Thread: What made you a Halloween/Horror freak?

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I know that this question has probably been asked on some thread before and if so I apologize but I'm just wondering: When was the moment in your life that most influenced your love of all things Halloween/Scary or did it evolve over time?

Mine was when I was about 5 years old and I had just got back from trick or treating. There was supposed to be a scary movie on T.V. that night and I wanted to watch it. Normally my mom wouldn't have let me but this movie was called "Devil Dog" so she figured it couldn't be too scary. So together me and my mom sat there in the dark and watched it and it really wasn't scary but then she decided to go to bed. . . It was still dark and I was getting nervous sitting there and then this commercial came on. It was a drunk driving commercial with a vantriloquist dummy talking. It was sooooo scary. I sat there too scared to stay and too scared to go to bed. But I decided to go to my room and walking through that dark room I was sure something was lurking just waiting to get me. I was terrified. I loved it. I have been addicted to that feeling ever since. The images of Halloween always bring it back. That and my Charlie McCarthy dummy.

For me? Probably too many blows to the head...

However, Halloween has always been quite special for me...the houses that went "all out" for Halloween as I was growing up have remained indelibly in my mind.
Approaching a house that was sooo dark...with noises, and perhaps a strobe light, or ghosts and monsters...almost inevitably someone sitting near the candy, mask on their head or dressed as a ghost, ghoul or scarecrow...the feeling of trepidation, KNOWING that you're going to have the living crap scared out of you.

That is why I haunt now. I hope to give that feeling to others...having them "survive" the terror, and leave laughing, with treasure in hand...

The detail I put into my haunt is for parents - I want them to be able to have a visual treat, and take in a little wonder while they're out with their children.
If I can pull off an illusion of any kind that makes an adult stop and wonder how it's done, then I think I've done my job fairly well.

I too want to give that feeling to others. I had a boy come to my Halloween Party/Haunt last year who was a little less than enthusiastic because he didn't really know anyone there. He came with his uncle who is my most loyal actor. He wasn't really happy during the party as it was just adults and teens he didn't know. I asked him if he wanted to help me in my haunted house he perked up quite a bit. 4 hours and several scared teenagers later he was so excited you couldn't get him to shut up. He kept talking about how cool it was and for me to please remember him next year and that when he grows up he is going to have a haunted house. A job well done. . . I am so proud.

Great question creepyhomemaker!

Ugly Joe, I totally agree.

I was twelve years old when I finally 'got' Halloween.

Before I turned 12, Trick-or-Treating was the same pattern. Ring the door, door opens and a nice person gave you some candy. Year after year.....

When I was twelve, near the end of Trick-or-Treating, my best friend and I walked up to a door, rang the bell and waited. ....and waited. We then knocked on the door (in case they didn't hear the bell) and looked up at the window that was in the top part of the door. Slowly I saw a shadow rise up to it's full height. It was a vampire! Scared the hell outta us! He then opened the door and gave us our candy. My friend and I laughed about that for blocks! Loved it!

I think a lot of it has to do with my mom, who let me stay up on Saturday nights to watch the late-night horror shows (Monsters, Tales from the Dark Side, Friday the 13th: The Series, Tales from the Crypt, etc.); rented movies like Puppet Master and Demonic Toys for my friends and me; and got me interested in decorating the yard for Halloween at a young age.

The fact that I can relate to the misunderstood monsters plays a big part in it, too

I love the adrenaline rush of being scared, plain and simple. Although the older I get the tougher it is to get the rush because I have seen it all. I recall the days where my friends and I would find old abandoned houses in the middle of no where and do a walk through late at night, boy those where the days. Best walk through I remember (totally illegal I remind you) was the abandoned hotel at Point Lookout State Park, MD. Point Lookout was an old Civil War Prison Camp which has been turned into a State Park famous for its camping and fishing but best of all its supposedly haunted. Personally I have never seen ghosts but rumor has it many have. Damn I miss those days.

I also used to "explore" abandoned buildings looking for ghosts. Met my husband that way (he's not a ghost )

I never had any real epiphany. I've just always been attracted to the dark and spooky. As a child, my favorite shows were The Munsters, Bewitched, The Addams Family, Dark Shadows, etc. I read every ghost story I could get my hands on. Halloween was just a natural extension of my everyday weirdness!

I think it has to do with thinking my parents weren't cool because they didn't do anything special for Halloween and outside at Christmas.....so I wanted to make sure my kids got the props for having the cool house...

I think the day I was born it was somehow in my blood. I was raised by my single mom until I was 9 yrs old. My mom didn't really care for halloween, but because my birthday was the day before, it was just the logical thing to have an all in one birthday/halloween party. I remember the fall carnivals at school growing up. I remember bobbing for apples. I remember when the peanut butter black and orange wrapper candies used to be, black for peanut butter and orange for orange-vanilla toffie candies (I miss the old days) I remember when it used to be safe to trick or treat. When I was 5 yrs old and my mom would leave me with my grandmother for the summer, I remember dressing up in my grandmothers long black night gown with robe and sneaking out at dusk to the beach across the way and feeling so at peace (pretending I was a witch) and later in middle school, having children make fun of me because I would always wear to school this long black coat (in Florida) (now it does look stupid to me). My mom remarried when I was 10 and became religious. Therefore my life had to change. But I never did change inside, I still am the same little girl on that beach.