Afraid of getting hit with rocks...: It's that Most Wonderous Time of the Year!

I'm pretty certain I was a Pagan in a past life, because I LOVE Halloween. Even when I was a little kid and I would dress up to go trick-or-treating. When you're 2-3, your parents always got a kick out of dressing you up like an adult (cop, firefighter, burglar) or they'd make you wear something that made you look like a fruit or pumpkin. When you I got old enough to make demands, I always got one of those box Halloween costume kits. You know, the thin plastic mask and a faux-cloth-like material bodysuit that tied in the back. Both of which seemed to make you sweat like a heifer in a slaughterhouse. I remember getting the bottom of the barrel costumes because mom & dad would buy it right on Halloween because it coincided with payday. So, all of the cool costumes (Boba Fett, Darth Vader and Han Solo) were already gobbled up and I was usually stuck with being a Storm Trooper or not getting a box costume at all and wearing a brown cape to be Lando Calrissian. Yes, when I was a kid EVERYTHING was about Star Wars.

Anyway, Halloween was a time to dress up and be someone else. Even though that someone wasn't necessarily your first choice, or fifth, but you were just stuck with it because mom & dad had to hit K-Mart on Halloween itself to find your costume. You can be someone else for a while and all you had to do was ring a doorbell and say trick-or-treat to get free candy...or pennies...or Jeebus fliers. Then you'd come home and your parents would sort through your haul and toss out all the "suspicious" candy which translated to any candy in an already open wrapper, or no wrapper at all. Seriously though, if someone went through the trouble of putting a razor blade in my Snickers then why would they leave it in an obviously tampered wrapper? Silly parents. In the end you were left with a bunch of candy and you had to follow strict rules as to when you can have it and how often. To kids we wanted it now and all the time. By Thanksgiving you're normally left with black candy corn and root beer candy.

The fun and intrigue of Halloween has carried on to my adult life. Now, instead of candy, I feed off screams. There is something truly rewarding when scaring the crap out of someone. If you've done it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. For more than a few years now, The Lowrie's and others have helped to pull off some of the best Halloweens of my life. We do a haunted house in the grandest scale, and have a lot of fun in the process. In years past we've done different themes. I think the first was a haunted castle-like thing. The past two years have been the haunted pirate ship. This year? Zombie church. Here's a few clues to help whet your appetite:

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