[creepyhomemaker]

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.

 

[Ugly Joe]

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.

 

[creepyhomemaker]

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.

 

[Terra]

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!

 

[22606]

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

 

[rupertoooo]

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.

 

[creepyhomemaker]

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

 

[Madame Leota]

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!

 

[Scatterbrains]

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...

 

[slaz]

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.

 

[Cadaverino]

It is still is safe to trick-or-treat. And according to a 2005 survey, 93 percent of children planned to go trick-or-treating.

 

[Frankie's Girl]

I can't remember an exact moment that made me love Halloween, but I have always loved the dark side of things and loved TOT as a child. I had the spooky stories records that I listened to all the time, and loved watching scary movies.

I guess it was just inevitable that I'd end up celebrating Halloween the way I do.

 

[rockplayson]

When the movie scream came out in 1996 there was a whole lot of talk about the killer Ghost Face. Anyway next halloween in 1997 Ghost Face was one of the most popular costumes out. I just had to go as him. Mind you I was only about 8 or 9 at the time so I still hadent sceen the movie. About a year later in 1998 my older cousin and sister were haveing a sleep over at my house. They ended up watching scream. I wasent allowed to see those kinds of movies but this one I really wanted to see so I snuck out of my room and hid under the coffee table. Scream was the first horror movie I ever saw. I feel inlove with it. I guess that's the one thing that really got me going on Hallowene.

 

[Haunter]

When I was growing up, my siblings and I would do the same old trick 'n treating around the neighborhood, always in fear of that one dark and dreary house nearby. Well, when I was about seven years old, I got to be on the other side of fear. We never did much in terms of decorating our house, but that year my dad decided to record some scary voices into his microcassette recorder. When one of my best friends came up the path to our house, I cracked open the window and played back the tape player. He turned around and ran as fast he could from our "haunted" house. That did it for me, and since then I've been hooked on Halloween.

 

[Fiend4Halloween]

Babysitting one night when I was in the 4th or 5th grade, St. Valentines Day Massacre, then Friday the 13th came on tv, from a horror standpoint, I was hooked!! Halloweenwise, it was some of the yard haunts that we got to visit, the scare factor, and all the cool visuals that made me a Fiend!

 

[ntokheim]

For me it was just the fun surrounding the holiday. I remember in 89 when I was in grade school our local country club had a party for all of its members. They had lots of games with lots of prizes for the kids, a haunted house in the basement of the clubhouse and a fortune teller along with good food and snacks. In school we would have partys. I remember also in 89 where members of the community were welcomed to the school and all us kids paraded around the gymnasium in our costumes. And then there was the TOTing with friends. It was always just a fun holiday. Its a holiday that makes me feel like a kid again. It brings on the nostalgic feelings of fun. And I just always enjoyed the thrilling atmosphere of the holiday knowing that there was nothing lurking in the darkness and that I was perfectly safe but what if just what if feeling. The spirit of Halloween keeps the kid in me alive.

 

[Samhain.Voodoo]

My mother was just as warped as I was growing up. She was the reason I loved Halloween so much growing up. There'd always be so much food and trick or treating and horror movies....She always let me watch the movies with her and they never really bothered me because I knew they were fake. A few of them gave me hella nightmares, but for the most part I was fine. I remember her favorite movie was Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight with Billy Zane. lol she thought he was so hot. I just recently got the Demon Knight sign (7 Stars of David formed in a circle) tattooed on my left palm on my hand in memory of her. It's my most cherished tattoo.

There's just so many reasons why I love the holiday...mostly the little things like the smells or the tastes...the feeling I get when the sun goes down on Halloween and all the little kids start parading in their costumes and it's my turn to give them a trick for their treats.

 

[darkness]

I don't remember not loving Halloween and everything else dark and scary for that matter! I guess it must be in my BLOOD!!

 

[wilbret]

My birthday falls at Halloween, so my parties always tended to be the weekend of Halloween.

Back in th' day, when the only Halloween stuff you could buy was costumes, paper cutouts and thos epandable paper pumpkins.... one of my friend's grandmothers had a FULL display. Spiderwebs, bubbling cauldron, props, colored lights, etc... and she was always dressed up in full witch garb. Green face, long nose, warts and all...

It was so much fun, it stuck with me. Years later, my friends and I set up our own haunt. We made ghosts that would slide down ropes across the path, rigged doors to open and close, rocking chairs to rock, and so on. We had a friend that was a little guy, and he would blend in with groups of trick or treaters... and we'd "kill" him. It freaked out kids so much we often didn't even have to give out candy. My friend's dad would also pitch in with a chainsaw that had the blade removed.... ah, the 80s!

 

[Nevarstar]

Vincent Price movies. My mom let me watch them when I was a kid.

In addition my mom loves Halloween so we had a lot of fun decorating. Plus we went out frist with my mom trick or treating and then again with my uncles who were only 7 years older. Double Candy.