Halloween Haunts Postscript: 364 Days to Go Until Halloween
By Kevin Wetmore, Halloween Haunts Curator
Chicagoland artist, actor and poet Tony Fitzpatrick, who sadly passed away on October 11 of this year, once said, “Few memories evoke as much giddy joy for me as Halloween. For myself and the collection of miscreants, juvenile delinquents and future felons that comprised my peer group, Halloween meant that we owed our community some smashed pumpkins, obscene renderings, trees full of toilet paper and of course the odd flaming bag of dog shit on the front stoop. Halloween untethered us. It was the day we more resembled the beasts we were to become…Halloween is still about letting that beast that lives in your heart off its leash, finding your inner-outlaw and tossing him the keys for 24 hours or so. I’m talking to you–in the cube–let it loose–come dance with the beast.” While I cannot condone smashing pumpkins or flaming bags of shit, the overall sentiment is one I find I live daily.
This is one of the reasons I think we horror writers are the Halloween People. In a Scrooge-like evolution, we have learned to keep Halloween in our hearts year-round. We unleash the beast, we become the beast, we dance with the beast in Fitzpatrick’s sense every time we sit down to write. In this space for the past thirty one days over three dozen writers have given us glimpses into the “giddy joy” of Halloween.
Sometimes November 1 feels like one of the saddest days of the year. My family and I spend all of October getting ready for Halloween and then, in a night, it is over. But, as I have often asserted, Halloween is not a one-day holiday but a mindset and a lifestyle. I hope the past 31 days have given you joy, spooked you a little, and maybe even introduced you to some new writers you were unaware of. I hope the next eleven months go well for you and for us all until the next All-Hallow’s. Many thanks to the officers and board of the HWA for providing this opportunity, and to everyone who contributed. Now forgive me for running, I have to start getting ready for next Halloween.
See you in the shadows; stay scary.
KJW