Monday, October 31, 2005

Late weekend assignment.

   Well, tonight is Halloween. That means that my wife spent last night sewing, and I spent it scraping the guts out of pumpkins. I always wait until the day before to carve the pumpkins, owing to the disturbingly common trend of having your pumpkins smashed in the middle of the road by local teenagers if you put them out too early. My wife, on the other hand, absolutely hates waiting until the last moment to do anything, and Matthew's third mind change of the week regarding his Halloween costume late yesterday had steam coming out of her ears. Luckily, my Mother was here, and contributed her considerable sewing experience to the endeavour. Now, I'm not saying that the costume would not have turned out as well without her, but it would have been well past midnight, with me and Matthew cowering in the basement, trying to stay safely out of her way before Pat got it done on her own.
   That brings us to last week's weekend assignment. Yes, I know that the weekend is over, but what better day is there than Halloween itself to tell a Halloween story?

Weekend Assignment #83: Tell us a scary Halloween story... that happened to you. What I'm looking for here is a story where you were spooked or scared by someone or... something... in or around Halloween (or, alternately, a story where you spooked the heck out of someone else). Please note I don't want stories in which you or others were genuinely in danger -- I'm talking about you getting one big BOO! moment, which, after you were able to get your heart back into your chest, resulted in you saying something along the lines of "Don't do that!" to whomever was giving you a spook. A fun frightening, in other words.

Extra Credit: The song "Monster Mash": Fun or lame?

   OK, so, first things first. The Monster Mash is definitely fun. I don't think any generation of kids since the song came out in 1962 have ever labeled The Monster Mash as lame. Although, as today's kids all label me as lame, what do I know?
   As for a scary story, this one has stayed with me my whole life. I don't remember how old I was. Younger than Matthew is now, for sure. Probably somewhere around seven or eight, is my best guess. I don't remember what my costume was that year. In fact, I remember very little about the whole episode, other than a few vivid details here and there.
   My father and I were out trick or treating. We came to a dark house, on a dark corner. I remember my father warning me that it might be scary to go up to that house, and asking if I wanted him to come up with me. Apparently, I confidently announced that I could go up by myself.
   I'm sure the conversation was more in-depth than that. I'm sure my father explained to me that the man who lived there was a friend of his; a friend who enjoyed dressing up his house for Halloween, in as scary a fashion as possible. The explanation must also have included the standard admonitions that it was not real, that everything I saw there was make believe, although I don't remember those things.
   What I remember is standing at the front door of that dark house, and calling out, "trick or treat!" I remember eerie music playing. A light somewhere inside the house began flicking on and off. In the brief flashes of illumination I could catch glimpses of a towering, shadowy figure through the small window in the door. I remember saying, "I'm not afraid of you." Then, the door slowly started to open. The next thing I remember is trying to burrow into my Dad's chest at the bottom of the driveway. The moments in between are completely gone.
   My Dad filled them in, recounting the story years later. It seems that I was, indeed, scared by Mr. Taylor (I think that was his name). When the door started to open, I fled. Mr. Taylor, really a nice guy, and concerned about having truly frightened me, decided to chase me down the driveway, a handful of candy extended in contrition. In retrospect, I'm sure he later felt that was a poor decision on his part. It only made me run faster into the protective arms of my Father.
   That is all I remember of that night. I can recall nothing that happened before we arrived at Mr. Taylor's house, nor anything that happened after, but I have these few brief flashes, like film clips clumsily edited together, and I can see them clearly whenever I think about Halloween.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh that must of been frightening for a small child.  See it has stayed with you all these years...just like my house on the corner did too. Happy Halloween Paul..you really gave me a fit of the giggles today by the way...Sandi

Anonymous said...

Boo!

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of an odd local news story I heard on the NPR station this morning.  Apparently, a very young child (age 3, I think) was so frightened by family members that he ran out of the house.  The family called in relatives, who searched for some times before calling 911. The police or sheriff's department (not sure which jurisdiction it was), wants the public to know that in a situation like that, they should call 911 *first.*  - Karen

Anonymous said...

I didn't know ya'll did Halloween.... good for you! judi

Anonymous said...

Good for Matthew, by not giving into the temptation and unoriginality that is a 30 dollar store bought costume! Not good for him because he changed his mind that many times on his mom in one week! So what was he, anyways?

Damn, while out watching football games and drinking cheap beer, I forgot to check for the weekends assignment. I have a good one, too. I know you don't believe in ghosts, but last year I went down to OU campus for their huge halloween party. Apparently, Athens Ohio is number 11 on the Top 20 of most haunted cities in the US. The city is situated between some odd number of cemetaries, you connect the graveyards and Athens is right smack in the middle of them..apparently the lines form a pentogram or something. Whatever. Just another excuse for college kids to drink, right? I paid 100 bucks to  take a tour through some supposedly haunted areas, including those that weren't open to the non-paying tour groups, or really supposed to be open to anyone at all. Some devil worshipping student had stayed in this one dorm room, and killed herself, but not before she had slashed herself a bit and spread dirty words and things all over the walls with her own blood. I guess they carted her away, cleaned everything up, and the blood still appears on the walls of the dorm room. You can smell it in the hallway outside her room, it's actually kind of gross. But while in the hallway outside her old dorm, I was grabbed by something not human, and even had fingertip bruises on my upper arm the next day. Creepy...but worth it. I tried taking pictures..nothing. Well worth the 100 bucks if you ask me.

*covers eye with one hand* Gar, I be a pirate. I made one of my pumpkins a pirtate this year. I like touching pumpkin guts....delightfully squishy and they smell kind of nice.

~Rach

Anonymous said...

wow! Paul... you must have been truly spooked!
why would he chase you? weird..good thing you can run fast!
husg,
nat

Anonymous said...

What a great halloween memory of all treasured memorys ever..
jo....

Anonymous said...

Great story. I don't think I have any scary halloween stories. Hmm, I wonder...