Skip to main content

Hang On, Spooky//October 12th, 2020

When I was very young, sometimes the changing of the seasons would take me by surprise.

I didn’t quite have the rhythm of things down yet. As I got older, I learned the habits of everyone and everything around me relating to Halloween. I knew which neighbors decorated first. I knew when the leaves would start changing. I knew when things would start appearing in stores. To this day I have it pretty much down to a science, and you might argue that if I’d put half the effort into anything else that I have into Halloween, I’d be some sort of highly successful corporate executive, or something.

But that’s not me.

Anyway, one day, when I was about six years old, I went for a walk around the neighborhood with my grandfather. This was a fairly regular thing we did, when he lived with us, but it was always a fun time. My grandfather encouraged my imagination and inquisitive side like no one else. There was always something new to discover, even if we’d walked the same path a hundred times. And on this day, when we got to the end of the street, where we’d usually turn around go back in the direction we’d come from, I spotted the first signs of Halloween in my neighborhood that year.

About twenty little ghosts, made of leaf bag material, were hanging from a tree in a neighbor’s yard, just close enough to touch.

I was absolutely enchanted. I referred to them, for some reason, as “spookies”, and begged my grandfather to let me take one, arguing that the people who inhabited the house would never know, since there were so many. I tried to decide which one of the “spookies” I would adopt as my own. Some had orange bow ties, and some had black. Some had vampire fangs, some had their tongues hanging out, and of course, some had that traditional ghostly “Ooooh” face. My grandfather, of course, didn’t let me take any of them. After much protesting on my part, we headed home, where I continued to talk about nothing but the “spookies” (I think I even cried because I wanted one so badly!) until my mother had an idea.

I didn’t think much of her fiddling around with a paper towel, a lollipop, a rubber band, and a black marker, until she suddenly handed me a little ghost made from a lollipop. 

I was so happy to have my own version of the “spookies” I’d seen earlier in the day. I carried this little guy around for the rest of the day, and kept him near the alarm clock in my room, probably near the witch cupcake pick from my kindergarten class party, until he became sticky one day, probably from temperature changes and the like, and had to be disposed of. I never did forget him, though. (The one pictured above is one I stole from a delivery driver at work a few years back, after a customer gave him a handful!) I always wished he could’ve hung around longer.

This year, an artist friend of mine on Instagram, Stephanie AKA ‘leatherandjade’, created a faux lollipop that reminded me so much of that day in my youth that I had to have him.

Sometimes I think I am the luckiest person in the world, to be able to see such reflections of the things that helped shape me into the person I am today, in new things that I discover in my spooky travels. I look at this lollipop ghost and suddenly I am six years old again, reaching for a “spooky” on an unknown neighbor’s tree, to after have my needs satiated by my mother’s sudden burst of creativity. 

I may not have been able to steal a ghost that day, but I took with me a memory that will always stay inside my Halloween heart.

Stay spooky, my friends.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I Saw The Great Pumpkin Out For A Stroll//October 233rd, 2025

  The most amazing thing happened to me, on a Saturday afternoon.  The date was August 30th, just two days before Labor Day; the start of September, and, thankfully, the unofficial (but official, in my book) end of summer.  I wound up at a local toy shop, coming away with some tiny plushies. (Two of them Christmas themed, ironically, as I am working toward finding the magic in all things once more .) As I exited the store, something caught my eye beyond the fence leading to the next residential street.  A very tall pumpkin man seemed to be walking toward a house. My mind snapped back to when I was six years old, the very first time the Great Pumpkin came to visit me. How I'd heard him in the night, a candle rattling around in his head as he did his work, ensuring the happiest of Halloweens for the truest of believers. How special it felt to know I was one of his Chosen.  I'd always hoped to thank him one day. I quietly tiptoed around the fence, out into the narr...

Pumpkin Guts: Devil’s Night//October 277th, 2024

 I was recently given the opportunity to check out a new, independent Halloween short film called Pumpkin Guts: Devil’s Night.  (Picture from IMDb) I first became aware of this film through the  Instagram page , and to say I absolutely knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’d love it, would be an understatement. I can always tell when a piece of media is truly going to radiate Halloween, in the way that will transport me through whatever month we’re currently in (in this case, probably the most disgusting July on record) and into Halloween night itself. When I was offered early access to this short film, I could not have been more honored. Even though I’ve built up somewhat of a following within the Halloween community, it still amazes me every day that people finally truly see and feel what I’m trying to create; that my love of Halloween finally means something and brings some joy and comfort to others like myself, and that anyone, especially a filmmaker, would trust me ...

My (Brutally?) Honest Thoughts On 'Weapons'//October 312th, 2025

 I recently saw possibly the most hyped up horror of the 2025 season, Weapons.  There have not been many movies I've been excited to see in 2025. The only horror movies I've seen in theaters this year have been Companion, Heart Eyes, and The Monkey. Other than that, nothing has really interested me enough to spend money on seeing it in theaters. (I do need to watch Sinners; scheduling conflicts kept arising when it came to seeing that one on the big screen.) But I absolutely loved the initial marketing for  Weapons, making it look like footage from a real unsolved case, and it   has easily been one of my most anticipated movies of the year. But, sadly, I actually didn't like it.  This is not meant to be a "hot take" post in any way. I'm not here to rain on anyone's parade that did enjoy it, I just have a lot of thoughts about it that I want to unpack for myself, and maybe for anyone else who feels similarly. If you loved the movie, I'm honestly very ha...