We had quite the Halloween season around here! Every year it gets a little a little spookier, a little scarier, a little more. It is possible we hit peak Halloween this year.

(Lists are not rankings.)

Scary Movies Watched

1. The Exorcist
   I had somehow never seen The Exorcist before! It was much more vulgar and creepy than I expected, and I’m glad I didn’t let the kids watch it with me.
2. The Shining
   A classic! I watch this one at least once a year, and actually enjoy the spooky setting more than anything else. It is much scarier if you watch it when you are alone in the house.
3. Smile
   This one freaked me out more than I expected it to. Not perfect, but extremely creepy and well done.
4. Children of the Corn
   I had somehow never seen this one; did you know that Linda Hamilton is in it? It was fun to see the 1980s again, but it wasn’t very scary or very good.
5. Crimson Peak
   This was a rewatch for me; I keep circling back to it for some reason. I think it’s the setting and the aesthetic that really appeals. It’s all dark corners and odd angles and red oozing out from everywhere. Also Jessica Chastain is fantastic. I recommend this one.
6. The Nun 2
   This was not good. There was one scene with a cool effect having to do with a magazine rack, but my sister said that was in the trailer anyway. I would skip this even if you liked the first The Nun.
7. Fall of the House of Usher
   This is from Mike Flanagan, the director who has been putting out a new horror series on Netflix every year (previous offerings include Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass). I really enjoy his work, and Fall of the House of Usher did not disappoint, although it was a little more gory than previous series. I might rewatch this one!
8. Halloween Ends
   This movie was weird, and sucked, and I blame my sister for putting it on while she was here.
9. All the Bob’s Burgers Halloween Episodes
   It’s a family tradition! More on this tomorrow.

Spooky Books Read

1. We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter by Rachel Hanel
   I really enjoyed this memoir. The author acknowledges the mingling of death among life in a way that maybe only a gravedigger’s daughter can.
2. The American Resting Place: 400 Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds by Marilyn Yalom & Reid Yalom
   A little dry, but a fun jaunt through various cemeteries across the United States. A good primer on various burial and gravestone traditions, nice pictures.
3. Saving What Remains: A Holocaust Survivor’s Journey Home to Reclaim Her Ancestry by Livia Bitton-Jackson
   This book was excellent and will stay with me a long time. The author documents her trip back to Czechoslovakia in 1980 to exhume her grandparents and bring their remains back to Israel. It was a perfect snapshot of the Holocaust, Communism & the Iron Curtain, Jewish life and culture, and the goodness of people.

Cemeteries Visited

1. Oakland Cemetery in Saint Paul
   I went on a guided tour of this cemetery with the local historical society in late September. This cemetery is not beautiful, but there are a lot of notable figures from the city’s history buried here and a lot of older graves.
2. Cottage Grove Cemetery in Cottage Grove
   This is a sweet little country cemetery with plenty of older graves and too many children’s graves.
3. Newport Cemetery in Newport
   This cemetery is on a hill, which I thought was unusual and exciting. Also unusual: the number of flowers and trinkets left at the graves in the newer section. I was impressed.
4. Church of St. Peter Historic Cemetery in Mendota
   This is a lovely, well-kept little cemetery with interesting graves old and new.
5. Elmhurst Cemetery in Saint Paul
   This is a gorgeous cemetery! They’ve recently planted a large number of trees so I think the place will become even more stately in the future. I was impressed with how well-kept it was and also the number of visitors there on a Sunday afternoon in October. Would be it wrong to use the words “lively” and “cheerful” to describe a cemetery?
6. Viola Lake Cemetery near Webster, Wisconsin
   I found a very lovely set of monuments here: for a living set of parents and a departed daughter about my age. I waited around wishing the parents would arrive so I could tell them how moving their daughter’s gravestone is, but they didn’t come.
7. United Hebrew Brotherhood Cemetery in Richfield
   I love how closely the graves are crowded together; it feels like a real city of the dead. I also adore the Jewish tradition of leaving rocks and pebbles on the headstones, a reminder that the living exist here as well.

Haunted Experiences Survived

1. Scream Town in Chaska
   We love Scream Town! This was our third year at Scream Town, and although they replaced one of my favorite experiences (Rest in peace, Santa’s Slay) they seem to keep making improvements to everything else and it just gets better and better. I think everyone’s favorite is the Oak Blood Forest. I love how they space the groups out so well so you truly feel like you’re trying to find your way through a haunted forest, and it goes on forever! The vibe is always excellent, and the scare actors and other workers are just great; I cannot say enough nice things about this haunt.
2. Onionhead’s Revenge at the Mall of America
   We happened to be at the Mall of America for dinner one night and decided on a whim to do this new haunt despite the terrible reviews we had read. There were some parts of it that were great! Several of the actors really got up in our faces and creeped us out. There were a few spots in the haunt that were built like mazes, which was fun, and another spot where someone chases you through a bunch of twists and turns. Several of the rooms were really well-done and creepy. I enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected, although being indoors made me feel a little agoraphobic.
3. The Haunted House at my kid’s school
   Of course this was fun! Not at all professional, but my oldest had a blast working as a scare actor and it only took my husband like three days to recover from building and taking it down all in the course of eight hours.
4. Dead End Hayride in Wyoming
   This was our first year doing the Dead End Hayride. Wow. The hayride itself was fun; it was mostly scare actors doing their best to get up in your shit and freak you out. After the hayride you walk through a bunch of haunts of various themes and those were amazing! I was actually a little terrified a few times! It feels way more professional than Scream Town, and they have much better food vendors and common space. I think this is what Scream Town wants to be when it grows up. We all loved Dead End Hayride and will be going back next year.
5. Neighborhood haunted house
   I had heard about an annual, Halloween-night-only haunted house just a few blocks away from us, but had never made it down there to see it. This year we trick-or-treated with a friend who lived nearby so I finally got to experience it. The homeowners basically closed in their wraparound porch with plywood to turn it into a haunted house and this year the theme was clowns. It was actually quite good and we all enjoyed it.