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Halloween Haunts: The Scariest Halloween Costumes of All by Christine King

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King_photo1It’s that time of year again. I gleefully walk into the temporary outlets of spook, where all my Halloween needs can be found: zombie rats, life-size skeletons, grave stones, reapers, spider webs, fog, black lights, glow paint, dripping blood, ghouls, specters…you know, the basic fall necessities. To my surprise, here is the most frightening thing I’ve come across in the costume shops:

I’m a fan of Beetlejuice, him being a dead guy and all. But this was not the ghostest with the mostest. In fact, these outfits were apparently among the most popular costumes of 2013. Can I say Bah Humbug?? Is there such a thing as a Halloween Grinch? If so, here I am, pounding my fist on the table and complaining in a curmudgeonly fashion that Halloween has strayed too far from its properly frightening origins. Nowadays, the streets are crowded with superheroes in padded muscle-bound tights, puffy characters from popular brand names and internet memes of the moment. It’s few and far between to see a trick or treater of any age dressed as a ghoul or monster. And as for that most popular costume of 2013, the scariest thing about a celebrity in a drunk teddy bear onesie is that her PR team let her onstage at the MTV Awards dressed like that.

Halloween. All Hallow’s King_photo2Eve. Samhain. Originally, a night you didn’t want to be out and about. Why? No matter where you were raised, the origins dictate that it is the night that the dark gods, faeries and spirits of the dead walk the earth, their one chance to abscond with whomever they perceive to be living. The idea was this: “mumming” or “guising”, aka “Dress up to fool those that would do you harm”. Other fun Samhain activities: light a bonfire to protect and to cleanse. And if you must travel, carry a carved turnip lantern to ward off evil. In fact, cover your doorstep in carved gourds and let the candles burn all night for protection. If brave enough to go from home to home, ask for food to celebrate the end of harvest and the beginning of winter (keeping in mind that, as the keeper of the household, to not donate food will bring misfortune or, possibly, a “trick”.)

In the Christian influenced Hallowmas, “It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints’ Day, and All Hallows’ Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities”.

So, if you’re out and about on Halloween dressed as the progeny of Hollywood elite and begging for sugar, good luck and God Speed. Don’t be surprised if you hear footsteps just behind you but can’t find the source. Stay in the light and stick to the well-trod paths. Oh, and definitely stay off the moors. Consider yourself warned.

Happy Haunting!

TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: Halloween Haunts contributor CKing_biophotohristopher Alan Broadstone is offering one e-book copy of Suicide the Hard Way: And Other Tales From The Innerzone. Enter for the prize by posting in the comments section. Winners will be chosen at random and notified by e-mail. You may enter once for each giveaway, and all entrants may be considered for other giveaways if they don’t win on the day they post. You may also enter by e-mailing membership@horror.org and putting HH CONTEST ENTRY in the header.

CHRISTINE KING writes Young Adult Paranormal and Horror fiction with a focus on ghosts, some romance, supernatural, humor, screaming & creepy things. Previous titles include Bedlam Stories and Project Alice. Her next book, The Evocation, goes to press with True North Publishing this year. Follow her at www.authorchristineking.com.

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