A Spook With Sass

A Ghostly Post from Haunted Piece of Sass

As posted on Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom

One night a year, the air gets charged with magic and the dark moon casts shadows all about.  Whispers come from nowhere and things go bump in the night. Goosebumps come with every step taken down a darkened street and you know you’re being watched… followed… stalked, but by who, what, where?!

(play eerie music)

Then again, it could be the wine. After all, paranoia is a sign of a drinking problem. And Halloween parties often have the wine a flowin’ – hence why I love them. But paranoia and creepy crawlies are par for the course on Halloween, so we might as well costume up and bob some apples.

Halloween is utterly magic to me. Being a girl who gets freaked out by Medium and needs to check under the bed after watching a scary commercial, I’m a whimp.  I’m easily convinced that evil is lurking nearby and something is out to get me. Halloween would completely disable me if not for the gentle crackle of candy wrappers calming me with their sugary sweet promises.

From an early age, Halloween candy held a special place in my heart. What kid doesn’t count their booty and take inventory, then strategize a swap with their siblings to acquire a maximum Snickers to Sweet Tarts ratio? You gotta get rid of unwanted Neccos – lucky for me, my sister loved those. For kids, Halloween is part spooky what-ifs and part guaranteed sugar-coma, totaling a night of magical splendor.

At age 7, my teacher asked our class to write an essay discussing why we liked Halloween. My essay was one full lined sheet of paper discussing candy – in detail. The words “Candy is great” and “I love candy” were repeated 4 and 6 times, respectively. The underlying theme – because all seven year-old writing has a theme – was that free candy blew my mind. An entire night where EVERYONE gave me candy for FREE sent me into a candy-loving tizzy.

At age 15, my friends and I skulked from door to door in our lazy excuses for costumes. Then we snuck off to the neighborhood park where my scrawny yet adorable first boyfriend (awe…) spooked me by trying to kiss me through a rubber monster mask. And when he finally took the mask off and we ducked into the shadows of lofty pine trees, each kiss that followed was charged with Halloween magic.

By age 21, Halloween took on a whole new meaning. Every party featured a cauldron of witches “brew” that made the world go all swirly. Magic indeed! Surely a goblin snuck in and spiked the punch. Candy remained a constant, but Halloween kisses weren’t all treat anymore – there was college trickery in them, too. 

And over the years, my love for Halloween hasn’t changed. Today, it’s not about the candy or hidden kisses (though both are pretty fabulous) but about the enchanted possibilities floating in the air. I almost hope there are real witches and goblins and ghosts – just not in my neighborhood, per se – because they’d be proof  that the unknown, with all its magical charm, does exist. And to imagine that such unthinkables are real makes life seem exciting and new.

We grow so accustomed to seeing people and the world as we are – appearances, actions, words often reek of the ordinary – but on Halloween we get to play with the idea of what more could lay beneath? Perhaps under that costume lurks something unspeakable, something forbidden, something dark and sinister… eek!!

The history of Halloween is a mystery to me. I understand there are many beliefs and meanings in this one celebrated night that have nothing to do with ghosts and ghouls. Surely any holiday that lasted centuries is founded in some truth and stems from an important role in the society of our ancestors. And I have no intention of labeling such a longstanding day as dark or a celebration of evil. For me, it was never either of those. It has always been a day to ponder the unknown and try to see the magic in everyday life.

As a child, that magic was free candy. As a teenager, it was hidden kisses. As a college student, let’s just say, things got tricky. And this Halloween, that magic is in the unknown possibilities… and hopefully a few sugary-lipped kisses come my way, too.

This post was featured in Mrs. B's  31 Days of Halloween at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. Check her out, she's one witchy woman !