Every year around this time I think about the time, many years ago, when I helped raise money for the Tex-Annes (my sister's drill team) by working in a haunted house at Six Flags Fright Fest. One time I was the nanny for Rosemary's baby. I had to sit in a rocking chair and make it look like I was a robot and then jump out and scare people. I was wearing this really creepy mask along with the old school dress they had me in.
One guy came through with his little girl, who was maybe six years old, and she was screaming and crying and saying "She's gonna jump out at me!" over and over again so I stayed perfectly still and did not jump out because I have been that little girl before. I understood what she was going through and didn't want to scare her even more than she already was. I did want to smack her dad for taking her into the haunted house in the first place, though.
The best moment, was when this group of guys who were in their late 20s or so came into the room and started messing with me, flipping me off. One even stuck his finger in the hole in my mask (if I had any idea how clean his finger was I would have bitten it). They were cussing at me as well. They started to walk away and I jumped out at them. They all screamed like little girls and then started apologizing for the stuff they did and said. I laughed so hard because I scared the crap out of guys who were literally twice my age at the time.
Another time I was the demon that was possessing this woman (who was a mannequin). That mask was tighter on my face than the nanny mask so it was harder to breathe and I really hated being in there. I had to leave after about twenty minutes.
Here's something you have to understand about that whole experience. I hate haunted house. I don't like being scared. I don't understand the purpose of intentionally scaring yourself. I have been forced into haunted house by my siblings and by a girl's club field trip and I hated every single minute of both of them. I spent the entire way through one of them with my head ducked down and my fingers in my ears and trying to get out as quickly as possible without looking at anything. So you can imagine that working in a haunted house was not the most fun thing in the world for me. Especially since I had to go through the haunted house to get to my station. But I did it because it was a way to raise money for one of my sister's various and sundry trips. And it ended up not being the worst experience I've ever had. It was kind of fun getting to be "behind the scenes" at Six Flags for a little while. I got to go into the costume department and things like that.
I have a lot of other Halloween memories but that one is the one that sticks with me the most.
