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Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

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chapman_cvrHalloween is spreading like the branches of an ancient bay tree across my hometown of Rockhampton, Australia.

Last year was the first time I decided to put up a Halloween display outside my house, because, much to my amazement, the fun of the season was finally starting to rear its (decapitated) head. People really came to my house – in costume! It was truly something I never thought possible in Australia.

As my friend Lisa Morton will tell you, Australia is the only English-speaking nation that hasn’t completely embraced Halloween traditions. Well, Lisa, I’m happy to report that the times, they are a changing.

Not only did people in my hometown decorate their houses last year (admittedly there weren’t a lot), but there was even a Halloween walk that my family and I went to. There were at least 100 people, decked out as zombies, serial killers, red devils, all having the time of their lives, wandering around the Heritage Village (kind of like a colonial-era homestead), dying to be scared by volunteers who role-played all kinds of crazy Halloween monsters. See my photos HERE

Across the nation I’m hearing talk of trick r treaters and costume parties and many shops are now carrying decorations. Of course, there are some naysayers who despise the holiday, or think it’s “an American thing”, but I think that Australia joining the zombie horde of Halloween revellers is long overdue!

This year the same tour will be on again, and although I won’t be attending this year (I’ll be hosting my own cemetery display at home), it’s truly wonderful to see that the fun Halloween spirit is alive and well, (no, sorry – dead and buried) in Rockhampton.

Instead of the Heritage Village lantern walk, I’ll be joining a group on a tour of the city’s oldest cemetery with Rockhampton Ghost Tours and I’ll even be reading one of my horror stories to the guests. It’s going to be memorable night!

So I think it’s safe to say the Halloween is taking the land Down Under to even darker depths for many generations to come and I for one, am very excited about that.

Hope you all have a horrible Halloween.

TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: Greg is offering one e-book copy of Vaudeville and Other Nightmares. Comment below to enter or e-mail membership@horror.org with “HH Entry” in the subject line.

GREG CHAPMAN is a horror author and artist from Central Queensland, Australia. His writing exploits began in 2009 after he was accepted into the Australian Horror Writers’ Association’s mentor program, under the tutelage of Melbourne author, Brett McBean. Since then, he has authored the novellas Torment, The Noctuary (both from Damnation Books, 2011), Vaudeville (Dark Prints Press, 2012) and The Last Night of October (Bad Moon Book, 2013). His debut collection, Vaudeville and Other Nightmares (Black Beacon Books) was released in September. His comic book illustrations have appeared in Midnight Echo, Decay and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. His most notable illustrative work is the Bram Stoker Award®-winning graphic novel, Witch-Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times, written by Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton, published by McFarland & Company in 2012. He is a proud member of the Australian Horror Writers’ Association and the Horror Writers’ Association. Find Greg on the web at http://darkscrybe.com

One comment on “Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

  1. Americans tend to take other cultures for granted and make the assumption that “everyone” does the same things we do. Greg has reminded us that Halloween, just like many other occasions, is different wherever you go in the world, and that not all of the world celebrates this particular occasion. I am glad, however, to see that Australians are beginning to embrace Halloween and will enjoy watching it evolve in their culture as time passes. Nicely written, Greg. And thanks for the enlightenment.

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