If this is your first time at Fright Club . . .

Hello. And welcome to Fright Club.

When I was a kid, I loved Halloween. There was something about being sneaky, dressing up, and getting candy which made me think that this was the best holiday ever. It was sort of like an evil version of Easter in which you actually earned your candy through DIY spirit (I usually made my own costumes) and pure chicanery.

I also loved how seriously some adults took Halloween. In particular, there was one neighborhood in which someone by the name of "the Doctor" would put on a yearly Halloween show for trick-or-treaters and on-lookers. One year, dressed as a mad-scientist, he turned his wife into a Frankenstein's monster. Great fun. It inspired me to craft my own neighborhood haunted house, which, due to unreliable friends and poor planning on my part, had to be cancelled at the last moment. It was a bit embarrassing to have to go outside and tell the line that I couldn't hold the haunted house. But at the same time, I felt a thrill because at least there was a line!

Flash forward to adulthood - I typically go to a few haunted houses a year (in some years, 4 - 6, recently a few less). Because I've moved A LOT recently (6 times in 7 years), I've gotten the opportunity to sample the best haunted houses in the Midwest and Southeast. I've been dreaming of what my own haunted house would look like, if I had the chance to go back and do it right. I've been slowly working on props and schematics and collecting print and web resources. I've been running the occasional low-budget haunted houses at local churches I've attended. I've done all of this with one goal in mind - to create my own professional haunted house and wow people like I was wowed all those years ago. I won't be ready to open one this year . . . or next . . . but eventually, I'll be able to return to that childhood haunted house of mine that never opened.

What are your Halloween stories? Why are you at this site and why do you love this holiday? What are your own dreams for the perfect haunt?