Welcome To My Virtual Halloween Festival

Do you remember gorging yourself on free, little candies?  Do you remember the first time you watched John Carpenter's 'Halloween'?  Do you remember wearing your favorite costume two or more years in a row?  If so, then you might just love Halloween (All Hallows' Eve, Samhain, Parentalia) just as much as I do.  So, sit back and enjoy just about any and everything I can offer to celebrate this holiday, virtually.  Let's begin by "watching the magic pumpkin, kiddies":

What is there not to love about Halloween?  You get to dress up as whatever you want.  I've been Darth Vader, Jason Voorhees, a killer klown, a gothic vampire, Shazam!, a dead cowboy, Death and a living, breathing Crystal Lake Camp Counselor who was about to die at any moment - just to name a few, and then there's the chocolate, the carmel apples, pumpkin pie and my family tradition of chili and cornbread.  There's scary movies, of which my top 5 recommendations would be:

1. Halloween (original)
2. Poltergeist
3. Psycho (original)
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (I actually prefer the 2003 remake)
and a new horror film just released this year (2011),
5. Insidious

Then there's fantastic music to get you in the mood like:



or this AMAZING show set to 'This Is Halloween' from The Nightmare Before Christmas:



Now, I've stated that I am a Halloween fan, but I have a couple of friends who are more obsessed about the holiday than I am and put me to shame, including one friend Richard who nearly always decorates his home to the hilt, including faux cathedral windows, a Halloween tree and an entire village with moving parts:

Notice the detail of the bottles - very cool

Nothing is safe from a decoration...

... not even the exterior.

This Is Halloween Tree.

Then there is my friend Dawnda, the costume QUEEN!  This lady plans her Halloween costume as much as a year in advance and works on it the whole year long.  Unfortunately, she could not find a picture of my favorite costume she created, the Jackal from '13 Ghosts', but she did such a phenomenal job, it would be difficult to tell the difference if I posted the real pic from the film:

Here are some of her other creations, of which she's won her company costume contest every year:

A Killer Klown

An inbred from the film 'Wrong Turn'

Pyramid Head from the horror game 'Silent Hill'



Dawnda lives in San Diego and I've told her she really needs to get the most mileage out of her creations by dressing up for Comic-Con each year, especially The Jackal and Pyramid Head - she'd be a hit!

And then, there's all the pleasures of growing up and living in Southern California with great traditional activities made especially for this holiday like The Halloween Haunt at Knott's Scary Farm (which I have probably been to more times than I can count on two hands).  Here is walk-through somebody took in 2010 of just one of their 13 mazes, The London Maze.  It's pretty good quality because there is still a little bit of daylight.  So, if you've never been, you might enjoy:



Then, there's Disneyland's transformation of The Haunted Mansion to 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'.  Again, for anybody who lives too far from either Disneyland or Disney World to enjoy the attraction, here is decent ride-through to give you an idea:



Alright, so that's about it and again, I ask, "What is there not to love about this holiday?"  I've always been a little obsessed about Halloween: the scares, traditions, films, music and food, so much so that my next planned children's picture book will be based on the origins of All Hallows' Eve, which I'll publish with 'The Night After Christmas' illustrator, Anita Driessen, who loves the holiday even more than I do (I have such rockin' friends!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!