Without a doubt, you’re absolutely right about people who are afraid of their own shadows turning into major Halloween enthusiasts! Growing up, I was always encouraging my uncle or grandfather to scare me. They used to make me go down a dark hallway at age 5 and would wait for me to come out the other side. As I edged closer to the end of the hall, one of them (usually my uncle) would jump out and scare the hell out of me.

Forums are definitely a huge factor in introducing people to how extreme many of us go when it comes to not only decorating, but living Halloween 365 days per year. The first time I found anything Halloween related online was in 1997. It was a how-to for making a pneumatic Trash Can Trauma prop! Man, that takes me back. I can’t remember the site now.

At age fourteen, you’re following in the footsteps of so many of us. Awesome job!

Thanks for sharing your experiences and for commenting.

As for my first initiation to the Halloween obsession that anyone who doesn’t have it will never understand, I think mine was when I first logged into Halloween.com Forums. Since then, I’ve found so much stuff on Halloween on the internet, and because everyone else gives me “THE Look”, when I start talking about Halloween, the internet is really my only source for any advice, and I think it’s great that Forum sites like Halloween.com have so much freedom and so many great people. I love going on those year round, and because I’m only 14, I can honestly say that I will love this holiday for the rest of my life. I will do anything I can to be the most creative person on the street, which isn’t that hard because I live in a town full of Orthodox Jews, but there are a lot of eager kids that don’t see any harm in it, and if and when they come out, I feel that same urge that many-all of you feel on that night of all shadows to go all out with decorations, add a few human actors, and scare the hell out of them.

Since my dad was military and we moved every two to three years, I never really developed much of a friendship bond that could be carried over from Halloween to Halloween, so many of my fond memories tend to be less social and more about my own personal exploration of the holiday.

After reading your message, I did have to double check the calendar, alas it’s still February.

Thanks again!

For me, there wasn’t a specific moment or memory that triggered my love of Halloween. I’ve loved it all my life and celebrated it in one way or another (except perhaps for a few brief high school years).

As a child, I loved dressing up (usually in those flimsy plastic costumes that required several layers of warmth underneath) and going trick-or-treating with my cousins and later, my friends. We lived out in the sticks, which meant walking for hours for maybe a couple of dozen treats. But it didn’t matter. That long walk on a dark frosty night, encountering others along the way and comparing notes (and treats) was all part of the enjoyment of that wonderful night.

Mr. Macabre’s first comment on this post struck a chord with me. I too was a scaredy-cat as a child (still am in many ways) and in my more reflective moments I think that by embracing all facets of Halloween, from ghost stories to yard haunts to jack-o-lanterns, it was perhaps a way to take control of those childhood terrors, transform them on my own terms, and make the fear fun.

In my twenties, it was all about Halloween parties and later, when I bought a house, haunting it for Halloween just seemed like a natural extension of my lifelong love of the season. Because it isn’t just about Halloween night for me. I love the darker colder autumn evenings, the visits to pumpkin patches and apple orchards. I love reading about the history of Halloween and vintage art and decorations. I love participating in the ghost walks and historic haunted house and graveyard tours that are prevalent at that time of year. I love watching It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown year after year.

Is it October yet

Yeah, the photos help bring it all rushing back for me too. I can remember wearing those plastic costumes, but if it weren’t for the pictures, I probably would have forgotten who the characters were. We have shots of me as a clown (man, I don’ know what I was thinking that year…lol) and the Incredible Hulk. The Hulk was huge on prime-time television when I wore that one.

I can understand about junior high. It seems, those of us that are destined to become Halloween fanatics really step our game up around age 12 and 13 when it comes to creating our costumes. I started going all out on dressing up around that age and within another couple of years, I transferred that energy over to making home haunts.

Wow, you’re definitely prepared in advance for costumes this year! Good luck in getting the right lab coat. I spend so much time maintaining the yard haunt on Halloween night that a costume gets in my way, so I don’t really dress up anymore.

Thanks for the title and the chapters. This will definitely help. I’m a big fan of older Halloween, ghost and just generally creepy books. I have an old Charles Addams book that I treasure! Not that the 1960′s are super old, but books from that time frame have such a great quality about them – not to mention that great musty smell.

Please, I want you to keep it. I know how much it means to you. I’m sure I can locate a copy online.

Thanks again.

Funny how our mind works at such a young age and what stands out in our memory bank. The fact you do remember things from age 4 is powerful. It’s interesting because I have very large recall capabilities of events around that age (and even earlier). I wonder if creative minded people tend to have stronger recall on events from their childhood?

Since you didn’t get into dressing up until junior high, that must mean you missed out on all the plastic “bag” costumes during your youth.

Usually, all the little ones dress up around here when trick-or-treating. It’s primarily mid and high school kids who barely black out their eye sockets, throw a sweatshirt on and carry around a Wal-Mart bag for receiving candy.

Pumpkin carving with your dad has got to be a great memory. Those are definitely the ones we don’t forget – they’re the keepers. I remember doing the same with my grandfather before we started spending almost every Halloween away from home (with the military). I was always mesmerized by the way he could draw such intense faces on the pumpkins prior to carving them.

Thank you for sharing, ShellHawk. You helped me remember something I hadn’t thought of in years.

The fact you’re even thinking of Halloween in February means the transformation’s already under way.

The book is called: A Holiday Book Halloween By: Lillie Patterson and Illustrations by Gil Miret — Garrard Publishing Comany in Champaign, Illionois — copyright date is 1963 — though the actual stories and writing sounds more like from the 1930′s. I LOVE old books. Oh and the book has 10 chapters

1 – It’s Halloween
2 – How it All Began
3 – The Apples of Pomona and the Eve of All Hallows
4 – Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts
5 – Witches and Black Cats
6 – Wee Folk
7 – Halloween Customs from Many Lands (that one is cool!)
8 – Magic Tests, Chants, Charms
9 – Halloween Comes to America (another interesting section)
10-Halloween with a Heart

I hope this helps your quest. If you can’t find it let me know, I would happily and gladly donate this book to you John, happily so!