The Stuff Of Ridiculous Nightmares

In honor of Halloween, I’d like to recap my history with Scary Things:

Scary Thing #1: Horror Movies

My first exposure to horror movies was at Best Friend’s house. It was the mid-1980’s, and Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th, and all their kith and kin were crazy popular.

Now, Best Friend had a brother who LOVED slasher flicks, and regularly watched them on VHS.

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

During one of our many sleepovers Best Friend and I somehow ended up watching Friday The 13th.

This will be good for the 7-year-old

Now, being only 7, I’m not sure I really understood what was going on. Keep in mind, this was also the age that I kept having nightmares about evil giraffes (no, really). I wasn’t particularly frightened by the movie. I WAS frightened by Best Friend’s Brother who would spend all sleepovers for the next year whispering “ch-ch-ch-ch ha-ha-ha-ha” leading Best friend and I to believed we’d be hacked to bits any moment from now.

Scary Thing #2: Spiders

We’ve already covered spiders. Moving on...

Scary Thing #3: Dolls

I loved dolls as a kid. LOVED them. Had a million. And then I saw this movie:

It’s Like "Child’s Play," But For Girls

For whatever reason, this movie is the sole reason that, to this day, I’m a little freaked out by porcelain dolls. Or dolls with buttons for eyes. Or dolls that come to life and murder you in your sleep.

Can We Be Your Friend?

Scary Thing #4: Scary Stories

No, the ultimate Scary Thing for me was the series Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.

This looks appropriate for a 9-year old (No, really.)

These books scared the crap out of me. Which raises a couple questions:

1) Why did I continue to read them time and time again, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep all night?

2) It’s a series of like, 3 or 4. Why did I continue to purchase subsequent books when the first one made me wet my pants?

I guess when I was 9 I liked being a slightly damp insomniac who spent the evening formulating plans to avoid spiders and murder dolls. Or something.

Hmmm...Jason...spiders....murder dolls. Well, I’ll sleep good tonight.

Follow up: Wrote this post late Sunday night. Went to bed. Promptly had nightmare. Excellent.