Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Halloween Spirit
I used to be. I used to LOVE dressing up and trick-or-treating and parading around from classroom to classroom as a princess or a witch or a TV set.
I last trick-or-treated in 9th grade with an acquaintance from school and some of her friends. The outing quickly lost its appeal when the "friends" decided they would rather play tricks than collect treats and some old woman ran us off her porch with a broom because we were "way too old to be begging old ladies for candy."
I went home that night and was officially DONE with Halloween.
I've made a few vain attempts over the years to reclaim my love for the holiday whose sole purpose is to spend the day as someone you're not and eat massive quantities of chocolate. But it has been years since I've actually looked forward to Halloween.
I have no plans this year, either. I'll probably make a huge bowl of popcorn, buy a jumbo-sized bag of snack-sized Almond Joys and fall asleep during the Ghosthunters marathon on SyFy.
But I do sort of want to get into the Halloween spirit. So I thought I'd post a few stories between now and the 31st. Some are scary, some are funny, and all are true.
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The Haunted Corn Maze
When I moved to Utah, I had one friend. She happened to be a former mission companion with whom I was supposed to be roommates, except that she decided to get married instead.
I liked my roommates just fine, but I wanted to get to know more people than just the six girls of varying ages that shared my address. So I set out to meet new friends. Which was how I ended up at a party one night in early October. It was a small gathering and I was acquainted with most of the party-goers through church. As the evening went on, however, several of them had other plans and excused themselves one by one until there were four of us. Julie, the hostess, ReAnne, who had already become my friend, and a guy whose name I can't remember.
(Interesting trivia tidbit: Two years later I would move into the very house where this party was, but with different roommates. One of which became my good friend Emily.)
(Another interesting tidbit: Some of my experiences living in this house with Emily may or may not be the subject of a scary story I might share next week...)
With only four of us left, we decided to go to the Corn Maze in Farmington. Although I grew up within a mile of some rather large corn fields, I had never been to a corn maze. See, back in my childhood, we weren't supposed to play with our food.
It was a chilly evening, but I was warm enough in jeans, a sweater, and gloves. I had not worn appropriate footwear, however, and my shoes were dirty almost as soon as I stepped out of the car. It was dark, despite the large halogen floodlights and none of us had thought to bring a flashlight.
We bought tickets and looked at entrances to two different mazes. One was "kid friendly" and the other was "haunted." I have never been a fan of haunted houses (real or otherwise) and I pleaded with my new friends to go to the kiddie maze. The fact that they acquiesced so easily led me to believe that they weren't big fans of the chainless chainsaws and costumed characters either.
Getting through the maze didn't take nearly as long as we thought it would. We, apparently, had good sense of direction and made only a few wrong turns. So when we reached the end, it wasn't nearly time to leave yet. The night was just getting started!
Which, I suppose, is how they convinced me to "just try" the haunted corn maze.
We got about 50 feet into the maze when all four of us huddled together, freaking out at the slightest little noise. I kept thinking that if I were a serial killer, there would be no better way to find victims and cover your tracks than to yank them into a corn field. And so, when the 6-foot tall boy dressed all in black leaped from among the 8-foot tall corn stalks and cranked up a chainsaw, I screamed. And then I turned to run. Everyone scattered, but I was standing in a mud puddle.
Like a scene from Scooby Doo, my feet were running, but I went nowhere. Until I slipped and landed on my hands and knees. Thinking that maybe, like a T-Rex, the chainsaw sportin' Texan might only detect movement, I froze. He approached me. I stopped breathing. He leaned in, the whining chainsaw mere inches from my face.
"Hey," he said, "are you okay?"
We exited through the entrance and decided that pumpkin ice cream from Arctic Circle was a much more appealing way to end the evening's festivities.
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awwww, the chainsaw killer cared if you were hurt or not! it's sweet and funny!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame ya for not wanting to go through the haunted one, I know I wouldn't! I like scary movies, but no way to haunted houses or corn mazes!
I'm not a big fan of being scared out of my mind. I avoid haunted everything!
ReplyDeleteAt least you told everyone it was "mud" on your pants, right?
ReplyDeleteWell, at least the fella checked on you, I guess. I would've been mortified no matter what, so i think the decision to head out for ice cream was the right thing to do! : )
ReplyDeleteUmm.. never been in a corn maze before, but I would definitely go for the pumpkin ice cream!
ReplyDeleteI would have laughed at you. I don't get scared in haunted houses or corn maizes. I am awesome.
ReplyDeleteOh, this same thing happened to me. Okay, not the SAME thing. I'm a complete wimp about haunted houses. My friend wanted to go on one at an amusement park, but was too scared to go by herself. So I went with her, and sat with my eyes covered the entire time. During the ride, some park worker came up to our car and touched me, to ask if I was okay. It was probably the loudest scream he's ever heard.
ReplyDeleteOh man, what a story!! A chainsaw killer who shows compassion!!! You couldn't pay me a million bucks to walk through a haunted corn maze. You are much braver than I!
ReplyDeleteI have been to that corn maze a few times growing up, sadly it is a new housing development now.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to hear the stories about Emily...hahahaha
haha! love it. I'm so excited to go to a corn maze again now that I'm back where the corn grows tall. We have an Ohio shaped maze which I always say I'm going to do, but never have. I love a good scare! But the rules are, they're not allowed to touch you!
ReplyDeleteohh and, my friends brother used to work at the haunted maze, so imagine them calling your name when no one has spoken your name yet...that freaked me out and then i found out my friends brother worked there.
ReplyDeleteI had to *snicker* at the comment you made about how we weren't supposed to play with our food. So so so so true!!!
ReplyDeleteI love your story. I'm not a big fan of Halloween either, but kinda want to get into the spirit, but don't want to go into too much. Its a little confusing!
Oh I am the BIGGEST scaredy cat ever. I don't do horror, haunted or scary anything. I need my sleep thanks.
ReplyDeleteI do like dressing up for Halloween though. I've only gotten back into it in the last few years and it's fun to pretend to be someone completely opposite of what you usually are!
OK. I am back from changing my shorts. I laughed so hard I had a wee accident. I'm glad your getting in the Halloween spirit. I can not wait for the next story. This was way too much fun. I'll see you over at my blog. I am covering chupacabra I hope.
ReplyDeleteI've never been through a haunted corn maze, but visited many haunted houses in high school. I only agreed to go if one of the guys in our group would let me hold onto them. I laughed my butt off when you said the chainsaw guy asked if you were ok.
ReplyDelete