Cheers to the family that delights in the creepy!

It’s not easy being a creepy family. Now, we don’t look like the Addams Family, we don’t drive a hearse around and we don’t live in anything that looks like an old victorian home with blacked out windows and bats flying out of the chimney. My little family falls in the “oh my, they’re a little strange” category.

We aren’t alone in this though. I’ve met several families who enjoy the odd, the creepy and the dark. It’s nice to have some people who can help you find cool clothes and accessories for your young kids, people who can go with you to various haunted houses during halloween season and it’s also great to have family friends with similar interests. (ie. people who don’t ask why you consistently dress in black clothes)

We enjoy a watching a family friendly thriller with the kids. Always taking the time to explain that it’s all pretend and make believe. Halloween themed movies aren’t just reserved for the month of October, we like to watch them year round. My son asks to listen to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack just as much in June as he does when the leaves start changing colors.
Halloween isn’t just a holiday for us, it’s a lifestyle.

And I see this lifestyle becoming more and more popular.
I see the moms with toddler daughters at conventions in matching black dresses with bat bows in their pig tails. I know several home haunters who enjoy working alongside their kids setting up, running and tearing down their elaborate events. I see Nightmare Before Christmas stick figures on the backs of cars and it makes me smile.

On the flip side, families like us do catch a lot of flack from other people. I’ve been asked if I think that exposing my kids to scary stuff is damaging to their psyches. If I had a nickel for every time someone said, “I hope you’re saving up for all the therapy that they’ll need” followed by a nervous giggle, I’d be a rich woman. Trust me, the therapy won’t stem from anything they’ve seen at a theme park haunt. It will be because I’m an overzealous snack mom who thinks every preschool snack time should be an event complete with themed finger foods.

Or another favorite that I hear on a weekly basis, “They must have a lot of nightmares!” No, they don’t really. And when they do it’s not of scary clowns underneath their beds. My son has a reoccurring nightmare of a potato chasing him. Yes, a potato. If anyone has any thoughts on that one, let us know.

With the advent of social media taking over our lives, we have begun to see that there are a lot of people out there just like us! Our little creepy culture is starting to come in from the fringes of society and it’s easier to find little dresses with Frankenstein prints. It’s easier to find neat artwork to hang in my son’s room of classic Universal monster caricatures.

So here’s a head nod to those of us who look a little bit different from the “normal” family unit. To my friend who painted her child’s nursery in orange and black stripes. To the haunt families that buy their kids knee pads and make little slider gloves. To those of us who live for the haunting season.
You keep being you. And please, you keep being creepy.

About the Author

Erin Jefferson-Foley (Mommy Fearest) is terrified of scary movies, gore and zombies. But she loves all things Halloween and Haunt related! Slowly but surely she has been dipping her toes into the realm of horror movies with great results. Pretty soon she will work her way up to watching a scary movie when it is dark outside. Erin has had a love affair with theme park Halloween events for the past 20 years. Her first time at an event was at Knott's Scary Farm in the late 80s when a family friend, a Knott's employee, escorted her into the park to watch Elvira and give her a behind the scenes tour. She was intrigued as she walked through the break room and realized that they were just people in masks and makeup. It seemed like only a short time later, Erin was performing for Halloween Haunt which led to her meeting the love of her life, her husband. Each year she cheers on her husband and his friends as they set up and run a home haunt. You can catch her helping with line control and repeating the same instructions over and over and over to the guests each night. She has been a professional dancer and actress for over 20 years. When she is not in the studio teaching dance or in her office writing, you can catch Mommy Fearest with her husband and two kids at various conventions throughout California. She enjoys Cosplay, Star Wars, Renaissance Faires, Halloween, haunted attractions, paranormal happenings, special effects makeup and horrible reality television shows.