1. What is your favorite work of horror fiction?
Carrie, by Steven King. I've read it a hundred times, as if the ending is going to change or something.
2. Who is your favorite monster?
Pinhead--he's strangely elegant, and of course Carrie, though she isn't really a monster. Her actions were quite monstrous. Vengeful telekinetic chicks rule. I'd also say the creatures of Midian in Nightbreed, but they were actually the heroes. Oh, and the Tall Man from Phantasm!! "Boyyyyy!"
3. What horror movie gives you the most chills?
Once upon a time I would have said The Blair Witch Project. The first time I saw it, I lay awake jumping at every noise for a week. It's that scene at the end where Mike is in the corner, it's just so freaking creepy. Then, I said it again with Tom Despres and laughed my ass off. The other I would have said is The Exorcist. The part where she crawls spiderlike down the stairs, it looks so bizarre and unnatural. There are a few others as well, such as the scene in The Wicker Man (the 1973 version) where they set fire to the effigy with Sergeant Howie inside as he's singing...I read those sacrifical animals actually perished.
4. Freddy versus Jason?
Jason, all the way, in every incarnation (even outer space).
5. Ghosts or goblins?
I can't decide, since both have their merits and cool factors. The It Happened To Me section of the Fortean Times message boards has some pretty creepy goblin and Little-People related anecdotes.
6. What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal?
I wouldn't say scary so much as weird. Warning: This is lengthy and contains UFOs.
The earliest experiences occurred at around 9 or 10 years of age. I was with my very best friend, Chris Beirne, who lived just down the street. This must have been late spring or early summer, as the weather was warm and the blue sky cloudless and sunny. We were sitting on the wall in front of the old Thomson School. Suddenly we both observed what can best be described as a dark colored square box moving slowly across the sky in a westerly
direction. It appeared to be rotating or tumbling as it moved. We were both like “what is that!” We thought it was very strange for what we thought might have been a corrugated cardboard box to be flying up so high in the air when there was little to no wind to carry it. We ran across the street across a few backyards to follow it and lost sight of it over some trees.
The next year at around the same time, we both observed the same thing-- a dark colored box rotating slowly across the sky, only this time, we were in front of my house sitting on the front steps.
The next sighting is a little vague. It was around the time of one of the celebrated space shuttle launches, which were popularly televised at the time, and everybody watched them. I was out on the playground at recess with my group of friends and the teacher’s assistant. I do not remember what grade I was in, probably 4th or 5th. We saw a metallic (or it might have been whitish in color) shape in the sky moving up. It did not appear to be a plane or a jet.
I remember asking the teacher assistant if she thought it was the space shuttle, and she replied “I don’t think so”. She seemed weirded out by what we saw. Now I know it could not have been, since the launches take place in the early morning. This event would have been late morning shorly after 10:30 am.
The next event took place in 1997, I believe, in January. I was working at an after school center for elementary aged kids as a teacher doing homework tutoring and arts and crafts. The children from all the area schools were bussed over except for the Atkinson school kids, who were coming from next door, so we walked over to meet them. We were having a week of very unseasonably warm--in the mid-90’s--weather and all the snow had melted. This
particular day was bright, clear, and sunny. There was a short paved path from our parking lot to the Atkinson school playground, and this is where we would meet the kids coming from the school. My co-teacher Dave and I headed over to meet the kids. We were about 15 minutes early and were sitting on the path enjoying the nice weather. I looked up and noticed movement in the sky. It was barely discernable from the rest of the sky, but I saw what seemed to be a flock of something, way high--impossibly high--in the air. My first thought was that they were
a flock of hawks migrating, but it was the wrong season and they were way too high in the air. They were moving slowly. I tried pointing them out to Dave, but he didn’t see them. Eventually the kids arrived and I lost sight of the flying things.
Of all the mountains of paranormal and Fortean material I have read in books, magazines, and websites, I had never come across another account that was similar to my experience, until I read The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. There is an account of an Italian astronomer Ricco, who while studying the sun at 8 am on November 30, 1880, at the observatory in Palermo, Sicily, witnessed “winged bodies in two parallel lines slowly traveling, apparently across
the disc of the sun. They looked like large birds or cranes.”
That wasn’t exactly what I saw, but it was close.
The latest experience was on a chilly, clear night this past winter, in February. My other witness is my husband. We were returning from getting dinner when we spotted a peculiar multi-colored light in the sky hanging in the air. It hovered unmoving for several minutes, while we watched from the parking lot. There was no sound coming from it.
The both of us observed other aircraft that were obviously recognizable as planes. Finally after several minutes of observing it from the kitchen window, it moved away. We saw this same phenomenon on a few more occasions during that time period.
7. Do you believe in ghosts?
Yeah, but I'm not sure what they could actually be. I've read several theories and all seem plausible, from actual spirit energy to vibrations to magnetic recordings.
8. Favorite Halloween costume?
One year I was Pouch the Beanie Baby kangaroo. A girl I worked with made it for me. It was big and furry and warm, and I even had the tush tag with the poem. My tail had a wire in it and thus a mind of its own. I carried a plushy Roo and the actual Beanie Baby with me and got compliments as well as people throwing random items such as bottle caps into the pouch all night. Alas, no pics.
9. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your fantasy costume be for this Halloween?
Bast the Egyptian cat goddess, but it can certainly be done within my budget and probably shall be, next year. Now, if I had unlimited technological know-how, I think the answer would be different.
10. When was the last time you went trick or treating?
A few years ago, we took my niece and nephews around my sister's neighborhood. I dug out the Pouch the Beanie Baby kangaroo costume and it rained.
11. What's your favorite Halloween candy?
Kit Kats, M&Ms, and Three Musketeers.
12. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had.
Well, recently I had a dream where Bob and I were getting a divorce. We were at my parents' house and we told them we had some news...my mother, all excited, thought we were having a baby, and Bob laughs and drops the bomb.
13. What is your supernatural fear?
I think it's more the fear of seeing something super creepy...please refer to various stories on the IHTM message board on the Fortean Times website for examples! Like the thread called "Panic In the Woods".
14. What is your creepy-crawlie fear?
Spiders. I don't know why, but I just cannot stand those eight egged freaks, ever since I can remember. Please don't tell me that they "help the environment by eating bugs". No sir, they do not. Bats eat up to 2000 insects in a single evening. How many do spiders get, like one? Two? Big deal. Then the web gets dusty and turns into a cobweb, and that's more for me to vaccuum. Plus, they are mostly venomous (even daddy longlegs though they aren't technically arachnids) and as if I needed any more reason to hate them, they are ugly. Looks sometimes count, you know. Hell, let's add scorpions to this list, too. They're just another shiny-carapaced uglyass poisonous arachnid. They all should die.
15. Would you ever stay in a real haunted house overnight?
is it a hotel?
16. Are you a traditionalist (just a face) Jack O'Lantern carver, or do you get really creative with your pumpkins?
A couple years ago I did a Red Sox pumpkin. Usually I do a goofy looking face. Of course there was the year that Tonya and I went nuts and painted a Pinhead pumpkin and then pounded nails into it!! That rocked. After that my pumpkin creativity kind of nosedived.
17. How much do you decorate your home for Halloween?
We have a whole big boxful of Halloween stuff but some of it stays out year round, like Brutus the gargoyle and my feathered crow. I broke my favorite ceramic jack o lantern with the wizard hat. Most years the house gets totally decked out. This year, I fizzled pout worse than the Sox. You may have seen my recent post about the garbage bag strips. Well, that was a total washout. Not only did they manage to wrap themselves around our upstairs neighbors' patio railing after a windy day, but they asked us to take them down. They has also begun to rip.
It doesn't really bother me the way Christmas does. I can't stand Christmas. I think that kids need to get back to making their own costumes instead of buying those cheesy store bought ones, though they've saved me in a pinch in the past. And what is up with the "sexy" costumes being available in children's sizes? Okay, okay, fine...I was a nurse last year, but I was more of a "cute" nurse rather than Nurse Naughty. Other than that, the commercial aspect just means there's more bat merch available. And I could always use more bat merch.
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