Things that go bump in the night...

"fae ghosties & ghoulies& lang-legged beasties& things that go bump in the nicht...guid lord, deliver us"

(traditional Scottish prayer)

Things that go "bump" in the night?  As a child, those things scared the hell right back into me!  Now, as an adult, I can still launch out of my theater seat when the creature jumps out.  My launch is not without reward as it usually makes several others around me jump as well.  So, why do we find ghosts, ghouls, and beasts so fascinating that we go out of our way just to make our skin crawl?
 

Oh, there are probably countless papers in psychology, anthropology, neurology, and other fields of study to explain why.  I'd like to think it's just fun.  It takes me back to the days of The Beast with Five Fingers, and The House on Haunted Hill, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Christopher Lee.  I lived for the Saturday matinee at our local theater and if Hammer Films had a new release, you were sure to find me in line for The Man with the X-Ray Eyes with Ray Milland, or The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original) with Michael Rennie.  This was back when young kids could still ride the bus without fear of being abducted or molested, the movie was fifty cents and so was the popcorn.  A couple of bucks was a short vacation for moms each week.

These were movie years when there was an actual storyline, and acting was relied on to carry a film.  Nowadays it seems they rely on blood, guts, and gore piled atop gore with Saw 18: Coping Saw Cotillion, and Friday the 13th: Test Tube Baby Jason.  Oh, wait for it, it'll come.  Jason's baby arm will reach out from inside momma, snatch a scalpel from the tray and we're off to the movies! 

This is entertainment?  Where is the talent, creativity, an original thought?  Yawn!  If you're going to make more than one of something that's just a gorefest, please do it because it was worth doing the first time, do it because it won an award, stop the franchise at number three, and go off to prove you are capable of something else, or something better.  And, my goodness, don't keep re-making the old classics unless you can do better.  They were classics for a reason.  Now we can look forward to remakes of movies that aren't even classics.  Total Recall from 1990 was just remade in 2012 and wasn't any better for the effort.  Let's remake African Queen and cast Tom Cruise opposite Lucy Liu.  Or, better yet, make one of the stars African American, or Asian.  We're good at changing characters so they don't make any sense for the date and location of the story, but at least it will be politically correct...stupid, but politically correct.

Things that go bump in the night, like my book as it hits the floor when I drift off to sleep.  The book I read because of the lack of anything worth watching on the mind-numbing screen.  And the countless kids dressed in costumes for Halloween have dwindled down to just a few and several teenagers.

But, I have bought my candy and will wait for that knock on my door, that cherished "trick or treat" from another soon to be an extinct American tradition, like the Pledge of Allegiance or "In God We Trust."  God gave us plenty to be afraid of, and we felt the list needed some color.  I think we do this to show God we aren't afraid to confront our fear, we understand there's evil in the world, and we are ready for it with a healthy "fight or flight" response.

Upstairs, in the bedroom, I hear the closet door roll closed and footsteps padding to the bathroom.  I begin the first proof of this post before putting through the spell and grammar check.  As usual, I went off in several directions. 

As I reach for my Martini, I look at the stairs to the bedroom and suddenly remember, I live alone!

God bless us all, this Halloween!! 

I offer up an interesting article for your enjoyment, one Christians view of Halloween.  I wholeheartedly agree!  Please follow the link below:

http://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/halloween/thank-god-for-halloween.html