Ask The Geeks: What’s Your Most Memorable Halloween?

For Geekade’s annual 31 Days of Halloween, we’ve turned to some familiar voices from around the website to answer a series of spooktacular questions, ranging from the mundane to a tad bit ludicrous in our new series, “Ask The Geeks.”

In our latest installment (and last for this year’s festivities!) we ask…

What’s your most memorable Halloween?

Dean DeFalco (Vest Lord, General Administrator): One year when I was pretty young my dad decided to go trick-or-treating with me. I think I was the grim reaper that year. When I got back from school that day my mom opened the door and there’s my dad standing in the living room 6-and-a-half feet tall, (he’s normally 5”10) dressed up in his old Frankenstein outfit, complete with platform shoes and bolts in his neck.  I remember we got one of my friends to go trick-or-treating and he was in awe about how big my dad was. He never really got done up for Halloween much, so that was a really cool for me.

Kris Randazzo (Stone Age Gamer, This Week’s Episode, Waveback): I had a lot of great memories of trick-or-treating around my old neighborhood as a kid, but honestly, the most memorable Halloween for me would probably be my friends’ wedding. Jon and Erin (both previous Geekade contributors) decided to get married on Halloween and the whole night was just a blast. Weddings can be dull, but this one was absolutely not. It wasn’t super spooky or anything, it was just a really good wedding filled with some really great people.

Dave Marconi (You Shall Not Pass Go)It’s more of an area than a single Halloween. As a kid, I’d often visit Lake Hiawatha where my dad was a letter carrier. There’s a main drag in the middle of the town where all these shops would go hard for Halloween. Walking up and down both sides would not only earn you tons of candy, but the bagel shops would give fresh bagels and the pizza shops would give full slices of pizza. Crazy business model, but I sure did come back every year.

Brenda Cierech (Tardy to the Party, 31 Days of Horror)I don’t think I have a “most memorable” Halloween per se, but my Halloweens are always memorable. I absolutely love dressing up for the occasion and have earned the title of “The Queen of Halloween” (or “Halloqueen,” if you will) at my school. I’m one of the few teachers who wears a costume every year, and it’s fun to watch people react as I walk down the hallway. The rest of the year I may be “mean old Miss Cierech,” but on Halloween I’m one of the most popular teachers in the building.

Amy Ebeling (Editor-in-Chief): Two years ago I had the honor of being invited to a traditional Samhain ritual that was being led by a friend’s mother and her coven.  It lasted a little over an hour, and was held outside in a member’s backyard, which was set up with a beautiful bonfire and a large alter that held a vast array of different tools. The purpose of the night is to welcome the new year and celebrate the dead. After the ritual ended, a small party with dinner, treats, and alcohol was served inside, commencing the feast. It was a somber evening, but I left feeling rejuvenated, and it’s still one of my favorite Halloween memories. To everyone observing today, blessed Samhain!

Janelle Hawkes (Turn It Up)This would have to be my last Halloween I trick-or-treated. I think I was 12 or 13, and got asked at more than half of the houses if I was too old for this. Yup, apparently, but old enough to appreciate the bags of quarters that one house was giving out in our far-too-quiet neighborhood. We totally cashed in and made about five bucks that night!

Gabbie Robbins (The Think Tank, Gabbie Re-Reads) During my freshman year of college, one of the frat houses on University Ave was turned into a haunted house, and you’d bring a can of food to donate in exchange for entry. I thought I could handle it because what could a bunch of teenagers do with Party City equipment and thrift store décor? I got to the porch when I saw fully grown adults running out the back screaming and I started trembling. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw him! Spiderman (Note–not actual Spiderman, a stranger dressed as Spiderman because it was Halloween. Additional note–that did not occur to me.) I figure, I know Spiderman, he keeps people safe. I run up to this stranger, grip him by the arm, and lead him to the haunted house. Looking back, the fact that I was a college girl in a costume was probably the only reason I didn’t get literally assaulted for kidnapping a human I’d never met before, but regardless, together we entered the haunted house.

It was horrifying, truly. These guys knew what they were doing. I don’t even know how they changed the layout of the house to include dungeons and fake doors and walls with false walls in front of them so someone could come out behind you (bravo TKE, bravo). Anyway, Spiderman was also scared, and soon we both had noticeable bruises on our arms from gripping one another so tightly. I had literally screamed myself hoarse in the span of about ten minutes, when finally we were chased out the back by a person covered in blood holding a real chainsaw. Once outside, the terror fog lifted from my brain and, disoriented, I remembered that I was surrounded by drunk teenagers, that it was a holiday, and none of this was real. And that I’d kidnapped a person.

I turned to apologize to Spiderman but saw him already walking away with his confused group of other nylon mask superheroes, explaining to them that some random girl had waylaid him into the haunted house. Spiderman, if you’re out there, thank you and I’m sorry.

Amy Ebeling

Editor-in-Chief, failed vegetarian, and collector of terrible tattoos.

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