Horror? But You Seem So Nice…

The strange and dark things that exist in my mind surprise people. I seem so nice. So innocent.

Well, not exactly.

For my first post here with The Midnight Society (EEEEEEKK!) I want to introduce myself… or more specifically the dark side of myself.

Pennywise from the TV miniseries IT

The weird, the fantastic, the scary have always drawn me to gaze into the shadows, to look under the bed and in the closet, well, maybe not the closet. Let’s not go crazy. There are monsters in there. Seriously, you know that, right?

My love of horror began long ago. Books like ‘The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull’ by John Bellairs and ‘The Watcher in the Woods’ by Florence Engel Randall gave me my first bookish shivers. At sixteen, my dad handed me ‘The Talisman’ by Stephen King and Peter Straub, sending me racing to the library to get MORE. When Dad had the TV tuned to something terrible, my sisters fled the room, but I stayed. When I was warned not to watch certain scenes of Poltergeist, I kept my gaze glued to the screen. Don’t speak to me of clown dolls. Ever.

I love all of it! And last fall I decided to try writing it.

So now my life is complete.

But why? Why the scary? What is so fun about freaking myself out so much that I flee up the stairs at night to escape what ever might follow me?

The CW show Supernatural… It’ll be okay DEAN!

I don’t know! Does anyone know?

I like to think of those shape sorting toys toddlers have. Everyone’s brain is set up with different shapes. Mine happens to be set up with the I-love-everything-creepy space, my dark side, to be filled with the appropriate spooktastic material, such as…

What lurks in the shadows. The possibilities of the things hiding in the dark send my mind spinning in glee. My favorite horror is the creepy, the unexplained.

Ghosts.

Poltergeist

Demons.

Insidious

Faeries… yes, them too.

Legend

People… they can be the scariest. Monsters lurk in people. The person who lets fear eat away at their mind, who allows a simple obsession to grow into a destructive force, who wraps themselves in a cloak of darkness shunning the light forever.

The Shining

This is the horror that I embrace. Underneath my sunshiny smile and optimistic view, an evil smirk lurks… a maniacal laugh waits to surface.

So, as I embark on this journey here with the fabulous ladies of The Midnight Society, I can’t wait to share my favorite creepy books, movies, and TV shows. I look forward to uncovering what hides in the shadows. Maybe, if I am brave, post a few of my own scary flash fiction pieces.

The Shining

Do you have a dark side? Celebrate it with us. If you dare…

*all gifs from some of my favorite movies and shows from Google Images!