There is something tangible in the air as September draws to a close, removing itself from our awareness, as if surrendering to an unseen force that's ushered in on an October breeze. This force permeates all matter, working itself into a feverish pitch over the next thirty one days: the ground develops into one continuous pathway of fallen flora, harvests are being reaped, temperatures drop, wood smoke billows from chimneys, children anticipate the hordes of candy they will soon be carrying and I begin to polish my skulls.

That is, until I decided to create a website- one that would lead the viewer on a journey along a corridor of the unknown. Through visuals, stories and ghostly encounters, it paints a portrait of what Halloween means to me- the suspension of our current concepts of reality and the fostering of ideas that expand the imagination. The classic Halloween mindset is one that inspires the belief in souls roaming the night, desperately seeking out living bodies. This same mindset is willing to soften its vision in hopes of seeing what others do not: spirits that follow our every movement, watchers in the woods, forms of human remains lurking through cemeteries, and all manner of ill conceived entities waiting for their opportunity to coexist with the living.

Halloween is most certainly about masks and costumes but it's also a state of mind that realizes unlimited possibilities. Even in the fear of many of those possibilities we recognize the potential for magic in our lives. In the midst of this magic, All Hallow's Eve provocatively forces us to face mock death and for once, we embrace it as opposed to rejecting it. The last evening in October provides an atmosphere of celebration for the intermingling of spirit and human form.

My passion for this holiday began very early in life. I was the four year old who could be seen begging my dad to take me to the scariest professional haunted house in town. While I admittedly shut my eyes and screamed through the majority of the haunt, I was willing to go back for more. From trick or treating for hours and hours, as a youngster with my mom, to creating my very first "home haunt" at age seven or eight, I have always had a love affair with this time of year.

Being a military brat also helped fuel my enjoyment of Halloween. I had an opportunity to experience a multitude of different states, cities, neighborhoods and in turn, different styles of decorating and home haunting. I can still remember my first encounter with a house that went above and beyond the traditional paper decorations. There were bodies hanging from the eaves, tombstones in the front yard, and a maniacal axe wielding neighbor answering the door to dispense our treats...ah, the nostalgia.

Season of Shadows allows me to pick up the axe from that old neighbor, to follow that passion and love, in ways I could have never imagined all those years ago. This site reaches out to hundreds of thousands of people who share my sentiments for this special holiday, the feelings of enjoyment and the entertainment it provides.