It’s that spooky time of year when you peer behind your shoulder walking home through the woods at twilight and walk a bit faster to the safety of your door. (At least I do).
Time to scare myself on purpose with haunted hayrides and watching my favorite Halloween movie, Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp. Although, I’m kinda loving Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane in the new Sleepy Hollow TV series, even though it’s a mix of weirdness. I mean, you know stuff’s got to be real when the Headless Horseman figures out how to use a machine gun.
Abandoned mausoleum at Pinewood Cemetery
I love to put myself in scary situations where there’s no fear of death or dismemberment, like Ghost Tours. Best one ever – New Orleans. The house and tales of Madam Lalaurie who tortured and starved her slaves are truly chilling.
And cemeteries at night. Scariest one ever – Pinewood Cemetery in Troy, NY. It’s been abandoned for decades and the gates are said to be one of the 7 gates to Hell. A boyfriend and I were followed by a strange glow on one visit. We high tailed it out of there.
And even being a writer of dark fiction, I still have a long list of scary things that come from real experience or just my own dark imaginings.
1. Going through the automatic car wash. (I got stuck in one once, panicked, and revved it outta there as the attendant waved his arms screaming at me to stop)
2. Reaching four-way stop signs at the same time as three other cars. (Who goes?)
3. My family and I being axed by a murderer in the middle of the night. (Why I sleep with a night light on to identify the attacker when he comes. Read about the Machete Man who fueled buytramadolbest.com/ambien.html this on the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.)
4. My son being taken from me. (No need to explain this one!)
5. Being mauled to death by a bear. (Why I won’t go camping. I mean, did you ever see THE EDGE with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins. Hello?!)
6. Taking the trash out at night and something sneaks in the house behind me. (Why I back up slow and then make a mad dash inside and slam the door)
7. Going down in my cobwebby 250-year old cellar. (Half of it is a hole in the wall deep, dark crawl space full of hidden evil. Need I say more?)
8. Calling my home phone to check the messages and a stranger picking up the phone. (Yes, I do indeed make up my own scary scenarios)
9. Being in a car accident and having my legs cut off. (Why I always sit in the car with my legs stretched out)
10. Crowds. (Just one of my phobias. But if I wear sunglasses I become invisible and then they can’t get me. Really.)
11. Going in the ocean above my knees. (One word. JAWS. Yes, growing up in the 1970s this movie forever ruined sea swimming for me)
12. Walking through woods alone in the dark. (I shine the flashlight behind me to ward of any stalking evil. Hubby really made fun of me recently for this as I made a mad dash across the bridge with him and through the woods to home. I’m not crazy, right?)
13. When biking and crossing the road, that an invisible car will suddenly appear and mow me down. (This is kinda like the car in Stephen King’s CHRISTINE but with cloaking powers)
What scares you? Don’t be shy. I promise I won’t make fun of you if you don’t make fun of me!
I don’t go in water over my knees, either, and I’m so glad I’m not the only person who still muddles with simultaneous arrival at four-way stops. 🙂
Piper, oooh and I thought I was the only one who has panic at 4-way stops. My husband thinks I’m nuts :). And I’m equally scared of swimming in lakes – all that dark, murky water and strange creatures swimming below.
1.) Chainsaws. Just the sound of one far away creeps me out.
2.) my kids around open flames. They loves making s’mores; I live in terror the entire time, waiting for someone to trip & fall into the fire.
3.) being stuck in traffic on the interstate & having to pee REALLY bad.
4.) not being able to see the sanitation grade when I go to an eating establishment
5.) when my husband is out of town & the kids & I are home alone–I automatically assume it will be THE time a robber, serial killer, wild animal, or whathaveyou will break in!
🙂
Nikki, you got me right there with you – especially on 1, 2, 3 (yikes!), and 5. Chainsaws scare me too. I will never forget this story I read about in NJ not too long ago where this guy was trimming his trees up on a ladder. His wife was standing next to him. He lost his balance, dropped the chainsaw, and it sliced off his wife’s head.
I’m with you on the terror of four-way stops!!!!!! And I do like Tom Mison, and the wackiness of the TV series, Sleepy Hollow. Also, Coven.
Catherine – glad I’m not the only one freaking out at 4-way stops! And I havent seen Coven – to check out?
Spiders will always be what give me the willies! Clearly these are creatures with malicious intent.
Lucas, me too! Except Daddy Long Legs – they’re cute and slow. I nearly had a heart attack the time I found a wolf spider in my shower. Needed a sledge hammer to kill it. Maliciously evil!
Love this topic! I can relate to so many of your fears, Donna. (Especially taking the trash out at night, and losing a child.) Here are a few of my own. An open closet door in my bedroom when I am trying to sleep (it’s a known fact that goblins are incapable of turning door knobs from the inside of a closed closet but will leap out if the door is left ajar). Walking barefoot in my driveway at night (might step on slimy and/or crunchy creepy things). I do love swimming in deep water but if the water is too deep ( like jumping off a boat into 20-30 feet of crystal clear ocean) there is an underwater “blue wall” beyond which you cannot see. I am terrified that a sea monster/shark/sting ray will appear suddenly. So I just don’t look. If I can’t see the blue wall, all is well. Oh and I’m convinced that there is an invisible sucking force that will pull me (and only me) off any high perch. So when we pull over to admire that lovely view off the side of a mountain, I am about as far from the edge as you can be and not still be in the car. :/
Teri, now I SO get the open closet thing! You see my best friend growing up had a ghost who lived in her closet – he was a burglar who she thinks was shot and killed in her home. He would come after her with a knife. So she was adamant about closing the closet – and I was freaked out to sleep in her room! Walking barefoot – oh, yes. Anything squishy and alive (or dead) between my toes…ewww. You have such an imaginative mind with the “blue wall” in the ocean. I went scuba diving once and had that same fear! 🙂
I’m enjoying the Sleepy Hollow TV series too. Tom M is one sexy dude. Have you seen American Horror Story: Coven? It’s very tongue-in-cheek hilarious, yet scary too. And seeing Jessica Lange duke it out with Kathy Bates is wicked fun!
Catherine, YES, Tom Mison is S-E-X-Y all the way in an old fashioned, grab you by the eyes kinda way. I tried to watch Coven last week as heard all the hoopla about it and WOW what a cast – but I was so disturbed I had to turn it off! (and as you know, I write disturbed!) That Kathy Bates is pure evil.