Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Creepiness

I have to say I am generally disturbed by a couple of things on Halloween. First, it freaks me out when kids who are too old for trick-or-treating come trick-or-treating at our house. I realize that I'm not especially tall, but when there's an adolescent at my door asking me for candy who's taller than I am, it makes me uneasy. To avoid this uncomfortable situation, we decided that last night we'd enjoy the cute tiny kids for an hour or so and then turn the porch light off a little early. So at 6:10 the doorbell rings for the first time and I grab my cauldron of candy, and there, I kid you not, is a person standing on our porch who is a good two inches taller than I am. Not only that, but he is obese. Not only that, but his dad is standing just off the porch waiting for him. Not only that, but his dad is obese as well. Seriously people, is it me or is there something wrong with this picture?

Here's the other thing that freaks me out on Halloween: people who go way overboard with the decorations. I'm not talking about a few pumpkins or some cobwebs or even a paper skeleton hanging in the tree in the front yard. I'm talking about people like the ones who live in the rural area next to our development, who have turned their yard into this:


Many years ago, we were walking our dogs past their house one evening when Chad said, "I don't remember there being a cemetery there." We realized immediately that it wasn't a cemetery, but it was quite funny, because they had very subtly placed about 5 tombstones in the empty field next to their house, so it was almost plausible that there could actually be a forgotten burial plot there in the much older neighborhood. It was creepy, yet understatedly so. Each year, they added a few more items to the display--tombstones, headless zombies coming out of the ground, a witch or skeleton hanging from a tree, a dilapidated fence--until they arrived at the monstrosity you see here.


I wish you could see this place in person. The pictures just don't do it justice because I was trying to snap them as we drove by through the plethora of cars that had gathered last night. The scary scene is actually at least the depth of their house, so there's so much I couldn't capture with a flash at night. I'll admit, the sight is pretty amazing, and yet, I have to be slightly worried about the people who have put so much time into this endeavor. Pretty creepy.


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