Halloween and How Far to Go With New Concerns

Do I......

  • Tone it down?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    7

His_Highness

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
We've always gone a little overboard with the scary stuff. One year I made a bunch of life sized dummies with those plastic masks that fit over the entire head. Had the "wolf man" sitting on our front porch bench all week and then on Halloween wore the wolf man's cloths and mask and sat on that bench, motionless. We were a block from the middle school so everyone got used to the wolf man on the bench that year. I would turn my toes inward so it looked like it wasn't something a human would do. When someone would come up on the porch I'd wait till they rang the doorbell before "waking" and growling "let me get that for you"! It worked out so well one woman ran off the porch and left her two little ones on the porch when she bolted. That young lady cried hysterically for a minute or so and my next door neighbor's wife came out and gave me a serious talking too and told me not to do it anymore but her husband came out, told her to mind her own business and said that my prank was epic and I should continue. We even had some folks we got good bring back other people to see them get scared too by telling them we were giving out large sized candy. One woman brought her two little ones (6 and 8 years old) and I could tell she knew I was in that costume when she convinced them to do this house themselves while she stood on the stoop. We haven't done the costume caper where we live now but I've considered it.

I have about a dozen different animatronic things that scream, move and talk, a couple blue-tooth speakers doing the scary sounds, two movie projectors playing scary scenes. A 8 foot fire breathing dragon whose wings go back and forth. The decorations that look similar to the others that don't do anything other than look scary are positioned up front to cause the visitor to get used to nothing happening and then when they turn the corner toward the door a very loud, angry, grim reaper reaches out and a 6 foot witch also reaches out and starts yelling.

Here's my concern.....This year I've been seeing some social media posts I've never seen before. One asked that strobe lights not be used because some people have induced seizures. Another asked that folks limit the animatronics, sounds and flashing LEDs because it causes an overload for some autistic children. Last year we did have two families tell us they had to pass on our house because it was a little too much for their kids.

I've asked my family (Wife and two adult daughters, one with a 4 year old and a 1 year old) and they all said pretty much the same thing....nobody is forcing anyone to trick or treat at our house so just do what you want.
 

Tranquility

Well-Known Member
You can choose how inclusive you want to be for your celebration.

If you actually have some neighbor children who have an epileptic sensitivity to flashing lights, you might get rid of the strobe. If not, you are calculating that the 3-5% of the 1 in a 100 kids who have photosensitive epilepsy have parents who are idiots who randomly bring out their kids on a night of flashing lights for a couple bucks worth of candy should be in charge of your fun.

An autistic child has to live in the world as it is. The world might adapt some things to accommodate, but the person is responsible for his own safety and piece of mind. Also, what IS an autistic child? There are some I see that a sidelong glance at them might cause decompensation while others can pay attention to their phone while next to a marching band playing around them and band members touching them as they march by without any sign other than a very focused attention. Again, the only real thing you can do is if you KNOW of a SPECIFIC person who will be there and adapt accordingly. Random kids in headphones and gloves to avoid sensation, probably shouldn't be out trick-or-treating.

By-the-by, my wife's on keto right now. You better have some damn bacon for treats if we stop by.

Edit:
Then again,
https://fox17.com/news/local/tortur...ants-extreme-tennessee-haunted-house-to-close
 
Last edited:

His_Highness

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
My father-in-law used to take a shot glass with him when he walked the kids (my wife included) from house to house. The kids would hold out their bags and he would hold out his shot glass. Now if only we could do the same with our vapes!

Love that shot glass idea! I'll have to rent some kids.......
 

Tranquility

Well-Known Member
For some reason, I've not heard of the shot glass idea before. Brilliant! There's no way I wouldn't fill up a glass for someone who held it out for trick or treat. (Assuming grumpy adult taking care of their kids. If a college-aged kid came by, probably not.)

As to putting out the glass, no way. I wouldn't make it to the corner.
 

Tranquility

Well-Known Member
While I don't think there is a lot one can do other than not force a "trick or treat" in exchange for candy (and/or allow a much older "child" to get treats), there is the theory of a blue pumpkin pail as a candy bag. That is supposed to indicate the child is autistic.
 

His_Highness

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
While I don't think there is a lot one can do other than not force a "trick or treat" in exchange for candy (and/or allow a much older "child" to get treats), there is the theory of a blue pumpkin pail as a candy bag. That is supposed to indicate the child is autistic.

Read about the blue pumpkin as well .... this year. It was these kind of postings that I hadn't seen before that had me wondering if I were out of touch with the social conventions and the expectations for being sensitive to them.

Unfortunately a blue pumpkin doesn't have an automated "stop" switch that my animatronic grim reaper and witch can react to and it wouldn't turn off my blue tooth speakers or the flashing LEDs for eyes that most of my other ghouls and goblins have. The good news is that if someone is sensitive to some of my decorations they can tell from the street that this is not the "Disney House" and would be able to steer clear.

So far everyone I've talked to about the decorations has said the same thing which translates to "you do you".
 

Tranquility

Well-Known Member
The good news is that if someone is sensitive to some of my decorations they can tell from the street that this is not the "Disney House" and would be able to steer clear.
I was going to bring that up if you got some pushback. There is a huge difference between a house with speakers, lights, fog and multiple items of horror strewn about in a hidden maze and a house with a single jack-o-lantern on an otherwise empty porch.
 
Top Bottom