Happy Day After Halloween

Hi! I’m not a fan of Halloween. I mean, I guess I liked trick or treating somewhat when I was growing up, although I was always on edge looking out for other kids in creepy costumes. I don’t like costumes. Never did. Still don’t. I never liked being scared as a kid and that remains true even today. The scariest movies I ever saw were The Amityville Horror (1979) and The Exorcist (1978).

Haunted houses are not my idea of a good time and the last one that I was in was back in 1982. My boyfriend at the time had his heart set on going to this haunted house that was affiliated with a community group of which he belonged so being the good girlfriend, I agreed to go. I never said I would participate though and I think he was a tad disappointed when I informed him that I would be following close behind him, my hand gripping the belt loop on the back of his jeans, with my eyes tightly closed. And that’s exactly what I did, shuffling along, hearing music, screams and cries of thrilled terror, being jostled here and there as people reacted to the frightful happenings, never loosening my grip on my boyfriend’s jean’s belt loop.

We were nearing the end when my boyfriend came to a sudden stop. I ran straight into him and as I was attempting to peel myself off his back, I heard a voice calmly say, “Hi, Kat!” My eyes flew open and my head whipped every which way looking for person who knew me, in the dark, plastered to my boyfriend’s backside with my eyes screwed shut. Despite me asking my boyfriend (and anyone else I could think of), who that could have been, I never found out who it was. 35 years later, I still wonder who felt the need to break character and say hi amid the chaos of a haunted house, which I obviously was not enjoying.

And that leads me to the reason I shared that story from teen Kat’s past. In honor of Halloween, Hugh shared a song that would make his Halloween playlist and asked others to share their favorites for 51 Weeks: 51 Songs from the Past.

I’ve already shared the song that would have topped I list, if I did Halloween- see Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

This caused my mind to wander down a more creative path and I began thinking of haunting songs (keeping with the Halloween theme) but I guess when that rabbit scurried past me tsk tsking at his pocket watch, I fell down a rabbit hole and found this song.

White Rabbit, written by Grace Slick and performed here by Jefferson Airplane, hit the airwaves in 1967- a mere 50 years ago. The song, based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, is said to be a cautionary tale to parents of the dangers of reading your children stories like these and then wondering why they take drugs. I’m not sure how true that is. I lost count of the number of times I read Alice and have never tried a single illegal drug to date! I have loved Alice as long as I can remember and as a child, I could relate to her confusion in Wonderland where nothing is quite as it seems. It’s quite ironic how much I truly love this story given my intense fear of the unknown!

Now that I’ve shared with you my (most likely confusing) train of thought, please be sure to head over to Hugh’s place and see what he’s been up to. Not only does he have his weekly song feature, but he’s the king of short story endings with a twist!

Happy November!

-Kat