Ready for all things October, except for one

Haunted houses simply not my idea of a good time

When I was in high school, I went to a haunted house with my friends. All was fine for the first half of the experience. This is probably because I had my eyes closed most of the time, holding on to the shirt of the person in front of me as we made our way through.

Guy covered in fake blood with limbs askew? No thanks!

I’m not so much for people jumping out at me either, which is somewhat of a staple at haunted houses. Looking back, I’m not really sure how I wound up there in the first place. I’m usually pretty good about following my instincts and doing my own thing.

At some point in this haunted house experience I opened my eyes, just in time to see a guy in some sort of deadly costume jump toward me, his arms reaching for me. I instinctively stepped backward … and got my foot stuck in the floor.

The house was an old farmhouse, with its share of farmhouse problems. I happened to step into a weak spot in the flooring and my foot went right through.

After a few minutes, I was freed and uninjured, thanks to two “ghouls” who helped, and we made our way through the rest of the experience.

The operator was super apologetic, offering us free future visits, much to my friends’ delight.

But here I am, well-removed from my 16-year-old self, and I don’t think I’ve stepped foot in a spooky haunted house since.

Keep in mind, I love October, and Halloween is my favorite time of year.

In fact, my house already has decorations up inside, and now that it’s officially October, I’m looking for a few open minutes to go hang some creepy spiders and massive webs outside. They look pretty scary against the stucco!

But that’s about as far as I’m willing to go. I want to make our Halloween a fun experience for all ages, and while I’m OK with some skeleton hands and tombstones sticking out of the grass, my goal is always a hint of spooky with a lot of fun and candy for all ages, teens and parents included!

Now that October is officially here, I’m ready for it!