Tis the Season of Spooky

In five short days, it will be Halloween once again.  My favorite part of Halloween is the candy...not the spooky.  I don't like haunted houses. When I went through Disney's Haunted Mansion as a child, I kept a death grip on my Dad's hand all the way through.  I love a good road rally or scavenger hunt, but not ones that force me through haunted houses.  I don't watch Criminal Minds, CSI or any other similar show because I'll have nightmares for sure.  It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, is my speed.  

I will read a scary book, as long as it's not slasher scary.  My imagination is pretty vivid, but I can skip the scary parts and get back to the story.  I don't watch scary movies.  No horror.  No slasher flicks.  Nothing.  My idea of a great movie is one that has a great story line, good character development and can cause me to keep pondering on the movie after I leave.  Or just makes me laugh and forget about life.  This is why I watch more animated movies than most people my age without children.

Reflecting on why I have such a sour taste for the spooky, I've determined where this all started.  The Wizard of Oz.  Yes, that classic movie has forever turned me off the frightening.  When I watched this movie for the first time, I was probably 6 or 7.  I remember it vividly.   I was dressed in my PJs and curled up on the couch in our basement family room with my parents to experience my first viewing.  In preparation for the fun, I had a Twinkie and an Orange Crush.  All was wonderful and lighthearted until the Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys showed up.  Talk about spooky.  Her "I'll get you my pretty!...and your little dog too!!" scared my slippers off.  I enjoyed the movie again once she melted, but that was traumatic for a quiet, little child.  

That night when I went to bed I had my first memorable nightmare.  It involved the Wicked Witch, flying monkeys and whatever else that made me not sleep well.  I would suspect it had as much to do with the Twinkie and Orange Crush as it did the movie, but nonetheless, it has forever kept me from that which is spooky.

The moral of the story: Don't watch scary movies and eat Twinkies and drink Orange Crush.