Halloween and spooky season; what are your thoughts?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. As you probably know, today is Halloween, a day where many have gone out trick or treating, had raging Halloween parties or otherwise done something spooky to celebrate. In recent times, Halloween has grown bigger and more widely commercialised and celebrated, and this seems to have sent people into one of two camps. Here in Britain at least, I’ve noticed that people either seem to love Halloween and relish the spooky season or not be a fan of Halloween, often bemoaning how “we Britons are allowing Americanisms to take over” or something along those lines. With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; where do you stand on Halloween and the spooky season? Are you a Halloween fan, or are you a Halloween sceptic?

Personally, I must admit that I’m not a huge fan of Halloween. When I was a child, the best bit of the season for me was always the chocolate I got from trick or treating, and I’ve never been that big on the other aspects of it; Halloween is never something I’ve been massively keen on overall. As I’ve grown older in particular, and the popular Halloween activities have grown more mature in nature, I’ve found myself really going off it. I’m not a big fan of horror, and as silly as it might sound, I must confess that I get mildly anxious around teenagers and adults in Halloween costumes.

It might help that I was brought up in a household that didn’t really celebrate Halloween. Me and my sister trick or treated as young kids, but we only visited a small, cherry picked selection of close family members who knew we were coming, and it was never a big thing. We never celebrated Halloween in any meaningful way. My mum and dad’s mentality with Halloween has always been in the ilk of “batten down the hatches, shut the curtains, turn off all the front facing lights and pretend we’re not home”, and it’s never been a big thing for us.

But I’d be keen to know; what are your thoughts on Halloween and the spooky season? Do you love it, or are you like me in not being a huge fan? I’d be really keen to know!

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

I love the Halloween season! Actually, haunted houses were right up there with roller coasters as a passion of mine, especially when I lived near the Detroit area and the haunted house per capita ratio was incredibly high! It's not as prevalent here in Montreal, so it has kind of died down a bit for me, but I do actually live closer to a lot of the highly ranked haunted houses in America now (still far, but closer), so I do hope to do some of those at some point. I actually don't like the Halloween events at most amusement parks though, and I like to keep the coaster/haunted house passion separate, unless I was going somewhere with a famous Halloween event. I find the crowds are too high and they shove too many people through the haunts at once for me to truly enjoy them.

The past few years have been a bit more tame, but I have always been into haunts and Halloween, and I doubt that will ever not be the case. Now I need my kid to get on board with liking the spooky (which he hates at the moment) on top of the coasters! I did just read a book as well about the history of Halloween, which kind of explains why a lot of British people might not like how the holiday has gone from what it was, to what it is now. Interesting stuff.

 

[Ollie]

Love it. Although I have to as my job is designing and creating scare mazes/events to entertain/scare people each year
It's hectic and hard work, but it's super rewarding when you're finally open and see people enjoying what you created.

 

[Dan Nguyen]

Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year for me.

I love the vibe that parks give off in the fall. I love visiting different theme park haunt events and seeing how they compare to my home haunt. I love how parks are open later into the night. The weather is pretty consistent this time of year.

Local independent haunts are my favorite type of haunt. They tend to be more intense than most theme park haunts are. I especially love the ones that are located in the middle of nowhere or make you walk around in the woods at night. Something about the isolation makes them way more fun to do than your average theme park haunt.

Growing up, my family mostly went trick or treating during Halloween. I never liked horror movies or anything too scary when I was younger. As I grew older, horror became a much bigger part of my life. Nowadays I fully embrace the whole Halloween vibe come September and it stays till November.

 

[Graeme]

I've never been a fan, for three reasons:

Firstly, Trick or Treating. There used to be a genuine level of threat and blackmail to this. Groups of youths would actually do something unpleasant if you didn't answer your door or give them anything. It would certainly be something you'd rather not happen, put it that way - a type of bad behaviour that wouldn't happen on any other night of the year. As I understand it, it's a little bit better now and more about visiting houses that have got decorations up.

Secondly, the increased violence and gore. Whilst I don't follow any scare events, it's hard not to catch a glimpse or two. It seems to me the recurring themes - fear, cruelty, suffering, unpleasant surprises, masochism - are not particularly edifying. The imagery is now of the type you would, in the past, not expect to see outside of a horror film. It is becoming increasingly public, I feel, and encroaching on those who don't want to see or hear it.

Thirdly, I just don't enjoy the dark energy of it. Agree or disagree, I have come to believe there's a spiritual reality to everything, if not a physical one. Halloween is one of many things that connects us with something it's better not to connect with, I feel, and puts us in a low state, spiritually. At the end of the day, it's one of those things that either resonates with you or it doesn't.