Little Shop of Halloween

Halloween is, to my mind, the holiday that works the strongest nostalgia magic. Christmas has people looking for the newest hot gift. Thanksgiving swirls around the turkey dinner and the mad rush to get home from college or wherever. But Halloween... Halloween seems to always come to us from the past. Even the modern decorations usually have a vintage element to them. What is it about the Halloween experience that makes it so timeless? 

Pictured: every Halloween display since 1958.

The Haunted Forest: My First Walk-Through Horror Attraction

It's Real Live Horror week here at the Drive-In!  Earlier in the week, Rabbi went into the history of the spook house and talked about his own personal experience with Scaremare at Liberty University.  He also put the spotlight on a little website where spooks can find a way to spend their eternity with the love of their after lives.  For my part, I'd like to tell a personal story of the first time I ever went through a walk-through horror attraction.  It involves a group you may have heard of but never knew they did things like this:  the Boy Scouts.

When I was younger, I was part of a Boy Scout troop here in Miami.  It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life.  I hated camping and the outdoors.  I was only part of the group because my cousin and, at the time, best friend was a part of it.  I stayed in the Scouts for a while, though.  I'm almost thankful that I did because, without the Scouts, I never would have experienced the Haunted Forest.

Every year around Halloween, the various troops around the South Florida area would get together in one place for one purpose:  Scare the bejeezus out of people.  The setting for this haunted trail was a section of a large campground whose name I've long since forgotten.  Each troop that showed up got to dress up an area in any way they pleased:  a cemetery, a mad doctor's laboratory, the site of a werewolf attack.  Anything the troop could cook up was fair game.  The more troops that joined in, the longer the trail became.

The first and only time I visited this once-a-year attraction, I visited as a spectator.  At 11, I was too young to help out behind the scenes, but I was just the right age to walk on through.  I was excited about the event, but terrified too.  On the drive through the campground, I was so scared that I thought I could see ghosts in the trees. 

I don't remember much about the Haunted Forest now.  Eleven years is a long time and my memory isn't the best anyway.  But I do remember one thing pretty clearly:  I was scared out of my mind.  As a kid that age, I just couldn't differentiate the fake from reality.  I didn't care that the blood and guts were rubber and ketchup,  I thought the zombies were really going to eat me.  It may have been some teen in a mask, but that plastic machete looked 100% real to me.  My fear made every shadow darker and every monster scarier.  And you wanna know something?  I had a blast.  Don't get me wrong, at the time, after the walk-through, I cried like a baby.  But looking back now, I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything.  As we say around these parts, isn't it fun to be a little scared sometimes?

As a man of 22, I freely admit that I'm still scared of haunted house trails to this day.  While the concept of Halloween Horror Nights fascinates me, I have no doubt that I'd need about 15 pairs of pants to change into throughout the night.  Whatever else the Haunted Forest was, it was still frightening and it embedded deep within me a fear of those kinds of attractions.  Still, I'm a guy who believes fears were made to be faced.  Maybe next year I'll have to build my courage and head for a few new haunts.

Countdown to Halloween 2013: Real Live Horror!

A welcome to our regulars and a special growl of appreciation to all you creepy kids who've made your way here from Countdown to Halloween 2013! I hope you enjoy your time at The Haunted Drive-in, and come back and visit us often. We would love to discuss horror and science fiction of all kinds with you until the sun rises and the projector fades.

We don't plan on posting every single day, simply because Daffy and I are very busy folks, and we want the Drive-in to be a labor of love, not just labor. We do plan on adding new material often though, so please add us to your blogroll, follow us on Twitter and Tumblr, like us on Facebook, and above all else, comment! We love getting feedback and hearing suggestions.

So, to keep our focus during the countdown (and not just write about every single thing we love about Halloween), my writing partner and I have decided to give each week of October a theme for us to work with. This first week we've decided to focus on one of the oldest and most enjoyable of Halloween traditions, the walk-through haunted house attraction.

"Dear God! That guy over there... he isn't wearing ANY hair gel!"

A Ghost's Story

(Author's Note: A short story in place of an article today. Happy reading!)

Let's start this story with the twist ending: I'm already dead.

I just wanted you to know right off the bat. I don't want to be accused of ripping off another hack writer.

That said, being a ghost isn't all it's cracked up to be. For one, I don't remember anything. I don't remember my family, my home town, my favorite movie. I don't even remember my name. Don't get me wrong, though. I remember movies and pop culture. I remember history, math, and how to read. I guess all the personal stuff doesn't come with you when you go. From what I can gather, I'm a male in my early twenties and I was shot somewhere in the vicinity of my left ear. The only reason I know this is because, at times when the wind is just right, I hear a whistling by there. Being that I have no reflection, I can't check it out for myself. How do I know I'm a guy in my early twenties? Just this feeling I get that I am. Now, I could be a forty year old man that was going through a mid life crisis, but I'd rather think I'm twenty.

Review: Mr. Boogedy (25th Anniversary!)

No one will believe this, but it wasn't that long ago that the Disney Channel showed classic animated films and quality original content. Anyone younger than 20 will not be able to remember, and those of us who are old enough are unfortunately losing grasp of our memories. But it's true! The Disney Channel survived for years on movies and shows for the whole family, not just sitcom dreck that appeals to preteen girls. And like the best Disney animated classics, their made-for-television stories were occasionally intense, arguably too intense for the core audience. That's what made them so much fun. I doubt any of you have seen the movie I'm discussing tonight, and if you have, then you can count yourself very lucky indeed. Let's talk about Mr. Boogedy.

"He had a grilled-cheese sandwich kinda face."

The Ghost with the Most

Everyone praises Ghostbusters as THE paranormal comedy of the last thirty years. It's the best of the best and nobody can top it. It's got the best jokes, the spookiest looking monsters, the most likeable characters. Everyone talks about it all the time. And I agree, it's a perfect example of a paranormal comedy. But, I will also admit, it's not my absolute favorite freaky funny movie. There was one movie that I watched practically daily as a kid. A movie that my grandmother thought would shatter my poor young mind because I watched it so much. A movie about ghosts, exorcisms, a giant mutant snake monster, and Harry Belafonte. I'm sure you all remember Beetlejuice.

The Spooky Old House On the Hill

Many simple pleasures have been destroyed due to the arrival of better technologies: letter-writing, playing outside, all-day cooking. It was less than 20 years ago that the only way to find answers to questions both crucial and trivial was to read a book. Now, it takes approximately 3 seconds to pull things up on Google. Thanks to iPhones, people are connected 24/7. Nothing takes effort anymore. Video and computer games keep children inside with a mountain of junk food. At least when we burned our brains on cartoons Saturday morning, they were usually done by noon, at which point my mother would shoo me into the Great Outdoors to play, discover, and yes, learn. The pre-internet and cell phone years had their problems, sure, but things definitely seemed more idyllic.

Now, one could blame all of this on nostalgia, the fact that being children made us less aware of society's issues, and any other number of things. And to a point that's true. I certainly didn't know what a recession meant when I was 10, nor did I care. I just knew that the weekend was mine, and my buddies and I were going to discover hidden treasure like in The Goonies.