Highlighter

In honor of Halloween, we’ve asked the RMPR team members to share some of their Halloween memories + flashback photos.  No trick here, just a bunch of treats!

The days of trick-or-treating have come and gone for most of us. What’s your spookiest trick-or-treating memory from childhood?

• Amanda: I HATE haunted houses. They scare the crap out of me. I remember going through them when I was younger on Halloween and just being speechless for hours after. This is probably why I am jumpy and don’t like scary movies.
• Andrea: One neighbor always held out a bag of candy for us, but his hand came up from the bottom and was hidden by the candy. When he reached in he grabbed our hands from the bottom of the bag.  Yuck.
• Rose: Nothing spooky that I can think of.  However, one of the odd things about trick-or-treating in Des Moines is it doesn’t actually take place on Halloween; instead, the night before Halloween is “Beggar’s Night.”  It’s some sort of old tradition that I don’t really understand.
• Laura G.: When I was little, my mom told me that when she was little she saw a witch fly across the moon on Halloween. Every Halloween I was terrified to look at the moon for fear I too would see a witch fly by!
• Joel: When I was about 10 years old, my brother and I took turns hiding in the ditch under leaves and then jumping up at trick or treaters who turned into our driveway. I was Dracula and he was a Ghoul. We made everyone jump with fright. Our rationale was that they should earn their candy.
• Eva: Not really a spooky memory but it is the first memory that comes to mind. I lived on a very long street that didn’t have a many streetlights.  While there weren’t any blocks per se, I was probably five blocks away from home and working our way to the end so we could head back up the other side.  At the bottom of a slight hill, I ran to cut across a yard to get to the door before my neighbor Darrin (who was also in third grade).   What I forgot that there was a ditch tucked in at the bottom of the hill.  It was dark and the ditch was filled with leaves and I tumbled right into it like it was quick sand. When poor Darrin turned around I was gone and he didn’t know what had happened.

What’s the best Halloween costume you ever had, and how old were you when you wore it?

• Eva:  My mom likes to say that the only time I was an angel was the Halloween that I wore the costume she made me. It had wings with silver Christmas garland and a halo. Funny how she can’t seem to find the photo of me anymore However, I like making costumes more than dressing up. This year my sons are going to be Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. 
• Laura G.: For some reason, I was obsessed with seagulls as a kid. So, one year I wanted to be a seagull for Halloween! My dad made my costume from scratch – complete with wings and a feathery mask!
• Andrea: I think I dressed as a witch or a princess pretty much every year…
• Rose: My childhood costumes were very ’70s — a hobo, a witch, a clown. 
• Amanda: I loved being a Hershey Kiss in elementary school because my mom made the costume and my older sister wore it the year before. It was like walking around in a big bean bag. It was nice to be warm though.  
• Joel: Always the science fiction buff, when I was in third grade I made a robot costume myself — tinfoil from head to tow, a bucket for a head, a cardboard box for the body, etc. By today’s standards it was incredibly clumsy and low-tech, but it stood out in the long line of store-bought costumes and earned more attention than any of them. To this day, I encourage my kids to make their own costume whenever possible.

What was the best Halloween costume that came to your door last year?

• Rose: My own little ghoul, Joe McKinney dressed as a swamp monster. 
• Andrea: We didn’t have trick-or-treaters last year. But our friends dressed up their baby girl as a lady bug – so cute!
• Amanda: One of my best friends dressed up like Big Bird and his girlfriend was Oscar the Grouch (garbage can, millions of yellow feathers) it was awesome.
• Laura G.: We had the cutest little kid stop by with his mommy (less than two-years-old, I’d guess) and he was dressed as a scarecrow. Too cute!
• Joel: Lots of Jack Sparrow the past couple of years, and I love hearing them try to mimic his voice and practice his mannerism. Dozens of little Johnny Depps. This year, my 11-year-old son wants to be a marshmallow on a roasting stick. That ought to be good too.
• Eva: I always like the ones that make you think, particularly storybook characters. Last year we had a really good magician and a bunch of “homemade” princesses that were good.

 What’s your favorite scary movie, and why?

• Joel: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. I love when the spy infiltrates the Tomatoes camp and makes the fatal mistake of asking for the Ketchup. Actually, I’m more of a book person. I remember reading my first Stephen King novel in third grade (The Dark Tower). I read his novels just to see if his genius can once again get me to pause and think about something mundane and pleasant in a totally frightening way (clowns, thimbles, German Shepherds, etc.).
• Andrea: I hate scary movies. Sorry!
• Laura G.: As I get older, I get more and more freaked out while watching scary movies. In fact, I just saw Paranormal Activity last weekend and have been spooked in my house at night ever since! Though my favorite Halloween movie is Hocus Pocus.
• Rose: Psycho
• Amanda: I HATE scary movies so I don’t have a favorite because I refuse to watch them. I think I saw 15 min. of Scream once and didn’t sleep for days.
• Eva: I spent my summers up at the cabin in Northern Minnesota.  Our cabin was on a Dead End road without street lights. And most of our neighbors were from Grand Forks and only spent Thurs – Sun at the cabin so the rest of the week, the Dead End road was silent.  Way too young to be watching Friday the 13th by ourselves, the neighbor boy, my sister and I watched the movie.  We were freaked out by the lake scene with the hand coming out of the water. To face our fears we rode our bikes down the dark street to the DEAD END and back hoping that Jason didn’t make an appearance.  However, my sister would say it was Jaws; she has problems swimming in areas where the muskies like to hang out in the lake.

Happy Halloween to all of you.  If you ever need a fix for candy, stop on by the offices!