Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 When I was younger, I spent a lot of time wondering if I actually had a place in the world.  I was an only child, quiet and shy, who never really fit in. My interests were somehow always all wrong in comparison to my peers, and my family, even if they tried not to show it, were often disappointed in the fact that I didn’t have “normal” priorities, from school, to socialization, etc. I was always the odd one out. And, of course, there was the fact that my favorite holiday was Halloween, not Christmas as everyone around me and society as a whole seemed to insist it should be. I also spent a lot of time wondering why I liked Halloween so much. There had to be a reason, some place that I really belonged that would one day call me back, like the little girls in movies who suddenly found out they were the rightful princesses of fairytale realms. I pondered this thought daily, well into my adult years. In 1999, though, a movie called Halloweentown was released on the Disney Channel....

 Most people who know me, know that Sleepy Hollow, New York is what I call my heart’s home. It was a place that had been on my “bucket list” to visit practically since the cradle, and I first took a drive through the town on Halloween 2018, on my way to my first ever experience at The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze. Though I wasn’t there for very long at all, as it was just a quick detour, I immediately felt at home, as if this was some place I’d been waiting to find for my entire life. I thought about it constantly until I went back to stay for a few days for Halloween 2019, and I knew during that stay that this was my place. It’s a hard thing to explain, but it’s like one of those moments that you think only occurs in fiction, when the stars align and you just know you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.  I initially planned to take different spooky-themed vacations every Halloween, maybe going to Salem one year, Spirit of Halloweentown in Oregon the next, etc., and while I ...

 If you know me well enough, you probably know how attached I am to the village of Sleepy Hollow.  I visited for the first time three years ago and it instantly felt like home to me.  I make every effort to visit whenever I can, and when I am there, my most favorite place to spend time is Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. It’s a magical place to me, filled with so much history and so many stories and hidden gems among the graves.  And, over by the Old Dutch Church, you can find many headstones that bear the names that inspired many of the characters in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It’s beautiful and truly feels like stepping back into another time. If you look long and hard enough, I promise you, you will start to see reflections of the Legend itself, and those who lived during the time in which it was written. Sadly, though, it seems not everyone has the same kind of respect for the deceased, as, last weekend, a terribly distressing crime happened at this beautiful place. (Pi...

"Why so sad, little pumpkin?" the girl asked. "I don't think I'm in the right place," the pumpkin replied.  "Whatever do you mean?" the girl questioned. "You are, after all, in a pumpkin patch." "It's not that I don't believe I fit in here," the pumpkin said. "I know that I'm loved. My family is here, or so it seems." "Then why do you seem so out of place?" the girl wondered.  "I just think that maybe I'm meant to be somewhere else," the pumpkin mused. "Have you ever seen a place that felt more like home than anywhere you've lived?" The girl nodded, remembering a place that lit up her heart. She closed her eyes as she remembered an autumn breeze, the sound of it rustling through the trees, bringing to life the scarecrows that lined the fence in the park that gave her peace like nothing she'd ever experienced before. She thought ...