Halloween in the city - Where's the magic?

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:51 am

Since getting married and moving away from home I've been something of a repressed minority when it comes to Halloween. My Japanese wife finds it mystifying and childish, as with Christmas she has none of those childhood memories as foundations for fun.
Most of my local friends are guys in their early 30s, too concerned with drinking beer, playing rugby and the hard realities of making a living; to be concerned with Halloween.
And because I live in a small apartment block we get no trick-or-treaters.

A few years ago I would buy my pumpkin and carve it and sit down to watch a horror movie on the 31st. That was it.
I had some great Halloween memories growing up even when I was a student at uni. But it ended when I got married and moved to London. I vividly remember as a young boy imagining witches whizzing through the air on broomsticks and goblins dancing at the end of the garden. The leafy
lanes where I grew up certainly helped. I've always loved Halloween.

But the mundacity of working life and a fast track to middle age seemed to be engulfing me in slow, bland, treacle.
So three years ago I made a decision that if Halloween wasn't going to find me I would find it.
I went for it with grim determination, I bought Halloween stuff from the shops even though I would not use it, I planned activities for my two nephews who live 60 miles away (my sister gleefully offering them to me for the day). I went out to find the trick or treaters and spent Halloween evening taking my dog for the longest walk of his life. I would buy books about Halloween online and leave them scattered around the house. I even encouraged my wife to engage me in a pumpkin carving contest.

And after a number of years detached from the magic I finally feel like I'm back in the zone. This Halloween I'm taking my nephews on a witch-cottage stake-out, the wife has been talking up her pumpkin carving ability, and through my work with the local government authority I've helped to arrange a Halloween party for needy children (and being involved in that has given me the opportunity to really get into the Halloween spirit, and I'm loving it).
Where there's a witch there's a way!

LittleDollClaudia · Post by **LittleDollClaudia** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:56 am

Oh the gods are smiling down on you! You are where Halloween went right. I too had someone for a long time who mocked me but thankfully I found someone who loves it as well. Congratulations on a journey that has given you a new love and given your wife an understanding. I sit here with tears in my eyes as I applaud you, sir. A grand All Hallow's Eve to you and I'll join you in watching for the witch's flight across the moon.

MHooch · Post by **MHooch** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:03 pm

Hear, hear, LittleDollClaudia...I couldn't have said it better myself. Boo, you are awesome. I love to read your posts, they are so eloquent. Happy Haunting to you and yours...I will look forward to hearing all about the witch cottage stake-out!

Winnie Sanderson · Post by **Winnie Sanderson** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:25 am

Boo you have the true "spirit" Pun intended!!!

uncletor · Post by **uncletor** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:30 am

Way to go, boo..
and JUST WAIT until you tap into the JAPANESE stuff..man, oh MAN, do THEY have some freaky freaky supernatural stuff...one of the best scary movies OF ALL TIME is called Kwaindan...check the spelling, it's SOMETHING like that...and of course, THE GRUDGE and RING are all 100 per cent made in Japan...
Years from now, they will probably be putting up a statue of you as some sort of pioneer in the field..THE MAN WHO HELPED BRING IT TO LONDON..ah, I can see the dedication ceremony now..nothing too fancy..just Frankenstein, Dracula, and Godzilla

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:23 am

LOL Uncle Tor

They eat Octopus tentacles....how scary can you get!!!

After 7 years of marriage I think the wife is finally starting to enjoy Halloween. The fun from last years ghost hunt was infectious.

hmmmm Godzilla vs Dracula...there must be a movie in that somewhere...............

Snoopy/Red Baron · Post by **Snoopy/Red Baron** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:26 am

Its funny to read your post, because its something that I could have written: having great childhood memories of Halloween and this great love for the season, then watching over the years as work deadlines and middle-age slowly begin to dissolve away the spirit and excitement of the season each year, so imperceptibly that you don't notice it while its happening; but each year it takes more and more effort just to feel that magic for a moment and I try to make up for it by buying more and more decorations, going to bigger and bigger parties, more and more haunted houses and Halloween stores, and before I know it, I'm sitting in a house that is more decorated than Dracula's castle but still not feeling anything. And this Halloween, I finally got to a point where I felt like Charlie Brown when he exclaimed "Doesn't anyone know what Christmas is all about?" Except of course, I was thinking that about Halloween.

And then I find this forum and started reading some of these posts (especially Boo's memory about his favorite Halloween) and I start to realize (or perhaps remember is the more accurate word) something so simple that the years had swept it under the rug. I started thinking about the memories that made me love this season so much, and none of them were huge parties, elaborate costumes or miles of decorations. It was going to a pumpkin patch with my highschool sweetheart on one of those bluest of days where the air is cold and crisp and autumn is just setting in and not having enough money to buy a regular pumpkin so we had to buy one of those miniature orange-size ones but we loved it and gave it a great home. It was telling ghost stories at a childhood slumber party and we all really believing that the boogeyman was going to come get us.

And I realized that it wasn't that I wasn't doing enough or that I didn't have enough, it was just simply that I didn't sufficiently appreciate the things I did or had, that I had forgotten how to appreciate the subtle beauty of the season, taking walks on crisp fall nights, having hot cocoa while curling up with a scary movie with the windows open, the smell of pumpkin pie, that cold weather and hint of scariness in the air that makes cuddling up to someone that much more fun, but most importantly, all the promise of the coming season and its ability to make you feel young and alive no matter where you are in life. I guess I already knew this but it didn't click inside me until I read these posts, started remembering and changed my viewpoint. I don't mean to say that there is anything wrong with an elaborate Halloween celebration, I just mean that such a thing is so much more enjoyable if you can appreciate the little things too. So this year, I will enjoy both my 12 foot inflatable spider and my quiet time on the steps watching the autumn evenings roll in. When I make my house into a haunted house, I will actually enjoy it and not have to try to force the spirit to come.

Sorry to write your ears off, but it was very carthartic for me to write this. Thanks to you all for helping me find the innocence and fun in it all again.

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:10 am

Hi Snoopy

Really good toread your post. I bet there's a few of us on this board that feel the same way.
I totally agree with you. There's as much magic in a sunset owl hoot as in two inflatable ghost castles. It's true that as we grow older and the banality of daily life creeps in to replace the magic of childhood we try to substitue for those old memories by spending. But you've hit the nail on the head I think. The magic lies in our imagination and not in waiting for something to find us (unless it's creepy

, so on Halloween go for that walk in the woods, drive past the scary house at the end of the street, go to the bins without the usual outside lantern turned on. Something I do every clear Halloween night is stand outside and look at the sky for 5 minutes............I just know that one year I will see the local cabal on their broomsticks whizzing by

I'm fortunate in that I live next to Wimbledon common, and it offers all kinds of atmospheric walks.

I really hope you enjoy the next week, I'd I'd love to hear how it is for you.

Cheers

Boo. (aka Steve)

MHooch · Post by **MHooch** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:05 pm

Snoopy/Red Baron...so glad the spirit found you! I absolutely agree with all you said, it IS a magical time, and we do need to slow down a bit and be grateful for all we have and all we can enjoy. The older I get the more I realize that the simple things are truly the most precious...a bright fall day, turning leaves falling softly, a cool autumn evening with a hint of woodsmoke in the air, my family gathered around for spiced cider, popcorn and a scary movie.

Boo, I hope you get a glimpse of the broomstick bunch this year...the important thing is to keep looking...

You guys ROCK!!!

Happy Haunting,
Hooch

Spooky_Ollie · Post by **Spooky_Ollie** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:31 pm

Hey, if everyone in the world liked Halloween as much as every member of this forum, the world would be beautiful.

kevin · Post by **kevin** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:24 am

Wow.. the age thing really struck a chord with me. I am almost 35, yet as my four kids get older (four.. OMG, I have four kids!!), I am finding myself more and more like a little kid again. I mean, sadly, I have to yell at them too often since today its a life sentence in prison if you spank them so that they dont misbehave... that aside, I love being like a kid with them! So, a couple years ago, when my oldes was 6, I started dressing up again. It also helped that we moved into a house 3 years ago, so we finally could decorate. But I for the first time in my life, painted my own face and scared the <deleted> out of some kids.. and it was great! I mean, I apologized to the parents of the 6 or so young kids I made cry, but man, it was so invigorating!

This year, as I've posted on a few posts on this forum, I've really gone about as all out as I can. With 2 fog machines, one going through a dry-iced based chiller to lay it low, purple lights, a light controller and 200 watt strobe to light up our house and put on a realistic thunder/lightning display, making tombstones from styrofoam and spray paint, and eeries music from Midnight Syndicate playing along with the occasional scream and such, it's serously my favorite time of year! I enjoy christmas, I do.. but that is truly for the kids to have fun and to hang with family and friends and eat good. Halloween, there is something about this one time a year that I just get goosebumps and all kid like and excited.

I am hoping, if all goes well, I'll put up more pictures in the gallery section of this site, so be sure to check it out soon after halloween.

William · Post by **William** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:26 am

1 Day till Halloween i am sooo happpy can wait to go the the Halloween party i am so Happy u guys are super duper great