Norma

As a lover of Halloween, I wouldn't be true to my love if I hadn't been an actor in the haunted houses that the masses flock to every October. My love of Halloween started at a young age although really I can only remember it from being school aged outside in the dark in a costume. I recall not being afraid of the dark, but feeling elated at being outside in a costume when I usually would have been inside. I still feel that spark to this day.

While costumes serve the purpose of disguising us from the living, in the past they were also to disguise us from the dead and other beings in the supernatural realm. For the haunted house purpose, I used it for spreading fear (and fun.) It was still a disguise from my everyday face, but still a part of me that never comes out until Halloween. When I make a costume, I feel I can be anything. A costume after all caters to the sense of sight, but creating your persona can bring out fear if done right.

When I was younger and my daughter was still a child, Halloweens revolved around her costumes more than mine, and I was more than happy to have it that way. However as my child became an older teen, she didn't want to spend as much time with mom as much as with her friends. I found myself with more time on my hands so decided to volunteer at our zoo. Little did I know this would lead to years of becoming a haunter myself. One of my duties was working at special events such as Boo at the Zoo. This used to run the evenings before Halloween; and for many of those years, they brought in a haunted house attraction called Spooky's Haunted House.

Naturally I signed up for the haunted house but didn't really know what to expect as I'd usually been a guest at these types of events. When we had our first haunted house meeting, I was happy that the attraction had a lot of the costumes, but we could also use our own costumes. I'd never made my own costume before and always had store bought, so in those early years, I opted for the costumes provided.

I don't actually remember what my first character was, but I think it was in a room called the polka dot room. We had to wear a polka dot costume which they provided. The walls were all black with polka dots and flashing strobe lights. We would just stand against the wall and move suddenly as victims came through. If I recall correctly, the room also had fluorescent lighting that added to the overall effect of overloading your senses.

There were other rooms over the years - the spider room where I hid behind some type of fake wall and moved the spider as unsuspecting guests came in and cowered. I also played a killer clown which I found to be exhilarating, but I didn't really enjoy the mask so much. I also was in a Frankenstein room where I played the monster who'd move suddenly to the horror of screaming guests. This was also a mask, and so at this time I decided that my preference was face paint. Regardless this made me feel very alive, and I had a great deal of fun doing it. This attraction came to the zoo for many years; but since all good things come to an end, the haunted house and Boo at the Zoo did too.

Years later after a few years of no scaring, I was thinking about my haunted house work and how much I loved it, so started to check on the current state of Halloween in our city and found what I was craving. I applied at a Halloween event that ran in the city and found out they also had run Spooky's, but now had a new name and event. I was hired and so my transformation began. I became Mother from Psycho for a few years, and the dark thing in the haunted house with very little light another year. One thing I did learn was you can dress up in a scary costume, but that doesn't scare everyone. You have to learn how to creep them out in other ways.

As Mother many people already knew who I was, so I would just act out as Norman's mother calling, "Norman" or asking questions in a cackly voice. I found many house guests didn't like the combination of my costume and my questions and would back away from me. At this point I was also doing my own face make up and went for her skeletal look. I loved make up because I didn't get sweaty inside a mask and I could see well. I have to say this is so far my favourite costume because I have seen the movie, Psycho, and the series, Bates Motel. I opted for Mother from Psycho because she is not a totally "new" monster, but her infamy inspires fear in many already. And for those who didn't watch these shows, my costume of a skeletal Mom with bloodied clothes and cackling voice did the trick.

When I was in the dark house, no one can see you as there were hardly any lights in the house. I'd dressed all in black to fit into the darkness, so using your costume as a visual scare didn't work out as well. Because we were also not allowed to touch our unknowing guests, I resorted to using sounds to create havoc and fear.

I would listen in the dark to see if I could catch any names as the many party goers would be coming into the house. As they would walk by me many couldn't see me, so I'd listen to the voices and then whisper the lucky woman or man's name as they went by me. I would so often get screams and panic. I could hear them trying to get away from me. I did that many many times, but some people would come back for more; so I'd usually have to switch my spots.

In other houses where we were able to be seen, it paid off to look particularly dreadful. People get a thrill when they see a monster they recognize or a monster they don't. Sometimes to get more screams and terror, I would bang on the walls as I followed them along if time allowed. You could hear them asking their cohorts, "Is someone following us?" "I see something." and then the screaming and running.

Another favourite is singing children's nursery rhymes in a sickly, croaky voice. This can get more screams and running especially if you do this before they see you. We really only had the senses of sight and sound to use most of the time, so we had to make the best of those. Everyone can incorporate these into their October 31st wanderings to see the various reactions. I bet the scarier your costume paired with any one of these will make someone's hair stand on end.

The best Halloween costume is yet to come. One costume I've wanted to put together for years is a scarecrow, but more along the lines of what was in the movie Jeepers Creepers. I think that might need a mask though so have put it off year after year, but Covid-19 has seriously had me thinking about this now. This year I went to an event and was the grim reaper with a half mask, skeleton gloves and mostly black attire. I didn't paint my face around the eye area due to lack of time, but I will for tonight, Halloween. Enjoy your Samhain!