Halloween season is upon us, and boy, is it my favorite time of year.
I love everything about it. The cozy soups and stews that I constantly have going in the crockpot. The crisp edge to the weather and falling leaves. Living in hoodies. The elaborate decorations popping up in yards all over town.
The feeling in the air that something is different. Maybe a bit spooky. Because Halloween is that time of year where many of us want to be scared. Now, not real scared, mind you. But the fun kind that you can only get at a haunted house or listening to spooky stories told in hushed voices around a campfire.
Or, if you’re me, curled up with a good thriller or horror book and a fuzzy blanket.
My introduction to horror books came in the same way as many others my age -- the “Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark” series with its nightmare-inducing illustrations. The latest to add to the collection is Jeneva Rose’s horror anthology “Sometimes I Scare Myself.”
This book reminded me why I love stories that make your hair stand on end.
Now, they aren’t necessarily the loud or in-yourface kind of scary. It wasn’t all jump-scares and gore, but rather the back and forth of “Is this really happening or am I imagining it?” Or its more terrifying counterpart, “I KNOW something is happening, but no one else sees it or believes it.”
That, my friends, terrifies me more than anything.
That feeling in your gut that something horribly wrong/scary is happening, but not exactly trusting what you see or feel because there’s always a rational explanation, right? Usually delivered by wellmeaning friends who just don’t see what you do.
I love stories that build on that as a reader. I also love exploring that blurry space as a writer. Creating scenarios where my characters have that gut instinct that something isn’t right, but they just aren’t sure. Or maybe it’s explained away by a different character, either intentionally or unintentionally.
That moment of, “Am I losing it or is this real?”
“Did that shadow really move or did my brain make that up?”
“Are they following me or do we just happen to be going in the same direction?”
Some of the biggest scares -- to me, at least -- don’t necessarily come from the murderous guy with a chainsaw or axe. They come from the moments that seem perfectly normal, but one little thing is off.
A smile that lingers a little too long or doesn’t quite reach someone’s eyes. The feeling of being watched, even though it’s the middle of the afternoon and there are plenty of people around you going about their days. A curtain that flutters in a window, but you never see if someone (or something) moved it.
I won’t get into the details of “Sometimes I Scare Myself” -- it’s better to go in as cold as possible -- but each story stayed in my head long after I stopped reading. It had my heart speeding up when I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye. Double-checking the locks. Pausing a bit longer than normal when I was in the garage and heard a weird noise.
Having weird dreams that somehow meshed the stories in the book with real-life nearby towns.
But always afterwards, I would laugh at myself. Because I know that it’s not real. It’s just a book (even though one of the stories was actually based on a real-life experience, which is absolutely TERRIFYING), and at the end of the day, I can put it down and walk away.
Yes, there is a lingering sense of fear that sticks with me, but it’s a fear over something fictional. A made-up story about a made-up place and madeup people. The fun kind of fear. And the perfect start to Halloween season.
So, go ahead and do that scarymoviemarathon.Curl up on the sofa with a mug of tea and a good horror book, while wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. Get those Halloween decorations out. Go to that haunt.
Spooky season is upon us.