Published: October 21, 2009 07:07 pm      

FLEISCHER: Halloween adventures

The third big event this month is Halloween. Two weeks ago I wrote about my dad’s birthday. Last week I wrote about the State Fair. This week is Halloween! As a footnote to last week’s column, my sister and her teenage son told me a story about their State Fair experience. It seems Oprah was there to get her customary corny dog, and fair appearance. There were helicopters above, and police everywhere. They blocked off whole streets, and closed the corn dog stand, so she could have her corn dog, and eat it, too! The whole thing seems corny to me.

My nephew’s grandmother told me about a Halloween Spooktackler she had. It seems some people had no candy to give her and her friends. They decided to pick some flowers as their trick. The man inside was watching through his window. He chased them, yelling “Ill get you!’’ After running for some time Me-Me hid behind a large tree. The man didn’t see her climb the tree. She didn’t come down for hours! She said, “Our tricking days are over.” Once she was chased by someone in a gorilla suit. Gorillas are not her favorite animals!

One Halloween I made the mistake of watching “Nightmare’’ late at night. The same guy, Bill Camfield, that played Icky Twerp on Slam Bang Theater played “Gorgon’’ as the scary horror host. After he scared the daylights out of us, they would put on a horror movie. I had to deliver The Dallas Morning News early the next morning, and every shadow, breeze, and noise spooked the devil out of me! “The Headless Horseman” was on TV late another night. I was delivering my early morning papers. All at once I heard the clattering of horse’s hooves, much like that in the movie, running right down the street I was delivering on. His head was turning back and forth just like on TV. I just knew it was the headless horseman! Of course, there was no rider on the horse. My mind made me think otherwise. I saw the horse breathe in the early morning chill. There might as well have been fire coming from the horse’s nostrils. I just knew he was going to throw his head at me! It so happened, a horse had escaped from a nearby pasture land, still in among the newly-built homes.

In the ‘60s they used to have horror movies with a nurse on hand. Nobody knew if she was a real nurse, or not. “This movie is so frightening that a nurse is on hand in case of a heart attack!” “See the Creature from the Black Lagoon,” the movie voice would say. They used to have someone in a monster suit, sneak in and scare the bejeebers out of us! He would then run out the side door of the theater.

It is sad kids don’t get to have a good old-fashioned Halloween much anymore. I’m afraid trick-or-treating may soon go the way buggy-whip! It makes since to have safe parties, etc. instead at churches, schools, or at a private home. Some tricks become malicious or vandalism, and some treats aren’t so sweet! It never used to cross our minds to have to check our candy. We would roam for miles with no supervision, unless one wore a Superman suit! Have a fun, safe Halloween. Remember to boo instead of boohoo.

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Mark Fleischer is a Daily Sun columnist. His column appears on Sundays. Want to “Soundoff” on this column? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com