Baery Scary Halloween

I was never one for horror movies—blood—but I loved scary movie shows when I was young: Creature Feature, Twilight Zone and Svengoolie. We looked forward to Saturday nights to watch these shows. Of course they don’t even come close to being scary now, but at the time they were awesome. They were simple movies that served their purpose—entertain and scare.

Just like trick or treating, an all out evening adventure. There were no time limits to trick or treating, and there weren’t really Halloween parties. My trick or treat days began when candy scares first started—razor in an apple or candy. I think there was a mixture of urban legend and truth to the stories, yet it didn’t stop my mother from checking. We poured out our candy on the floor and she picked out her favorites, unwrapped them as she explained she was checking to make sure they were all right for us to eat.

But it didn’t matter that she was checking, because we emptied our pumpkin buckets so we could head out for more. We rang doorbells until 10:00 p.m. and told other children which houses not to go to because they were giving out pennies. Pennies! Can you believe it?

I grew up on a street that was full of children—young couples moving into this new division to raise a family. When I was really young, there wasn’t much to choose from in the way of costumes. Stores were loaded with plastic masks, pants and shirts. Below is a picture of me wearing one of my Halloween costume. 

As we got older, my neighbor’s mother used to make his costumes. I was so jealous because one year she made him a Jaws costume. It was awesome.

I miss those easy days of figuring out what to wear on Halloween and trick or treating with friends and family without worry. Colored leaves accumulating along the curbs with candy wrappers and costumes that couldn’t hold up to the challenging hours. The smell of burning leaves in the distance.

Smarties and Mary Janes,

Bea

You have just crossed over into the Twilight Zone!

Twilight Zone

As a child I loved watching the Twilight Zone, which surprises me now as to why I don’t read or write sci-fi, fantasy, or horror. To me, the ideas and story lines were so brilliant and ahead of their time. Today I was talking to my friend about ghosts and ghost story, and this made me think back about my favorite Twilight Zone episodes.

One of the scariest for me was about a woman in a wheelchair. She kept receiving phone calls from a man asking if she was all right and taking care of herself. She’d respond but kept asking who it was, but they would never say only inquire about her well being. Then one day, her nurse brings her to the cemetery to visit her son’s grave and a telephone wire leads into his grave. *chills*

One I thought was scary sad was about a guy who loved to read. He worked at a bank (I think) and during his lunch hour went down into the vault to read. During that time there was a nuclear explosion and everything wiped out. He comes out and everyone is gone, but he wanders around and finds a library with books galore. The man is so excited to be able to read all he wants. Then he trips and falls, his glasses fly off and when he feels around for them he accidentally steps and breaks them. It ends with him crying on the library steps because he cannot see, therefore, read.

What are your favorite Twilight Zone episode(s)?