It began as a teenager. I started throwing stuffed dummies out of a window at my parent's house trying to scare trick-or-treaters. That lead to laying out on a picnic table under a sheet holding the bowl of candy, only to rise up and frighten the children as they reached into the bowl. From there it was all downhill and I was recruited to help build a haunted house for my boy scout troop. They knew of my problem, but only fed the desire.
During my college years, I began to recover, and after several years of effort to ignore the craving to scare others every October, I fell back into the darkness hard. My first son was born on Halloween, and I was lost forever. A few inexpensive, homemade props to decorate the garage and turn it into a simple graveyard became a hit with the neighborhood kids. Once I discovered the variety of items available at teh seasonal Halloween shops I began to add more and more props, growing into animated creatures and entire scenes with related themes, backdrops, lighting and sounds. Each year the drive increased and my dealers kept improving their goods until I was unable to help myself from purchasing new items each year.
Thirty years later. my simple addiction has led to an overwhelming obsession fed by an entire neighborhood which has repeatedly threaten to riot if I ever stop. I am lost. I only hope that this message of desperation can save someone else from my fate.