread fear from door to door in neighborhoods wherever the tradition of trick or treat is celebrated.  I mean, have you seen the price of candy lately?   Or even worse, parents should be concerned about the cost of dental care.  It's a scary world of Halloween that awaits us.  Are you sometimes at least a wee bit afraid of this creepy yearly event?

       After having made a living in the Halloween industry for nearly twenty years you'd think I'd be a bit more receptive of Halloween.  And as I've mentioned on this blog in the past, Tossing It Out started out as a Halloween blog.   Can you believe it?   My first more than 30 posts referred to Halloween in one way or another.  Eventually I became paranoid that I couldn't sustain the Halloween spirit throughout the year.  More than that I became bored with the topic and wanted to write about other things.

       Halloween is much creepier now than when I was a kid.  Costumes are more realistic and elaborate for one thing.    Some of those kids' costumes are way too adult.  Do you ever fear that a certain innocence is being stolen from the little kids with some of the thematic adult content of certain costumes?

       Then there's the gore and horror.  Vengeance from the grave seems like it's taking over the neighborhood on Halloween night.   That creepy fellow over there.  Is he alive or dead?  Oh, it's just another zombie.  Zombies have been the rage for years now so it's only natural that the zombie should be a popular character choice for the dress-up fans.  Still there is a very sinister frightening factor if you think deeply into the concept.

     Why should we even care?  It's all in fun right?   Yet sometimes there seems to be an obsession with the supernatural, the forces from beyond, and the darker sides of humanity, not just during Halloween, but throughout the year.  The fascination for the dark has always been of interest to humans, but doesn't there seem to be an increase as time goes on?   Do you ever wonder why?  Does the dark side make you paranoid in the least bit?

Battle of the Bands on Friday!

    My posts of today and Monday have been leading up to my Friday installment of the Battle of the Bands--two versions of one song mano a mano with you readers deciding which is the favorite.   I've got a doozy of a competition set up for Friday.  You may not believe your ears.   You may even get annoyed with me.  But you won't know unless you're here on Friday.

    What song have I picked?  I won't tell you until Friday's post but I've provided some fairly obvious hints in today's post and on Monday's as well.  There were a couple of good guesses on Monday, but I'm not saying if anyone guessed correctly yet.  Can you guess the song?   Let us know in the comments.

Other participants joining in with their own battles will be:

           Faraway Series
              Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
             Your Daily Dose
             DiscConnected

and returning to join us:

Alex J. Cavanaugh

       Do you have kids that you take trick or treating?   What are  you going to do for Halloween?   Which costumes do you think will be most popular this year?   Why do you think supernatural and horror genres are more popular that ever?     

Related articles

• 5 Most Popular Halloween Costumes Of All Time
• Costumes, Candy, and Courting Evil
• The true meaning of Halloween... and why it's not for Christians
• The History Of Halloween
• On Halloween

The Quest For Terror

          Do you recall hearing your mother or grandmother or some other adult telling you scary stories?   Many of us as youngsters may have experienced that feeling of hunkering up with chills as we finally arrived at the anticipated "boo" moment that would leave us squealing in a delightful fright.  It was all spine-chilling fun.

           The horror genre of movies became my favorite as a child.  My parents would let me stay up late on week-ends so I could watch monster movies and other such fare that psychologists would probably heartily encourage parents to let their children watch (not!).  There were few things more fun than being up alone late at night and being creeped out by some old black and white horror film, while experiencing the paranoia that something equally terrible might be lurking in the kitchen or in my own back yard.

            As a teenager and a young adult I continued to be an avid fan of horror films and literature.  Many were the times of sitting around a campfire or parked in a car overlooking the Tennessee town where I lived and exchanging scary stories with my friends.  We looked for haunted houses, sought out graveyard mysteries, and visited scenes where horrible crimes were said to have occurred.  We were hoping to find something that would terrify us.

           Many people look for that thing that will thrill and chill them.   Whether it be the scariest roller coaster, the auto race where some horrible accident could occur, or exploring a mysterious or dangerous site, some of us want to experience the edge of peril or even death.  The exciting adrenaline rush of having challenged danger and survived is the spark of life for some.

           Once while riding on the Tennessee back roads late at night, I told the friends I was with that I wished I would see something so absolutely frightening that my hair would turn white.  I never saw it and it's probably better that I didn't.  My hair eventually did turn white, although not in one terrifying moment.  I no longer have the quest for terror that I used to have.  There is certainly enough terror in the real world to frighten us all.

            Did you exchange scary stories with your friends when you were young?  Do you enjoy horror films and literature?  What are some of your favorites?   Or are you a weenie and hide your eyes if something scary comes on the screen?   Do you think the desire to be scared or thrilled is unhealthy?   Or is it a natural instinct?   Why would anyone want to be scared on purpose?