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

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Myth or Reality?

          Dragons and unicorns, fairies and leprechauns, a myriad of other fantasy creatures--many of us want to believe.  There are entire entertainment franchises based on vampires, werewolves, and zombies.  With Halloween coming we will soon see many of these characters depicted by children and adults alike.  These characters have been much beloved as the fanciful fear of fictions and the romanticized representatives of the netherworlds.   They are the stuff of legends of ancient times and the what-could-be if we just stifle our sense of logic.

             Why have these creatures been increasingly embraced in modern literature?  The Dracula character is said to have been inspired by one Vlad the Impaler from 15th century Romania, and not a decent human by any means.  Stories of vampirism probably go back to prehistory.  

           Why is vampirism considered to be "romantic"?   If you really think about it, sucking the blood of another human seems rather perverse--to me at least.  The true vampires of mythology were pretty horrid, disgusting creatures.   In recent depictions those negative perceptions have been tossed out in favor of the brooding beautiful vampire.  Which depiction should really be tossed out?    Are these supernatural creatures of modern lore healthy for our young people to be embracing?

          When I was young I was a big fan of horror movies.  Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, and other monsters of those days were spooky, but not really graphic.  Blood was rarely seen and much of the time killing was off-camera.   Somewhere in the 50s or 60s things began to take on more reality.  By the 70s special effects started achieving highly realistic levels.  There has been no turning back since that time.

          Today's younger generations take gore and graphic violence for granted.  They also have an open minded acceptance for supernatural realms that once might have been considered to be of a dubious nature. There are some styles, entertainment trends, and philosophical or spiritual outlooks that parents might want ask if they want their children to be embracing.   Should any of this be tossed out?  Or is it all just harmless fun?

         Tomorrow I'll be considering the Bigfoot legend as I report on my recent visit to Ghost Fest 4, a paranormal expo held at the Queen Mary, and my visit with Philip Morris, an expert on the famous Bigfoot film footage.   I hope you'll join me for this post and then return on Thursday to join the debate on whether Bigfoot really exists.