Another Halloween has come and gone, and until last night, this year’s experience
was lacking. It did not matter that I have attended a number of Halloween related
activities this past month, I still felt like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin
to rise out of the pumpkin patch and as the night ends he is disappointed.
Not that I have been disappointed in Halloween in recent years, au contraire,
mon amies! This years "lack" of Halloween spirit was decidedly due
to a lack of GoatMan Hollow.
I was up and down whether or not I would make the trek to Riverdale, to the
home of two of the GMH founders for an elaborate yard haunt for trick or treat.
Part of me almost gave into the "Don’t want to deal with the traffic hassle"
and then, the part of me that LOVES Halloween more than any other holiday woke
up, kicked me in the pants and got me moving. I am so glad that part of me
prevailed.
Having glimpsed the yard haunt setup on Saturday at the Wright Manor Halloween
Party, I was wholly unprepared for the gloriously eerie glow from 50+ carved
pumpkins gracing the front lawn. The front porch was festooned with spider
webs and a mechanical ghost, wailing and floating, complete with chains a-clanking;
amazingly realistic thunder and lightning and spooky music set the tone for
the truly brave to traverse the path to the front porch where one had to reach
into a real coffin filled with a corpse, to get the Halloween treat. The yard was populated
with zombies, a pirate, a cannibal, a demonic scarecrow, dueling witches, Shaggy-Do
searching for his faithful companion Scooby-Do, a priest, a mummy, demons and
oh yes…THE GOATMAN! All these people, there for one thing: to scare the pee
out of unsuspecting trick or treaters, and of course, their parents.
It was such fun watching my friends delight in scaring the neighborhood
well past 10 pm. I would guess-timate that over 700+ people came by last night.
Numerous photographers came by to capture the moment – I hope someone will share
their images with us. One pal who arrived late was envious of not being a part
of the revelry, ran home and threw on a quick costume to join in the fun. Me,
I’m not the acting type – I’m more the behind the scenes sort of person – I
like to help keep things running smoothly. I chose to keep the candles in the
pumpkins lit -in the thick of things, yet, (I hope) unobtrusive, but helpful.
And that closes out Halloween 2005 – the promise of what it could be – fulfilled.
For me, it’s the camaraderie of haunters creating the scare and then seeing the joy and terror as the scare happens. Boo, everbody! Boo!
