# Halloween Psychology



## The Archivist (May 31, 2009)

I wonder what the head shrinks... heh,heh would say about our obsession with Halloween? Is there any real psychological basis or reasoning behind what we do? Hmmm.....

It would be an interesting paper to write for a class or submit to Psychology Today.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Demystifying or mocking or familiarizing death makes it less scary. I dont fear death, except for when it is at hand.


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## KINGS CRYPT (Mar 22, 2009)

I mean we do it because we love it. I mean sure corpsing a skeleton is really wierd and morbid if you think about it, but the end result is pure enjoyment. Just like when you're young and you see a fluffy, yellow baby chick. It is the cutest little thing but we eat the damn things day after day. Sure a chick is cute, but we eat them because chicken tastes good. Just like corpsing a blucky skeleton or making a severed head: it is extremely morbid and maybe inhumane, but the end product brings us pure joy when we display it in our front yard our when we recieve a nice comment here on the forum


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## Eldritch_Horror (Jul 27, 2008)

KINGS CRYPT said:


> I mean we do it because we love it. I mean sure corpsing a skeleton is really wierd and morbid if you think about it, but the end result is pure enjoyment. Just like when your young and you see a fluffy, yellow baby chick. It is the cutest little thing but we eat the damn things day after day. Sure a chick is cute, but we eat them because chicken tastes good. Just like corpsing a skeleton or making a severed head: it is extremely morbid and maybe inhumane, but the end product brings us pure joy.


Sooo... You eat corpses? 

j/k!


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## KINGS CRYPT (Mar 22, 2009)

Chicken corpses, don't we all , except the vegetarians. Mcdonalds:Chicken corpse capital of the world!!


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## KINGS CRYPT (Mar 22, 2009)

Eldritch_Horror said:


> Sooo... You eat corpses?
> 
> j/k!


 Yeah... I eat plastic, and latex corpses yes, very tasty.??................................................................. : Hey ma, whats for dinner?, "We're having plastic blucky corpses", what about some sauce?,"Okay, I'll serve it with my special latex and cotton sauce.", wow ma this is going to be a great dinner.


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## Don Givens (Dec 2, 2008)

I am a vegetarian.............I only eat stupid animals.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

It's not sick if you don't get intimate with your creations.


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

hmm...interesting post. I really am vegetarian...I wonder what that says? lol wont eat a chicken(or any animal) but loves halloween. Though I don't like gory stuff, I keep it kid friendly. My mom hates the new vampire prop i made today though, she says its gory(picture in unstructured thoughts)


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

I'm basically a humanitarian. I used to be a vegetarian but my doctor said I wasn't getting enough protein. I gotta say, after a few months I feel great.


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

im fine and healthy and i've been vegatarian since i was 17, and im 21 now. I don't find it diffecult, but i never liked meat so I never ate much anyway.


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## DeathTouch (Sep 6, 2005)

I would be interested to find out the effects of someone being into Halloween. Do Halloween addicts have a higher divorce rate than others? Does it cause issues within the house hold?


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## MotelSixx (Sep 27, 2008)

she can have half of everything thats NOT in the shed


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

There has been a lot of discussion about Man’s obsession with Death. The Victorians were a great example. They put enormous effort into grave markers. The Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead. All cultures have a fool’s day. In Europe April Fool’s day was a big deal but now is nothing in the US. Carnival in Venice is still a huge event. In the US Halloween has become our Fool’s Day. It is a day to make light of that which worries us most. We love Halloween for the same reason that people love thrill rides. I love it because I started out with little things that the children enjoyed so I added more. I do simple magic and so I tend to focus on illusions in my decorations. I avoid gore because I do not want fear but delight and entertainment. 
My front yard haunt has, singing pumpkins, Axworthy ghost, A skeleton that holds another skull in his hand and they talk back and forth. I have a pepper’s ghost illusion that looks like three crates stacked up and the top one has the “Yoric” animated electronic puppet that can talk to kids though they can see all the way through him as he floats in his box. I am planning to change Yoric to a loop type ghost so I can tie balloons again like I did before the props. I wish I could afford another projector so I could do a prop with a scrim showing ghosts rising out of the ground.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

The two dominant issues that lead to divorce are:

1. Finances
2. Sex

If anything interferes with these two things then divorce is likely.


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## MorbidMariah (Mar 28, 2009)

Personally, I love Halloween for a few reasons. 

1- I have always been fascinated by death.:xbones: No, not in some sick serial killer way. Just because it is the one thing that is certain for everyone, no matter where you come from, what you believe, whatever. And it the one thing we are totally uncertain about. NO ONE knows for sure what happens after you die...even if they claim they do. And that makes us fear it, and feel uncomfortable talking about it. That was never satisfying to me....it makes me WANT to talk about it! 

2- I love to make things! Halloween is a great outlet for creativity. :googly:

3- Costumes. I have ALWAYS loved costumes. And what's Halloween without costumes?:devil:

4- Being scared. It's a great adrenaline rush! Nothing is more fun than being scared outta your wits! hehe Like riding a roller coaster, it's exhillerating!

Yeah...I guess that's why I love Halloween.


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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

The two dominant issues that lead to divorce are:

1. Finances
2. Sex

If anything interferes with these two things then divorce is likely.

So no more paying for sex?


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## Monk (Aug 26, 2008)

I don't pay for sex, I pay them to leave afterwards.


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

I like haunting not because of a preoccupation with death, I don't lead a goth lifestyle. I haunt because there is no better venue to display items that:
1. I can use my artistic abilities to create
2. I can use my love for animation and electronics
3. I can use my fascination with the theatrics and illusion
4. I can use my love for sounds and music
5. It's a world (albeit a small world (sorry Disney)) I create myself

AND people come to my house by the dozens to see it. 

Can't beat that! But then I gotta ask why not do all of this for Christmas? Well, it's because I'm a sick morbid bastard, that's why.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Vegetables are what food eats. :cheesyvil: If I only eat herbivores, does that make me a vegetarian once removed?

I think my obsession with Halloween is healthy. It keeps me out of trouble and gives me excuses to buy new tools.


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## KINGS CRYPT (Mar 22, 2009)

> Spooky1 "It keeps me out of trouble and gives me excuses to buy new tools".


Yeah I totally agree, I'm 16 and I could be doing far worse things than making fake corpses and such, haunting keeps you out of trouble. Other kids my age sit on their butts,do drugs, or play video games for hours and they say what I do is stupid or wierd. 
Also, this is kind of embarrassing, but I've always been afraid to walk in haunted houses. When I started to get really into haunting, my fear kind of went away and now walking into a haunted house is just a way of getting ideas or inspiration.


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## Spooklights (Jul 4, 2006)

I guess my reason for liking Halloween is a little different from most people's; My birthday is just before Halloween and there are lots of good memories involved. I've just always liked the holiday. Be that as it may, I'm also a church organist and I played my first funeral when I was 14. I can't say I'm morbid, but I did develop a very dark sense of humor. It's showed itself in a lot of my props, like the Skeleton Wedding and the Scarecrow with the broken leg. 
What I find so interesting is the 'personality changes' that you can get away with when you put on a seriously creepy costume. You can act like a psychotic and scare the living daylights out of people, and instead of sending for the cops, they love it. It's like everybody is in on the joke, and is willing to pretend it's real. The big advantage over the real world is that if your scare gets to be too much, you can always step away and go back to the real world for awhile. In the real world, if you get too scared you can't just step back and get away from it.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Spooklights said:


> I guess my reason for liking Halloween is a little different from most people's; My birthday is just before Halloween and there are lots of good memories involved. I've just always liked the holiday. .


I know how you feel Spooklights, I was actually born on Halloween, so it's alway been a special day for me.:zombie:


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## The Bloodshed Brothers (Jan 25, 2009)

im going to marry someone just as obssesed as i am


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## Beth (Sep 27, 2005)

I don't really know why I am so obsessed with Halloween. I guess if I ever go to a psychologist they may be able to tell me. Scaring people to death makes me laugh!! It really does. When I hear those kids going through my barn screaming I almost wet myself with laughter. Does that make me evil?????


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

I actually am a Psychologist. There is a big difference between laughing because kids are screaming in a safe haunt or from real fear and pain. We know they are enjoying themselves and we are giving them a memory for the rest of their lives. We don't randomly frighten children on the street to run them into traffic. We give them a safe entertaining thrill that they laugh about after going through.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

I dont think i could respond to this question any better than what dr m. said.
I really have no fascination with death at all ( it scares the hell outta me) and even though halloween does have to do with death i guess i just dont really look at like that. I always loved the old monster movies and for some reason i have just always loved the sheer magic of halloween night.I get such a thrill out of seeing decorations in the windows, and people in costumes having fun.Going to the stores and shopping for the new items of the year and seeing all the other people shopping for thiers.I get so excited waiting and readying for the annual halloween party.I cant even explain the thrill i get walking through a pumpkin patch and searching for just the right one.The cold crisp air blowing on an october night and the leaves blowing down the street or crunching underfoot as i walk in the woods colored with the beautiful fall colors.Eating my first carmel apple of the season and standing in line for the first haunted house of the new season.I think simply put we all love it so much because it is so uniquely halloween.There is nothing else like it.


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

I think that Halloween draws at least two types of crowds:

1. Those who are looking for a creative outlet and think fondly of the holiday, especially stemming from their youth. These people are true and genuine in their celebration. I think that most us fall into this category; and

2. Those who view the holiday as "their day", the day that somehow, in some way, they are special, or (at long last) different from (or somehow better than) most others. These people are not genuine in their celebration becuase it is merely a way, any way, to compensate for other shortcomings in their life, whether they may be a lack of good looks, athleticism, or intelligence, for example. These people draw a sense of false empowerment from the holiday.


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## Ironside (Aug 1, 2008)

I think I started to really love Halloween when I was little. I got to go trick-or-treating with my cousins at their house in their neighbourhood and every year there was this ONE house where the owner DECKED out his front porch with crazy halloween props!

You would have to walk through his front porch to where he was giving out candy but that always stuck out in my head. Ever since I "grew up" (use the term loosely) I've always wanted to re-create that experience for a new generation of kids to keep that passion for Halloween alive! 

Interestingly enough, my parents dragged me through a haunted house in Niagara Falls when I was only 7 or 8 and it scared the bejezus out of me so bad I was running for the emergency exits!!! Ever since I got older, I can calmly walk through ANY haunted house and not even flinch! I suppose I look at them like one of you said, as a learning experience where I can draw ideas from (not to mention I spent 4 years in the army so I became immune to loud noises and things that would make 'normal' people jump).

....Good times... :googly:


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

The Mangler said:


> 2. Those who view the holiday as "their day", the day that somehow, in some way, they are special, or (at long last) different from (or somehow better than) most others. These people are not genuine in their celebration becuase it is merely a way, any way, to compensate for other shortcomings in their life, whether they may be a lack of good looks, athleticism, or intelligence, for example. These people draw a sense of false empowerment from the holiday.


Dang Mangler harsh words! Hope i was in group one.

I would like to add, that just like alot of people, its the magic that draws me to it mostly.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Not me, I'm in group two. I use Halloween to compensate for my being ugly, having no athletic ablity, and I'm dumber than a rock. Do you still love me?


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

MotelSixx said:


> she can have half of everything thats NOT in the shed


Sixx...that's funny as Hell.



Aquayne said:


> The two dominant issues that lead to divorce are:
> 
> 1. Finances
> 2. Sex
> ...


And Aquayne...you're exactly correct. My lawyer said the same thing.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Okay....so the one thing everyone is dancing around....religion. 

I'll bet a common thread is that not many of us do not participate much in organized religion, or we're very secure in our faith. In my own theology, Hell is a judgement of conscience. If you don't break your own moral code, you don't fear going to Hell for building it.


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

Regarding "Group 2", there are countless occasions in which I can recall seeing these types of people and just shaking my head. With regard to an instance that comes to mind right now, a young (about 18 or so) "actor" at a local haunted barn/house who, despite being quite chubby, felt it necessary to perform "gymnastic feats" while in a fairly sorry vampire costume (which was comprised of face paint, a Metallica shirt, a black cape and black sweatpants) in order to "surprise" the patrons standing in line. He would do some half-assed cart wheels toward some people with their backs turned to them and then scream with his belly still jiggling and his crack sticking out from his sweatpants. Despite this, though, you can tell he was quite proud of himself. It was if, on this night, he was finally 'cool', and despite his likely social ineptitudes, he was 'empowered' by his association with the haunt and the holiday. Seeing him in action a couple times, I became concerned that he was far too uncoordinated to be doing such things and that he could potentially hurt someone by falling into their knees, for example. So, my friends and I kept an eye on him and, as we suspected, he lost control during a carthweel and slammed into some 8 year old kid. I think that the kid ended up being fine, but he, and his family, were visibly shaken up. You see, it was painfully clear that this chubbo did not perform cartwheels or his other 'athletic' stunts on a regular basis. Rather, these were things that somehow he was going to be able to do on Halloween or by feeding off of the energy that surrounds the holiday.


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## Master-Macabre (Sep 13, 2009)

I'm a pescetarian, the only kind of meat I eat is seafood and little punks that mess with my props  But I always thought it was interesting that the human mind can be so attracted to the aspect of harm or danger including all that consist of horror. What is it in our minds that when we hear someone is getting chopped up in a movie we say "LET ME SEE!!" I think it's just human nature to be curious about these things and just how we loved it as children, now we're the ones delivering the scares and bringing in a new clan of horror freaks like ourselves


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

What would a shrink say? Probably that we are "working out our issues in a healthy way". Tho' I don't think I have an issue.
My haunt is my only hands-on, creative outlet for the entire year. It's the only time I get to literally run the show. 
And I probably ponder about death and suffering more than the average person...both from a medical and spiritual standpoint. 
Death is so sanitized and compartmentalized off from real life in our culture. If it were up to me, I'd be thrown on a huge pyre and burned when I die, so all my friends & relatives can go home from my service with my ashes in their hair and smell on their clothes. Hire a Dixieland band and have an open bar! 

Halloween is part of the **magic** of being a kid...when fairies, boogiemen, the-thing-in-the-closet and God are all given equal weight. I think having a heartfelt passion, any passion at all, in this culture is great. Maybe Fatty Cartwheels was just happy to have FELT something, for once. Maybe he was a loser, but for one magic night, he felt like he fit in. Maybe he really is clueless & didn't fit in, but at least he had a few hours of unreality-obliviousness & supposed coolness before he went back home to his fattysweatpantsun-coollife. Or maybe he's just a boob.


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## sparky (Dec 7, 2006)

Beth said:


> I don't really know why I am so obsessed with Halloween. I guess if I ever go to a psychologist they may be able to tell me. Scaring people to death makes me laugh!! It really does. When I hear those kids going through my barn screaming I almost wet myself with laughter. Does that make me evil?????


Wow Beth ,I'm the same way as you ,I laugh my a$$ of when someone gets scared and just love it!!!!! I must be sick also along with you ,we will have fun again THIS year alright!?!?


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