Sunday, September 19, 2010

Dark Figures






Many more here.

2 comments:

M said...

There is a lot of variety in the costumes downtown: some are good, many are bad, some are funny, and some are scary. Last year, though, I learned that there is a difference between a scary costume and a costume that actually inspires fear in people. I didn't realise that it was possible to fill people with intense dread just with one's appearance (and I think masks are rather attractive, personally), so when I was waiting to cross the main street, standing perfectly still on the side of the curb, facing the cars that were briefly stopped in the crush of the crowd, it took me a few moments to notice that the people in the cars directly in front of me were really freaking out. It wasn't really terror, of course -- there was that nice sheet of metal and glass between them and me -- but they had the excitedness people get when they're watching the first few minutes of a horror movie and waiting for something terrifying to happen. It was much better when I was out in the darker outskirts of the downtown area, where people were coming and going! I saw grown men (the kind too serious and manly to wear a costume, you know) widen their eyes and jump to get out of my path. Where I walked, conversations didn't just end, they died tragic and unexpected deaths! I made people unable to speak from across streets, just by turning my head in their direction.

It was amazing. It was the best Halloween I have ever had, because I discovered how easy it is to truly frighten people -- and what a beautiful thing it is. And I will always remember the young woman who passed by me in the dark with a friend as I was moving through the staggered crowd back to town from campus, saying to me as she passed, “Thank you for wearing a costume that is actually scary.”

Rot said...

Thanks for sharing that.
It was an awesome read.