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Put yourself on a neighborhood sidewalk on an October night.
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The house ahead has gone completely overboard. A skeleton looks
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down from somewhere near the gutters. There's a graveyard where
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the lawn used to be, and a figure sitting beside
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the front steps with its hands folded in its lap.
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You've spotted the trick. That one is a person. You
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give it plenty of room. It doesn't move. You pass
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the fake tombstones, watching those folded hands. Still nothing. Maybe
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you were wrong. Maybe the whole thing is just a
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very good display. Then, the enormous skeleton turns its head. Now,
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you're watching both of them. And the candy bowl is
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right in between them. Because... Why wouldn't it be? This
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is Thursday Thrills. A quick weekly ride into the creepy stories,
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haunted places, weird obsessions, and eerie little corners of the
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world worth talking about. I'm Enrique Couto, and tonight we're
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celebrating Halloween home haunts, the people who turn an ordinary
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house into the spooky house on the block. So what
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makes a neighbor's front yard feel like Halloween has finally arrived?
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I have some thoughts. A surprising number involve candy, and
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one involves a gentleman who can't stop throwing up. When
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I find a house that's gone completely overboard for Halloween,
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I stop and take it in. I'm in awe of
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the creativity. Somebody looked at that patch of grass and
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saw room for something wonderfully unreasonable. Which means somewhere behind
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those decorations is a kindred spirit. Pardon the pun. Actually, don't.
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We're owning it. I get that same little rush as
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smelling the first cup of hot cider when the air
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starts getting cooler. Fall is here. Halloween is here. Somebody
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nearby is excited enough to announce it with a skeleton
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visible from the next intersection. A home haunt might be
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a display you enjoy from the sidewalk or a walkthrough
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the owners invite you into. Either way, The ordinary house
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is part of the pleasure. There could be a basketball
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hoop above the graveyard. The monster might be standing beside
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a garden hose. I love a big commercial haunted attraction.
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I go ready to be scared, ready to indulge. But
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when the neighborhoods around me turn spooky, it takes me
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back to being a kid out trick-or-treating. The other little
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monsters were a part of it too. All of us
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running around, helping the street feel different for one night.
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You were wearing a costume. They were wearing costumes. And
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the house ahead had apparently been taken over by somebody
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with much better access to electricity. Here in the Dayton,
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Ohio area... The West Carrollton Stranger Things house did that
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for me in a big way. I went back year
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after year to see it. Painted characters, sculpted pieces, scenes
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from the show spread across somebody's home. It was grotesque
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and beautiful and macabre and full of that 80s nostalgia.
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I could stand there and just look. The artist behind
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it was Amber Windle. Think about the work that went
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into turning a love of that show into something people
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could walk past and enjoy. The attention to detail knocked
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me on my butt. I remember Eddie Munson playing guitar
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up on their roof with bats all around him. Your
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eyes could travel from one piece to another and keep
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finding something worth stopping for. a television world had spilled
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out into an unassuming Ohio neighborhood. Every visit gave me
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a new detail to find. You start following somebody's imagination,
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wondering what they'll come up with next. I love that
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Halloween gives people permission to put their strange little obsessions
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where the rest of us can find them. It's why
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I do this show to help have an outlet all
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year long for that Halloween feeling. You might never learn
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this about somebody from a polite wave across the street,
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but then October arrives and there's their imagination, towering over
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the hedge. Back on our imaginary path, you lean toward
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a tombstone to admire the painted cracks. When you straighten up,
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the giant skeleton is directly overhead. You hadn't meant to
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get this close. A good decoration, it can hold you there,
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and some of the best are, in my opinion, profoundly disgusting.
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As a kid, I loved those standing figures that... continually
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threw up green water, or at least I hope it was,
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into a tank. A pump kept the whole awful production going.
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At least, that was my understanding of the plumbing. I
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was probably nine years old, and I was primarily there
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to appreciate the performance and score some candy. I would
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just stare. There was something magnificent about how unnecessary it was.
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Somebody had gone to the trouble of providing their neighborhood
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with a person who could vomit indefinitely. The candy, it
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could wait. I had found the evening's entertainment just for me.
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My mother would eventually try to move me along. She
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found it disgusting, which was a fair assessment and also
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the principal attraction. That was the sort of house I loved.
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Something gaudy, bright, or unusual enough to make me stop,
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dead in my tracks on the sidewalk. I immediately felt
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optimistic about the candy situation, too. I had no evidence.
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I simply trusted the judgment of whoever had installed the
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zombie vomit fountain. Those memories sit in my head alongside Goosebumps,
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The Monster Squad, and The Addams Family. All those things
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helped build the feeling I still go looking for when
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October comes back around. That feeling is exactly why I
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created Weekly Spooky. I wanted to keep chasing the excitement,
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the weirdness, the pleasure of being a little scared and
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having an awesome time. So if you've ever wondered how
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we got here, somewhere in the explanation is a small
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boy refusing to leave a vomiting, perpetually vomiting decoration. I
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guess you could say he was doing research. Yeah, we'll
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go with research. Very important research. not only about vomiting statues,
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but also about the best of the best when it
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comes to fun-size candy. But that's a story for another time.
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If you're enjoying this trick through our spooky neighborhood, follow
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or subscribe to Weekly Spooky for Thursday thrills every week
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and something scary right here on the feed. At least
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once a day, if not sometimes twice, like the scary
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story that'll be right here at 2 p.m. Eastern. Don't
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miss it. And hey, send this to a friend whose
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Halloween decorations make you stop on the sidewalk and let
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them know their work is appreciated. All right, you're past
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the last tombstone now. The porch light catches a loose
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thread on the seated figure's sleeves. Up close, you can
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see the work that went into it. You cannot see, though,
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whether anyone is breathing. Somebody dressed that figure, bent the arms,
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chose where to put the chair. and those little decisions
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can turn into a very large hobby. At Haunt 31
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in Lake Hills, Illinois, the creator's own history describes the
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first Halloween at the new home in 1999. painted plywood tombstones,
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a motionless zombie, and about 15 trick-or-treaters. The next year,
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the display tied in a local scariest house contest. More
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improvements followed. According to the maker, most props are built
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by the creator, family, and friends, with skills learned along
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the way, including welding and theatrical lighting. I've always enjoyed
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a hobby where the next reasonable step is learning to weld.
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That zombie has clearly become a responsibility, but it doesn't
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have to become an obligation. You can love Halloween enormously
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without promising to build a bigger underworld every September. One
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ghost in a window still makes you the spooky house.
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The person putting it on should get to enjoy October too,
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after all. If the setup has stopped being fun, there's
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nothing wrong with giving a few monsters the year off.
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They're already dead. They can wait. You take another step.
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The candy bowl is close enough to see what's in it.
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For the record, this is absolutely not why you're moving closer.
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From above, the giant says, Go on. You look up.
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Of course you do. Home Depot's new app-controlled 12-foot skelly
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has a particularly fun advertised feature for 2026. Owners can
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speak through it live and can control its head and
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mouth movements. That's the separate animated model. The older skeleton
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outside your kitchen window hasn't secretly learned to hold a conversation.
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On our imaginary porch, somebody chose exactly when that skull
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should break its vow of silence. You find yourself saying,
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Thank you, to a head bigger than your laundry basket
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at home. Then, you remember the chair. When you look down,
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the hands are still folded. Nothing has changed that you
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can prove. You're close enough now to reach the bowl.
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You stretch out one hand and keep your eyes on
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the other two. This is where I would hold the shot.
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Your hand hovering over the candy. Those hands resting in
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its lap. Then, one finger lifts. You make a noise
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you would prefer your friends not to discuss. Then, you
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laugh and take your candy. Somebody arranged that moment, waited
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for you, and gave you a story to take home
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along with the fun-sized Reese's. These days, my favorite part...
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is handing out the candy. I get plenty and I
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give it out in big fat handfuls. There's a little
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performance when I open the door too. I like to
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suddenly put a lot of emphasis into the first word
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of who's at my door. That who does a surprising
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amount of heavy lifting. I try to judge the group
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before they get to me. Older kids who seem like
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they can take it Get the bigger version. Little ones
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get a gentler greeting. Then comes a giant treat for
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their trick. The parents waving and thanking me. The kids laughing.
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The candy going into their pails or sacks. That is
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the ultimate for me. I get to be on this
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side of the door now. And it's just as sweet
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as the other. I don't always get the scare right, though.
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I've had kids refuse to come closer or run away
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or drop to their butts and cry. Sometimes a little
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one is hidden behind the taller kids before I can
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see them. That's a reason to dial it back. I mean,
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I want them to leave happy. They should get their
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candy without having to prove their brave enough to approach
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a bizarre stranger. A neighborhood gives you all sorts of visitors.
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Somebody wants the full monster voice, but then somebody else
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wants to look from beside their parent's leg. There's room
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for both, and the person at the door gets to
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try and make the right call. I often think about
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how much those houses meant to me when I was
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a kid. The people putting them together couldn't have known
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I'd still be talking about their decorations years later. They
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were just making an evening fun, and I was one
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of the little monsters just passing through. Now I'm holding
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the candy bowl. I'd like to give somebody a memory
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that makes them smile the way those memories still make
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me smile to this day. So this October, take the
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little detour, stop and admire the house that went overboard,
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keep to the paths, follow any visiting hours, and leave
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the props for everyone to enjoy. If the maker is outside,
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tell them which detail caught you. The painted face, the
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creature on the roof, the completely unreasonable amount of green
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water vomit. Let them know there's another kindred spirit on
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the sidewalk, and if you are handing out candy, I
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hope you get a moment to enjoy the little monsters
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coming toward your door. For one evening, the neighborhood has
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dressed for the occasion, and you get to help make
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it feel like Halloween. I'm Enrique Couto, and this has
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been Thursday Thrills. Be generous with the candy. Be kind
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to the monsters. And before we leave our imaginary porch,
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have one more look at the chair beside the steps.
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It's empty now. You may want to check behind you.
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Come back tomorrow for more fear. Until then, lock your
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doors as if that will help.