Scared Silly

A little side note. It seems Apple Pie will not be up this week due to my second draft actually making it worse than my first draft. Which is a pity because I submitted it for a grade (It’s because my class is the night before the writer’s club, which make thinks a little awkward…)

So today is Halloween. I already have my costume ready, I indulged myself in candy corn and candy pumpkins (much to the chagrin of my dentist no doubt) and I have even watched The Halloween Tree, a movie I remember watching in school during Halloween parties.

But I have not and will not go to a Haunted House.  I will not be sitting down to what a horror movie like Dawn of the Dead or Friday the 13th…

According to this article form the Boston Globe, I’m missing out. The fear that comes from going through a haunted house or sitting through a horror movie usually comes with a reassurance from the brain that you’re safe. In the end, you also get a jolt of adrenaline and endorphins to so it actually feels good to feel scared (when you know you’re safe)

Also, I didn’t know this, but it all stems from the same fear circuit that real fear like getting chased by a tiger comes from. So it gives your brain a little workout. Fear really is an emotion that was more useful in our primitive days. But now really the only fear we learn to have is of what can harm us, like learning not to put your hand on the hot stove because it will get burned.

I never seem to feel good after getting spooked. I have this aversion to horror movies that sometimes even makes it’s way into suspense movies. I also avoid haunted houses because I know they won’t end well for me. When I was really little, I tried to go to a haunted house that the Charlestown Working Theater had put on. Didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted, and I ended up walking back home with my mom after aborting it. And it was one where you had to pay a small fee so I was aware that I had wasted my mom’s money. Since then I have avoided haunted houses.

Do I have a phobia to getting scared? Maybe I do. Will I ever go out and test that theory by intentionally going to a haunted house or popping in a horror flick? Probably not. For now I’m fine with avoiding the things that are meant to spook you. There are other ways to celebrate Halloween, like dressing up (as Lt. Cmdr. Scotty) and going into Manhattan for the Village Parade!

Happy Halloween!