Thread: Why we haunt?

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I read on someone's web site an awesome explanation of why they haunt. Why do you haunt?

Because I refuse to grow up and my neighbors are boring.

Short version; Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, bar none. My memories of Halloween growing up are among the best, and while no one decorated to extremes like they do now, Halloween and trick or treat seemed more widely accepted back then. I think any of us who "haunt" or go to some length to celebrate above and beyond, are doing a great deal to preserve the tradition of a holiday that seems to become less and less popular as the years go by. I want to create lasting memories for people who come to my house on Halloween night. I want to be the guy the kids talk about the next day in school, and the one parents tell their friends about. Someday, long after I'm done doing Halloween, I want those little kids who are grown up to tell their own little kids about the Halloween house they remember. Hopefully our efforts can inspire the next generation to not only go the extra mile on Halloween but to keep the holiday viable and popular.
That, and I can ogle hot chicks from behind my mask!

Originally Posted by jdubbya

That, and I can ogle hot chicks from behind my mask!

Oh yeah, and there's that, too!

Well said jdubbya ( except the hot chick thing I won't be doing that!)

yeah me too

Because for 11 months out of the year I am unnoticeable. For one month of the year, people ask questions, who is that, why does she do that, etc.... I get attention.

I cant help it.

I always have loved this holiday more than most.

I HAVE to haunt. i HAVE to make other people dress up

Its a chance to escape for awhile.

jdubbya said it pretty well.

The memories i had as a kid, the wanting to share the passion i have in others and hopefully help others understand how great this time of year can be, and that certain sense of magic in the air on the day itself, like anything could happen.

My reasons are complicated and simple at the same time.

I've always enjoyed Halloween and the more macabre side of life. After buying my first house I did some basic but growing decorations, and had the "scary" house on the block for a couple of years. Nothing like the stuff from this forum, just a small tarp maze ending in me as a grim reaper handing out candy. A fog machine and some purple rope lights were the extent of my decorations.

Then in 2000, just a week before Halloween, my mom died. That Halloween I hadn't planned on doing anything. But at the last possible minute, as the sun was setting on Halloween I got motivated and put up a bit of decorations and the maze again. It was a light TOT year, and we ended up with the same people going through it over and over again. The parents loved it, and as the older kids returned home the parents would bring them to the house to have me scare the crap out of them. A few neighbors knew of my loss and the word spread so in the middle of the celebration I got an outpouring of love and support from people I didn't know who where there only because of my "haunt."

That started the craziness. Suddenly I couldn't not do it. So I haunt out of remembrance to my Mom, because it makes me remember her fondly thanks to the kindness on that first Halloween after her death. And I do it because it makes people happy and they expect it.

I've since moved from that neighborhood into one where there is no TOTs because of the hills and the older inhabitants. So my haunt has gone "portable." (Portable meaning less than 10 double carloads) I set up two times in October, once at a Trunk or Treat at my church and once on Halloween night at a friend or relative's house. (Depending on who offers the best chance of visitors and finger foods for the actors) This year I'm setting up three times, adding Nov 1st as another date for the city's haunted nature trail.

So my Haunting is very deeply tied to emotions and the return I get out of it. It just means a lot to me on so many levels.