Shit That's Spooky (And Other Halloween Shenanigans).
Well hello there! Happy Halloween!! I hope you are having a delightfully spooky day, to end off this wonderfully Fall month. This is my favorite holiday, and so of course I couldn’t continue to leave you hanging here. Last year I wrote about the irony of Halloween, and what makes it more than just a super awesome holiday to me. This year, I’m keeping it simple, and lite, and I’m bringing you another one of my lists, because- honestly, it’s easier, and this is a busy day for me. So here’s five tiny, spooky stories.
Stay Safe & Definitely Stay Spooky.
One night, wayyy back when I was a little kiddo, I saw something that no one else did. My grandma and I were out on the front porch of her beautiful house, saying goodbye to a family friend. I was tired and so my grandma (Bami), was holding me while we waved and blew kisses goodbye. I glanced up toward the corner of the garage door, because something had caught my eye, and watched four pink orbs floating, and spinning in a circle. No idea what they were, but no one else saw them besides me, and the creepy feeling I felt while watching them still freaks me out. (If you Google it, these orbs are believed to be spirits. For the sake of Halloween, I’ll just pretend that the internet is reliable…).
I was 16 when I first heard the story of Slenderman. (I know it’s a bit overdone now, but just hang in there.) After spending what felt like hours sitting in a friends garage with his girlfriend, and watching him and my boyfriend at the time work on their cars, the four of us went inside to relax. We all laid sprawled out on on their bed, as Spencer began to tell us the whole story of Slenderman, in detail, while Katie accompanied his story with photos from the internet. Now, I’m not an idiot who just believes in this stuff, but the way he told it was scary, so… it freaked me out a little. It was very late, so after the story was over I decided it was a good time to go home. I didn’t live far so I just walked. During my walk Spencer, and my boyfriend thought it would be funny to run though a bunch of people’s yards to sneak up on me, and then Spencer sat on my boyfriend’s shoulders, and they scared the ever livin’ crap out of me.
My first haunted house experience wasn’t until I was 17 years old. A group of friends and I went together. I’ve never been good with jump scares, and so when we entered a room filled with mannequins all dressed as creepy clowns, I knew what was coming. I also have a good eye. I walked right up to the clown that I believed was an actual person waiting to scare us, pointed right at his face, and said, “You are a real person. I KNOW you are, and don’t you dare scare me.” (Clearly forgetting the point of a haunted house.) He didn’t scare me, he ran right around me, and I got to watch him scare the crap out of my friends. It was glorious. Then they “kidnapped” my boyfriend as revenge. At least, I’m calling it revenge. Honestly, it was probably all part of their bit.. but it felt personal to me. (Don’t worry, they gave him back. He even got to scare us a little too.)
Kids are curious. Which means they sometimes end up in strange places that they don’t belong. I’ve done that once or twice. One time, after a bike ride with some kids from the neighborhood, we ended up outside an old, shut-down elementary school. The door to the abandoned building happened to be unlocked, and so we went inside. It was creepy, and dark, and everything creepy, dark abandoned buildings are played out to be. We ran around the empty gym, and danced on the desks. Then, we found the stairs to the basement. There was a light on down there. Small sounds of movement, that sent chills up and down my spine. We were frozen, until one of us noticed the red marks on the wall. They looked like finger prints dragging down the length of the stairs. I wanted to check, to make sure it wasn’t just paint, or crayon. It looked like blood, so we ran. I guess I’ll never know.
One night, while I was home alone, I heard the sound of someone else in my house. (I went through this story in detail on the DanniSnaps facebook page, here.) Terrified, I decided that I wasn’t going to live through the situation without my mom, so I armed myself with my sister’s tiny blue umbrella, and made a run for the house phone. After dialing the number to the grocery store with shaky hands, and getting my mother on the phone, I was informed that I was overreacting. My mom didn’t tell me I was overreacting, but that’s what I was doing. You see, old trailer houses like the one I grew up in.. they make weird noises. Apparently, when the wind hits the house just right, the metal backing of the stove makes a popping sound. Which is what I was hearing when I thought I heard the “trespassing thief” open a can of soda, and then set the aluminum can on the dining table. It was ridiculous, but I was very scared. Also, picture me running through my living room waving a tiny blue umbrella around like it was life or death- is the story worth it now?
Watch out for those trick-or-treaters!
