Taking All the Fun Out of Halloween

With the exception of The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horrors specials, I really don’t get the appeal of Halloween. Why do people go out of their way to be terrified? What’s so fun about that?

Death seems closer this time of year. In colder climates, the leaves have fallen, giving the trees a more skeletal look. The crops are in so the fields are barren. It’s getting darker and darker. The world seems to be passing from the warm, vibrant life of summer into a cold death-like slumber.

Without looking it up or actually doing any research, I think Halloween must have originated in relation to traditions like Day of the Dead and All Saints Day. These customs, rooted in ancient cultures from around the world, are an opportunity to remember and in some cases, communicate with loved ones who have passed. In Mexico’s Day of the Dead, it’s often a happy, funny celebration where people cross that line between this life and the next. In the Episcopal church where I attend, All Saints Day is a somber occasion where those who have died are solemnly remembered.

People used to be closer to death. They would watch loved ones die at home and spend time with the body afterwards. Families did the washing and burying themselves instead of hiring a funeral home. Sometimes after a flood or landslide, because of more primitive burial practices, bodies reappeared revealing decaying flesh and skeletal remains.

We don’t often see that any more, but we recreate the visions of dead bodies and live ghosts every October 31. Why? To laugh at something we fear?

Haunted houses are big business. So are slasher movies. The louder some people scream, the more fun they are having.

Not me. I avoid going to a scary movie at all costs. I have enough fear in my regular life. And because I’ve faced the real prospect of death, my own and others’, I just don’t think styrofoam gravestones in the yard, or plastic skeleton hands sticking out of the ground are funny.

But don’t let me spoil your fun. This year I’ll be helping my sister hand out candy to trick-or-treaters up in Cheyenne. The scariest thing there will be her dogs happily barking every time the doorbell rings.