Nightmare Village

I set up a new myspace page, because I have too much time on my hands- the address, in case you weren't wondering, is www.myspace.com/ithakuahrising . A reference to the old witch who appears in the Necronomicon, but that's another story. Turns out unlike Facebook, you can pretty much just make stuff up for your name, location, etc. Case in point, I listed my hometown as Nightmare Village, CT. Pretty cool! To my knowledge, there is no such place, but who needs to know that? There is usually a Trail of Terror, however, which is one of the best haunted houses I've been to. I love Halloween, and especially haunted houses. The first one I went to terrified me out of my mind, but I kept coming back- it was a good terrified, and I loved it! My son is the same way- he loves getting scared, but is still a bit young for some things. He is also highly intelligent, and has the ability to draw distinctions between fantasy and reality. The problem is, a good haunted house operates on the principle of blurring the lines between what you know in your head to be no real danger and what your instincts tell you to be afraid of. Perhaps I'm just a thrill seeker. I'm hoping next year to get involved with a haunted house- I know the Town of East Hartford will pretty much recruit volunteers on the spot, although planning a room or space in the house will require some advance notice. Not only going to haunted houses, but being involved in them, is a blast. I love dressing up in some bizarre costume and acting out an equally bizarre part- to date, Dr. Wrench's surgical ampitheater has been a big hit! I can't find anyone to join me in the role of assistant- Nurse Ratchet (Get it? I know, it's a terrible joke). But there's always next year! Here it is just turning spring, and I'm thinking of fall already! I find that haunted houses are a good way to express yourself, and do things you would normally not do. And of course, in the end, it's all for fun. I wonder what the psychological aspects of this are? Acting out insane violence is probably just a way to blow off steam- everyone knows you would never do these things in real life. The premise of Dr. Wrench is a surgeon gone mad- simulating organ removal with a live patient is kind of gross, and perhaps a little over the top (I wouldn't do this just anywhere- it's perhaps a little extreme for younger or saner audiences), but it's good and freaky. The idea originally came to me when I heard about so-called "faith healers"- not that I doubt the power of the human mind or spirit, but these are the guys who do surgery without incisions, removing "tumors" after their hands magically pass into a patient's abdomen, dripping blood dramatically down the patient's sides and stomach. Actually, this is a fairly simple trick, and if you set everything up right, you can get a great effect! Props and sleight of hand aside, all you do is press your fingers into a person's abdomen while concealing a sponge or balloon filled with blood (or blood substitute- safety first!) in your hand. The result will appear to be your fingers passing into the abdomen, with the blood leaking out from where your fingers enter the body. Another common but slightly more involved trick is to have the top half of your patient be alive, and the bottom half concealed under the table. Living legs (use a second person) can add to the effect. This also allows you to remove larger things from the person's body, as you have more room to work and conceal stuff in the trick table. (I have seen a sandwich and car keys used to good effect in this way. This is especially fun when you really overdo it- have the patient tied down or something, (again, safety first) and use your imagination! Your audience certainly will be.
All in all, I think people like me go for stuff like that first and foremost, because we're bent in the head, and second off, because a good scare/Halloween costume/haunted house is genuinely scary, and when it's all over, we can pat ourselves on the back for having "survived" another one. And besides, real life is so dull sometimes!