What makes Halloween for you?

[Andybev01]

Yes, yes and, yes again!!

The smell of pumpkin!!!!!!!!

The smell of pumpkin does it for me. Nothing like smelling that first freshly carved jack-o-lantern of the year.

The music as well. I'll listen to Monster Mash or anything by Nox Arcana or Midnight Syndicate and I'll automatically get that "feeling".

They don't give away black cats due to supposed satanic rituals and whatnot that happens on Halloween. I wonder how prevalent stuff like that is?

It's 80 plus degrees in October here. I feel like I have to use my imagination that much more to take me to that perfect Halloween world

[DemonSlayerMau]

By the way, did you know that a lot of "Humane societies" will not give away black cats during the entire month of october?

I'm well aware of that yes. Doesn't stop me from adopting some plush black cats though.
Octoberchill is right, I think it has to do to with satanic practices and stuff. People would sacrifice these animals or otherwise be cruel to them on Halloween, and that's just not right.
I would love to put my cat in a costume..but she'd probably tear me a new one.

I'm not sure if the local humane society here has that rule, but I'm aware that many cat shelters do this. The local humane society here however, has a black cat event around Halloween time. It's supposed to be a dinner to benefit the animals. I'd love to go to one, but it's so expensive. They have these at these really classy resturants and I think it's around 50-60 bucks a plate. Yikes!
But I do donate to the humane society by dropping in a dollar now and then when I visit the store in their little container. I also go to freekibble and freekibblekat.com, answer a trivia question, and it doesn't matter if you get the right or wrong answer...you automatically donate 10 pieces of kibble. You can play it both for the cats and the dogs. It's really easy, and it's free to do.

But back to Halloween, the first thing I look for is black cat plushies, or tee shirts with black cats on them.
But I also really enjoy handing the candy out and dressing up in costume.
I don't let my grandma spoil my fun. But she did let me order a pizza last year!
I also love the spooky feeling in the air, the crisp smell of the october leaves, seeing all the skeletons and ghosts flying in the air and other monsters.
As for the pumpkins, I didn't get to have one last year which is partly why I want to grow them. I like carving them, but it does make a mess...it also makes my skin itch though which is why I wonder if I'm allergic. Some types of squash make my throat itch too...but this isn't always the case with me. I have to agree, the smell of pumpkins is great.

This year I'm thinking about getting one of those light things to light it up, this way grandma won't have to worry about fires. I think one year I just stuck a flash light in the pumpkin.

[spinergy2002]

I gotta agree with you guys that pumkins are huge during halloween. They pretty much make or break my yard haunt. Also, it wouldn't be the same to go for a walk around the neighborhood with all the different color leaves flying around and not see a pumpkin on the door steps around town.

A carved Jack-o-Lantern on Halloween.... you cant beat it, its a big part of the holiday, especially if you grow your own. You get to watch your work grow throughout the summer and into the fall. Its a great feeling and its cool to see so many people around our hometowns get into the spirit of things.

What about the old orange and black - those colors are a big part of the traditional style of things, I think it would be strange if people started moving away from the traditional decorations..... so many things.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Halloween is also the 'last hurah' more or less for outdoor fun. Usualy in November the weather starts to deteriorate, and then in December Winder is back with a vengence.

Mike

[Andybev01]

I have heard the name Midnight Syndicate but had not heard their music.

I spent $9.00 at Amazon and downloaded their 'Out Of The Dark Retrospective, 1994-1999'...good stuff!

The smell of pumpkin does it for me. Nothing like smelling that first freshly carved jack-o-lantern of the year.

The music as well. I'll listen to Monster Mash or anything by Nox Arcana or Midnight Syndicate and I'll automatically get that "feeling".

They don't give away black cats due to supposed satanic rituals and whatnot that happens on Halloween. I wonder how prevalent stuff like that is?

It's 80 plus degrees in October here. I feel like I have to use my imagination that much more to take me to that perfect Halloween world

[Pumpkin_Man]

I totaly forgot about the smell of a freshly cut pumpkin. That does bring back all kinds of memories. And I love that smell, too.

I have gone to some of those benifits. The college where I work has a Vet Tech program and they also give away animals, but they don't give away any black cats during the monthof October. I don't think these so called "satanic rituals" are all that wide spread either. but a lot of people did use to take black cats home from the various shelers to use them ad part of their Halloween decor, and then they would just turn them loose out in the whild. When I was about 23 years old, I got into a fight with an idiot who did just that. He went and got two black cats from tne Anti Cruelty Society, tood great care of them all through october, and then when Halloween was over, he put them in an old pillow case with a large brick, tied the bag shut with a piece of twain, and he was going to drop them down an opened sewer, and I told him that if he did, he was going to go down the sewer with the cats.

We scuffled a little, I punched him right in the mouth, and my niece still has one of those cats, though she's very old now.

[DemonSlayerMau]

Good for you Pumpkin Man! I take it both cats went to your niece? It's great to hear they had a happy ending.
What a rotten jerk. I think he should've gone down in the sewer anyway. People do some really cruel things to cats, and not just at Halloween time either. One of our cats my aunt found under the bridge by the river. We think his littermates didn't make it. Then you have all those animal cruelty cases on those Animal Cops shows. It's so sad, how could anyone hurt an animal like that? It really rips my heart to pieces just thinking about it.
He's actually lucky it wasn't me who caught him doing that, because I really would've given him a piece of my mind! Did he end up going to jail?
It's really good that they don't give away black cats during October. As much as I'd love a real one for Halloween I would want to keep them fed and well taken care of and loved all year long. It's so sick...I mean I think of my kitty as my baby!
Anyway, I disgress. Each year I get a new black cat plushie. My boyfriend got me one the last couple years...and this year he's got me a really big one for my birthday that I can't wait to put up in my room! The outfit is kind of like Tonberry from Final Fantasy if you ever play those games. I gotta clean my room out first though, and hope my grandmother won't kill me when I get it. I've already thought of a couple places I'm gonna display it though.
I'll probably upload a picture to show.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Nobody went to jail, because I could have been arrested, too. After all, I did end up throwing the first punch, but I'm sure any decent police officer would have seen the true nastiness in drowning a couple of innocent cats in a sewer just because he was finished useing them as Halloween decorations.

We agreed not to bring the cops into it, and then he handed me the pillow case and said "Here, you take them." My niece took them from me.

Mike

[DemonSlayerMau]

Well, at least there was a happy ending for the kitties. It's funny really, Pumpkin Man sounds like a super hero name, and it sounded like you were a super hero for those cats!
It sounds like your niece provided the home they really deserved too.

[Pumpkin_Man]

She really loved those cats, and they became loved members of the family as did the kitties we had back when I was a kid. I'll never forget my little Termites, named so because of the damage she did to the wood work in the basement with her claws. She was one of my best buddies when I was a kid.

I was actualy playing with the idea of a super hero concept, which is why I came up with the moniker Pumpkin_Man. As for me actualy being a super hero, well I don't know. But I bet it would be an interesting idea for a cartoon some time.

Mike

[DemonSlayerMau]

I thought about making a drawing for the Halloween.com boards portraying us regulars in a cartoonish light. It would be Halloween themed of course, starting with a pencial sketch and then colored in photoshop. I was even thinking about changing Mau into a black cat. I'll need to find out who's interested in being portrayed. Perhaps I could draw you as a "Pumpkin Man" super hero. Although I specialize in "furry art" I'm not as good at drawing humans.
Glad to hear she loved the cats. I had a cat growing up as a child named Buddy. He lived up to his name too. He was a sweet heart and would only come to me and my mom. I love Mini, but even she can't replace him. He's in God's hands now.

[Andybev01]

I grew up with a short-hair black (nose and paw pads too) cat named Thomasina.

She was born the same year, I was and lived to almost 19.

She was a great cat.

[DemonSlayerMau]

Awww. She sounds cute. That's amazing that she lived so long. My family has had cats live to be 18 and I think my great grandma's cat was even in her 20's. But when my great grandma died...the cat died soon after. I heard that happens when a pet's master dies, the pet usually follows.
A friend of mine had a dog that was born the same day she was! But the dog got hit into a ditch. Poor thing.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I've heard stories that cats and dogs often hung around the graves of their late owners after they died.

Mike

[Andybev01]

Thomasina was an awesome cat.

One day when she was in her early teens she caught a hummingbird, for crying out loud.

She was an indoor/outdoor cat as well, I think that's why she was so healthy.

People say animals can see things that we poor humans can not. All of her life she would spend hours staring at one particular area on the living room wall.

She either had second-sight or was easily distracted by white paint