It's the season when vampires, goblins and witches roam the darkened streets in search of prey...er...candy. I love Halloween because I love to be scared, as long it's creepy-scared not omygod-we're-going-down-in-a-jetliner-scared. I get a thrill if I think something might be lurking, stalking, watching or waiting to pounce. I crave the chill that runs down my spine when a door creeks, a dog howls or a strange, dragging footfall paces the empty hallway just above my head. So, in honor of Halloween, the best holiday ever, here are a few of my favorite horrifying things.
Vampire Movies
I've always been a sucker for a good vampire movie. By good, I mean Bram Stoker's Dracula or Nosferatu. Twilight is titillating, not scary.
There will be no make-out sessions with THIS vampire.
Vincent Price
He would be scary reading the phone book.
Horror Comics
Tales from the Crypt, It's Midnight...The Witching Hour, and Creepy were always at the top of
my comic book stack. I still have dozens of them (including the one pictured) in a box in the basement somewhere. Lurking. Waiting.
Ghost Stories
I especially love strange and subtle ghost stories like
The Others.
Nearly Everything Written
by Stephen King
He's a masterful writer who has caused me to lose more than a few nights of sleep.
But the thing that scares me most--in a distinctly non-delightful way, are clowns.
Call it coulrophobia if you will, but clowns make me want to crawl under my chair, hide my head under the pillow, and run screaming from the room. The only thing more blood-curdling than a clown would be an airplane full of clowns, headed for Las Vegas on a non-stop flight with a dozen babies and no alcohol.
First of all, clowns aren't funny. They are almost as unfunny as mimes and Punch and Judy shows.
I'm sure Stephen King shares my feelings. IT was terrifying. Well, the book was terrifying. The movie was just terrifyingly awful. But the story is set in a place I know fairly well, and my mother grew up in. She used to play near the standpipe when she was a girl. (King has stated that "Derry" Maine is a fictionalized version of Bangor).
(I spent a while looking for a good IT video to post. That was probably a mistake, because now I will have clown nightmares. Maybe I'll have to read Salem's Lot before bed to cleanse my brain of clown images.)
Real Clowns are Scary, Too
I hope I never meet the sick and twisted mind of this criminal. Putting a dead deer on someone's front porch is a prank. Dressing it in a clown suit is just evil.
(from KMEG.com)
SIOUX CITY, Iowa—You'll never see this clown in the circus. Animal control officers in Sioux City, Iowa, say someone dressed a dead deer in a clown suit and wig and put it on a family's porch. Officers suspect it was a prank, considering Halloween is approaching, but they say it's not funny, safe or acceptable.
The deer was discovered Wednesday morning.
Animal Control Officer Jake Appel says leaving a dead animal is immature and illegal. He says officers will dispose of the deer properly.
Sioux City police have not opened an investigation.
No investigation, you say? Sounds pretty suspicious to me. I wonder if the Sioux City police department gives out balloons...
slippers and write something new 
and exciting.
Bella and Luna are a year old this month! Here's your dose of "awww" for the week.
