Bringing Halloween to Your Robinson Neighborhood

I love it. Leaves are flying, pumpkins are getting stabbed and most people are in costume. Yes! It’s Halloween season!

If you’ve read this column before you may be familiar with my obsession for the autumnal holiday! Whether you’re talking house-decorating (which I still have yet to finish) or pumpkin purchasing (got a huge one last week) I’m a fan!

This year, however, I have been super busy and I haven’t been able to take the time to fully appreciate ghosts and goblins and such. I have yet to visit a pumpkin patch, which for me, is quite scandalous.  I haven’t gone to one haunted house. I haven’t even eaten a caramel apple or popcorn ball. WHO AM I AND WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH THE REAL GAB BONESSO?

I had an idea this week for playing catch-up, killing two Hitchcockian birds with one stone. As I’ve mentioned I take daily exercise walks for my mind, body and soul. What if I did a Halloween/exercise mashup/multitask?

Let me explain.

Since the weather has been so creepily gray with the colorful leaves flowing through the air, it’s giving my whole neighborhood a cinematic feeling. Combining that with the plethora of crows, stink bugs and brown recluse spiders, I figured I could actually have fun scaring myself while walking. Especially if I accompanied said walk with nothing but music scores from classic horror films stored on my iPod.

Sounds creepy, huh?

Well, it was. It actually freaked me out to the point that I started muttering to myself, “I do believe in spooks. I do believe in spooks,” the classic quote from the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz.

I’m not saying crows were following me and leaves were trying to give me signs or anything really nutty. However, there are these two abandoned homes at the very beginning of my street. They look like they were built in the 1800s or something. They are not pre-fabricated or suburban-looking like every other house on my block. Also, unlike every other house, they don’t face the street. They are sideways.

I was walking past those two homes (which, incidentally, are across the street from a church) and the theme music from John Carpenter’s Halloween started to play. A huge chunk of that film takes place in an abandoned house. The music started, I looked into a window of one of the abandoned homes and I swear to God I thought I saw Michael Meyers (the killer from Halloween).

I screamed and ran off like a cartoon character!

Obviously Michael Meyers was not in that window. Nor do I believe that killers from movies exist (except for the Exorcist).  However, my little experiment worked. I essentially created my own horror-walk and I was able to get my exercise out of the way too!

Now I am not suggesting that each of you drive over to my street to have this multitasking mashup experience. I am suggesting that you do this on your street or down at the Robinson trails or even better, the allegedly haunted Hershinger Road in Moon.

Regardless of how you get your Halloween fix, please everyone have a safe and happy Halloween! You can make your own live horror movie using a little imagination and an Ipod. And it helps if you’re just a little bit insane.