By Rebecca J. Rinehart
Wake Me When October Ends
I run two podcasts, two Facebook groups, and a YouTube channel, plus contribute to numerous other websites and podcasts that are all devoted to horror. My house is decked out in horror memorabilia (I even recently got a snazzy horror movie poster shower curtain). My usual wardrobe consists of some kind of pants and a horror t-shirt. Hell, the purse I carry is a quite tasteful Camp Crystal Lake bag and I just got this badass Part IV Jason Voorhees tattoo this past weekend. I spend my weekends at horror conventions, film festivals, location tours, photo shoots, and film sets. Needless to say, I let my freak flag fly all year long.
I didn’t always have this luxury, though. Having worked in K-12 education in conservative Midwestern towns for two decades, I often hid my love of guts and gore for fear of judgement. Only in the last two years have I come out of the spooky closet, so to speak, to devote the bulk of my time with MY people: the horror-loving freaks and geeks of this wonderful, caring community.
Fear not, dear children of the night: my exposition shall not morph into a mundane diatribe about why I love horror. My soapbox of the day centers on the month of October when people who proselytize us for 11 months suddenly are also “into scary stuff.” Since being so immersed in the scene lately, I forgot the feeling of alienation I endured from the “normies” in years past. October HAD been my sole time of relief when I could release my white-knuckle grip on the curtain of solitude but has since turned into a time of disdain for the Spirit of Halloween.
Why is it “acceptable” to put a decapitated head on the front porch for four select weeks but “weird” that I feel joy holding Mrs. Voorhees’ head on Friday, September 13? Controversial words here, but the way I feel in October has to be the way devout Christians feel in December: all year, they are ridiculed for their level of devotion and beliefs, yet for a month out of the year, everyone else seems to be all YAY JESUS!!! Or how food pantry workers must feel in November when everyone is hell bent on giving the community food for one day when they struggle to fill the shelves in spring.
Obviously, this thought floats around in my head quite frequently and I’ve concluded that it is merely human nature to want to be part of something (thank you, Sociology 101!). Whereas I have been dismissing this phenomenon as petty cultural tourism, I now realize that others look into our crazy little misunderstood world and they yearn to be part of a cohesive, genuine group.
Two New Horror Fans
This past weekend, I was at a horror convention and during a lengthy stretch of downtime, Alex Vincent (Andy from Child’s Play) and I were in the hotel bar with two delightful older ladies who arrived in town for an unrelated event. They showed extreme interest into why we were there and when I mentioned who Alex was, one lady said, “OOOOHHHHH!!! Chucky scares me so bad but the neighbor kids LOVE him and think he’s so cool.” I offered to take her upstairs before things started for (a pro bono) photo in the Good Guys box and it seriously made her weekend. Ten minutes prior, she had no interest in the genre, but embraced it for a brief moment to be one of the cool kid. She might have walked into the hotel wondering what kind of freaks would spend a weekend around the macabre but walked out with a picture and a name drop that could make her proud around others she respected.
Admittedly, as I wrote this article, my attitude morphed from disdain for the outsiders to pride for being one of the insiders. Though I don’t do what I do for acceptance or validation, the community to which I belong gives me just that. If I have the ability to give others that feeling for 31 days out of the year, I shall henceforth embrace that power. Spread the love, my people.
The friends we make along the way.
Becca is a horror podcaster, YouTuber, interviewer and writer who has an extreme passion for all things macabre.
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Have you listened to our podcast yet? It’s Beyond The Void Horror Podcast. You should! We do Reviews of new/old movies, Horror Themed Shots, Trivia & we even make up horror movies on the spot for our segment called GravePlots. It’s a lot of fun. Join us. Check it out! Listen on iTunes Here or on Spotify here! OR anywhere you listen to podcast.