Which is better: fun and funny or creepy and scary?

For some people, Halloween is a chance to dress up in a hilarious costume, hang out with friends, get colossal amounts of candy, and have fun. For others, it’s a time to go to a haunted house, see a scary movie, and scare the living daylights out of innocent bystanders. For me, it’s a little of both.

I love a good Halloween costume. One of my favorite things about the holiday is seeing what creative costumes my friends come up with. Costumes I myself have worn range from a Jedi Knight to a flower bed. And boy, do I love candy. Back when I was little and had the energy to trick or treat for hours on end, I would get so much candy that it would last me until the next May. These days, I’m a little too old for trick-or-treating, but I still find a way to get my candy. From door to door trick-or-treating to having a party at someone’s house, I always have loads of fun on Halloween night.

On the other hand, though, I thoroughly enjoy the scary side of Halloween.  I’ll watch a scary movie any day, and I especially love really awful zombie movies. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know, but I think they’re pretty super. Even though I am fond of haunted houses, scary movies, and scaring people, I get scared really easily. So easily that I’ll get scared in broad daylight. If I’m just sitting at lunch, minding my own business and not thinking about scary things at all, and someone comes up behind me and yells “Boo!” I will most likely scream. As a result, scary movies and haunted houses are pretty scream-inducing. I couldn’t even get all the way through the last haunted house I went to. I got about a quarter of the way through, then freaked out, turned around and ran screaming out of the entrance. I had to sit at the exit and watch Saw by myself for 45 minutes before all my friends came out. I did get to have a great conversation with Hellraiser while I was waiting though. He was really nice, even under that scary mask and angry expression.

So maybe Halloween is a little bit of both for everybody. It’s about the candy and the fun and the costumes, but it’s also about where it all started, with the ghouls, ghosts and scares. That’s the great thing about Halloween. There’s something for everybody. Except for those silly people who don’t like anything. And they can just stay home and stay out of the way of our fun.