Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 I recently, finally, was able to watch the movie Orphan: First Kill and it made such an impression on me that I wanted to talk about it/give a little review. This will contain spoilers, for both this movie and the original Orphan, so if you haven't seen either of these movies and are planning to someday, I wouldn't recommend reading this, as it's better to go into these movies fairly blind. I saw the original Orphan movie almost immediately when it first came out. I love creepy kids, and while I have no plans to ever actually bear a child, if for any reason I ever end up with one, I pray they're a spooky kid. But anyway, while I don't come back to Orphan in the same way that I come back to certain other movies (primarily the ones that are set on/have something more to do with Halloween), though I have rewatched it several times, it has stayed with me since that very first viewing. If you don't know, the Orphan movies are about a seemingly normal, albeit slightl

  It's the weekend after Valentine's Day, and a little girl sits quietly in her bedroom, going through the valentines she received, earlier in the week. Everyone in the class had made a mailbox, and everyone in the class was supposed to give valentines to everyone else. Maybe it was silly. Maybe it was calendar-driven nonsense, but for this little girl, it was special. Valentine's Day wasn't like the days in gym class where the teachers let students choose teams. She would often hear the kids that were chosen before her, whisper to the team captain not to pick her, until she was the last one standing. And Valentine's Day wasn't like when the teacher made everyone pair up for projects, and she'd find herself working alone, or third-wheeling a pair of best friends that she was assigned to when no one would choose her. Valentine's Day was the one day of the school year that everyone had to be included. The one day of the year when all of the cliches about f

 If you've known me long enough, you know that Valentine's Day is, and pretty much always has been, my second-favorite holiday.  People who don't know me as well, though, are always shocked to find this out...and basically just shocked that there is someone in the world who loves and looks forward to Valentine's Day, in general.  I've honestly never understood the negativity. I mean, I suppose I can see it if you have some sort of awful memory tied to the day, or something along those lines, but to loathe the day just because it exists? It's never really made sense to me. I guess the problem is that most people see it is a holiday only for people in romantic relationships, but my memories of Valentine's Day extend far beyond the relationships I've been in.  The fact that so many people seem to perceive Valentine's Day as being so exclusive, is honestly bizarre to me.  Maybe it's because I grew up a shy, unpopular kid, but to me, growing up, Valen

This is a story I've contemplated telling here for a long while now. It's very long, and more personal than I usually get here about certain things. But in the spirit of Valloween, I feel like now would be the perfect time to tell the tale of a "dating" horror story, would it not?  My initial inspiration for talking about this was the existence and popularity of characters like Corey Cunningham from Halloween Ends, and that one character from the Necro episode of American Horror Stories. I realized I knew someone quite like them, and the experience was certainly not some fantasy come true.  I'm also going to say, I refer to this person as a stalker, and while I know maybe it's not quite to the exact same level that other people experience stalking, please know I'm not trying to undermine anyone else's stories or experiences. This was my own experience and in my opinion it was definitely stalker behavior, even if it didn't reach the same level that