By Liz, in foliage-filled eastern Connecticut, looking forward to Halloween!
It’s officially my favorite time of the year: Halloween season. My decorations went up this past weekend. I’m late to the party this year. Usually the halls are decked with witches, ghosts, goblins, cats and bats by the end of September.
I am the quintessential Halloween junkie. It’s a natural fit, given my long-time love of all things creepy and scary. As a kid, I always begged my parents to let me watch the scary movies – then kept them up all night because I was scared to death. Like the first time I watched Halloween and imagined Michael Meyers in my closet. But I still wanted to watch more. As a teenager, I had posters of Freddy Krueger on my wall, which really made my parents shake their heads (whose kid is she, anyway??). I dressed up like Freddy for a Halloween or two, complete with the glove. I even practiced the “Freddy voice” to entertain my friends in the halls. Yep, I was the quirky kid.
My quest for haunted things brought me to haunted theme parks like Spooky World, where crazed killers chased your hay ride with axes and bloody figures popped up from corn fields. I was always the one begging my friends to go to haunted houses or ghost tours. I couldn’t get enough.
I chose Salem, Mass. as my college destination, partly for the English program and partly for the witchy experience. I was in heaven the entire month of October during Haunted Happenings – it was a constant costume party. Zombies, Disney characters and other interesting faces mingled with the college students most nights. The metaphysical bookstores were packed. Laurie Cabot, Salem’s official witch, attracted followers at her store for readings and signings. There were witches’ balls, haunted tours, candlelit walks through history, visits to the site of the long-ago hangings. I loved every minute of it. To this day, I try to visit Salem at least once during its busy season. The dogs love to go too – they get to dress up.
Halloween season has been even better the past few years with American Horror Story on the air. The creepy-cool show starts in October and adds to the overall feeling of the season. This year, I’m also scoping out haunted houses in my neck of New England. I may visit Dark Manor again – Connecticut’s scariest haunted house. Also on my list to check out – the Wallingford Trail of Terror. Sounds just like my kind of mayhem.
Of course, the rest of the time I’ll be holed up at home, surrounded by Halloween decos, watching scary movie marathons. And turning all the lights on.
Readers, what’s your favorite time of year? Do you love Halloween as much as I do?
