Haunted Houses

No Heroes last night, so I'll just have to tell you a story about my children and my childhood. As a child, I went to my first haunted house at the firefighter training house near our neighborhood. It was a little house with maybe two rooms, and I was probably about eight years old. All I remember is that my sister and I walked through and saw the traditional guy rising up from a coffin, a big scary guy walking towards us, and somebody jumping out at us. We were scared, but also delighted that we had made it through. From then on, haunted houses were a thing of pure excitement at Halloween and even throughout the year.

By the way, my younger brother did not go through the haunted house, he just met us around back to get some candy, and my younger cousin went in only because her dad was carrying her and told her it would be okay. As it turns out, when that first guy sat up out of his coffin, it wasn't all that okay for my uncle. He got punched right in the nose by his daughter and went straight back out the front door. It was actually pretty funny.

Anyway, as we grew, my siblings and my cousins and I would stage our own haunted houses. We would try to scare each other by falling out of closets, jumping from behind doors, whatever we could think of. And when we had the opportunity to go to a good haunted house, we never missed a chance. It was the best part of the Halloween season.

My oldest two are now twelve and ten, and I planted the seed of going to a haunted house this year for their first time. Reagan, the oldest, wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but she came around a bit when Abbie, the second oldest, started to get excited about it. They both spotted a sign for a free haunted house near our neighborhood, and they reminded me daily that it would be open on Halloween night.

Finally, Halloween night arrived, and they were both determined to go. After the little ones finished trick or treating, we loaded up in the car and headed over there. Surprisingly, there were tons of kids from our street also standing in line with us ready to get scared in the free haunted house, and I thought for sure that would help give Reagan and Abbie the confidence they needed to make it through.

To give you an idea of what we were heading into, this family had turned their backyard into a haunted house. Using two by fours, plastic sheeting, and some plywood, they had created a long winding hallway that you entered through the back gate, went through their backyard, and it dropped you out right back where you started. We couldn't really see inside it very well from the sidewalk, but the dad of this family was the one letting people in. He wasn't even dressed up. He was just standing there in a polo and shorts, but Abbie took one look at him, and said, "I'm out."

She was the one that had goaded her older sister into going in the first place, but she was having no part in actually going in. Reagan, of course, started to tease her about being a sissy, and declared that she was going "no matter what!" While Abbie waited by the mailbox, Reagan and I went in.

The first room was just past their back gate, it was very open and pretty well lit. Just one kid (all the "scary" people were this guy's kids, wife, and a few of their friends) dressed in a black robe and a fake skeleton in a coffin. Reagan was nervous, but she continued on.

The next part was the start of the hallway. It was still pretty well lit, but it wasn't very long. Pretty quickly we had to wind back and the hallway got much darker. Lit with a black light, we could see a skull on the wall that glowed (as most things do under black light), and Reagan was really uncomfortable. She looked at that skull, she looked at me, she looked at the entrance way. She wouldn't go any farther. I explained that it was just plastic on the wall, and that this was not going to be a big deal. She didn't care. She wasn't walking past that skull. So, we came back out the same way we went in, and we never even saw anything scary.

The haunted house was scheduled to run both Friday (Oct. 31) and Saturday (Nov. 1), and Logan, my youngest brother, was coming to stay the night Saturday. The girls got to talking big again and told Logan about the free haunted house. Turns out, they wanted to try again, but with Logan this time. They claimed that if they went with Logan they would be sure to make it all the way through.

Leah and I agreed to give them one more shot. On the way there, they changed their plan a few times, and ended up with the idea that Logan could wait with Emma and Sydney while Leah and I walked through the haunted house with Reagan and Abbie. Okay. This time, Abbie actually went in. They were again a little nervous in the first room and that gave way to frightened as we entered the hall, and then to sheer terror when they looked behind us and saw a man. He was actually just another dad walking through with his kids, but Reagan and Abbie were sure he was part of the deal.

I kid you not, if they had taken even a sip of a drink before they went in they would have wet themselves. They were absolutely terrified. We were stuck between the guy behind us and that glowing skull. They decided that they would rather take their chances with the guy behind us than the skull and they scampered back out of there. Leah and I continued on.

There wasn't much to it, but it was impressive that they put this on for free. I laughed at Leah because she kept pointing out the guys that were going to jump out at her, and then she still screamed when they actually did. And after I finished walking through with Leah, I got to go back through with Logan. On that trip, the highlight was when one of the "ghosts" accidentally ran into me and completely broke character trying to apologize for having touched me. It was really pretty funny.

All in all, I was proud of the kids for trying. Maybe next year they'll actually go all the way through.