“When you come home, don’t turn on the lights, and pretend there’s no one home.” This was what my mom would tell me every year since I turned 19 on October 31.
She would shut herself in her room and anyone who came home was to pretend we were ghosts…or more like, invisible.
My mom doesn’t watch scary movies. I think she just pretended to like Halloween when I was a child. She has a great sense of humor but some “kids” are tall and dress very scary, according to her.
But there were times when she allowed me to decorate the house if I was willing to give out candy and stay home. That’s when I would go all out and since the house was a two story Victorian like house, I would set up speakers upstairs facing out with scary haunted house sounds on a loop. Chains, screams, spooky sounds and ghostly giggles and witch sounds. On the porch I would set up containers of dry ice in water to create that foggy effect.
Maybe six kids actually dared to knock on the door. I ended up eating all the candy myself.
In this video, I went out to capture the “spirit” of Halloween since I was visiting in Rancho Peñasquitos, in the northern part of San Diego County. It was the last Halloween before the pandemic hit a few months later.
For the record, I received permission from all the grown ups in the video to share it publicly.
The thing is, that when you have a camera with you all the time, because it’s also your phone, there are no barriers to capturing stories.
I even interviewed a homeowner who got quite elaborate with the Halloween decor.
Enjoy the video, and enjoy this year’s Halloween on October 31. The scary part of this year’s Halloween is that it falls on a Monday and everyone fears Monday on Sunday!
Thanks for watching the video. Please let me know if you enjoyed it.
What will you be doing this year for Halloween? Are you decorating? Let me know if you’re in San Diego if you put on a big production. Maybe I’ll come out and capture it and feature your creative Halloween house here!
Trick or Treating in San Diego