One to Fear on those Hallowed Eves

Halloween was always an exciting time around our house. My brother Will and I would spend weeks planning the tricks we could play, and ways to rig our house for the expected trick-or-treaters. Will has always had a talent for rigging special effects, especially when it came to lighting. Every Christmas and birthday he would always ask for some kind of special light. Our parents have always been good at nurturing and supporting our dreams. If they saw a talent or interest there they would do everything they could to give us the tools to grow this talent. So needless to say we had an arsenal of special effects to make our house one to fear on those hallowed eves.

Halloween typically fell on a school day so once we got home it was time to get to work. You would almost think you were watching an A-Team episode the way we were cutting, rigging, stringing fishing line, and tying knots. Once the sun set it was time for us to take our places. Now our house was your typical ranch style house with a straight front, brick stair case, and about a 4'x8' concrete patio leading to the front door. Along the front were bushes that made for a perfect location to set our command center for our make shift haunted house. Once everything was prepared it was then time to wait on the first victim.

Our yard was pitch black. All one could see was the faint glow of the front porch light and a massive bowl of candy louring for any trick-or-treater. Out of the front bathroom window we had a stereo playing the grueling Halloween sounds that seemed to surround the atmosphere like the low fog covering your feet. The hesitant trick-or-treater would make there way towards the staircase to claim the prize of candy that awaits. He notices that the bowl of candy is not sitting on a stand but in the lap of a cloaked human like object. The dim front porch light makes the trick-or-treater strain his eyes, but once he is close enough he dares to reach for the candy inside. Once the candy was grasped the cloaked figure holding the candy (me) would open his eyes, and grab the wrist of the intruder. The scream of the trick-or-treater immediately set off a nightmare of events that caused him to do mach 10 from our front porch back to the safety of the street. The human like figure stood up still holding the victim's wrist as Will would switch on his horrifying light show of multiple strobe lights coming at you at all different angles. I had a microphone that tuned in to an FM station that projected my voice like a deep muffled amplifier, where I screamed and made all sorts of howling sounds. The cloaked figure let go of the trick-or-treater's wrist as he went barreling down the staircase. At this point, Will set off a series of ghost that were tied from the base of the staircase to a tree in the yard creating a zip line of strobe flashing ghost to fall fast & furiously to meet the trick-or-treater as he got to the bottom of the stairs and made his escape to the freedom of the road.

Will and I had the best time rigging the house for Halloween, sure that that year we had scared off our last trick-or-treater never to return again. However, low and behold, 365 days later, the would be trick-or-treaters would always try their hand at fate again.

-Steve Childress

Location:Poplar Ave,Memphis,United States