As someone who grew up loving all things Halloween as a kid, I'm sorry, but they are being way too hypersensitive over this. Not to mention, it's Halloween, it's *supposed* to be scary and frightening. I'm more offended by kids who dress up as benign stuff like a "princess" or a Teletubby or some other "non offensive" drivel. Funny for these people to complain, because in just a couple more weeks, they're going to be whining that there's a "war on christmas". Log In When I was this girls age I had a freaking subscription to Fangoria, had already seen Faces of Death and Suspiria, not to mention The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, a couple of the Friday The 13th Films, and many other horror movies. I *lived* for stuff like this and *loved* it when some houses in my neighborhood went out of their way to put up scary displays.
I have never been a fan of bloody, gory stuff, but it's Halloween for Heaven's sake! Furthermore, it's their own yard, private property. People really need to lighten up, imo.
Well kids vary in what they can tolerate and at what age. I think the goal of having a good time should be the goal of Halloween. I am actually working in a "Halloween Haunt" this year, and I think if I was a little kid I would scared out of my mind. I think parents taking any kid under the age of 12 there should have their head examined personally. I mean stick to the rides and stuff...parents could trade off if they want to see the really scary stuff.
I worked at a haunted hayride one year, and was the second "act/scene". The owner of the property who were organizing the whole thing mentioned to us that they were going to have a special blue light on the tractor when it was full of younger kids, so we would know to tone it down a bit and not scare them too much. Since my scene was a camp site massacre and I was wielding a chainsaw, they didn't want me starting it up when there were kids approaching. Well, as the parents and their kids, and other people, were waiting in line to get on the hayride, they were standing right next to a corn field. Some ding dong started spreading the word around to other parents for them to grab some corn cobs for their kids, and if anything scared them too much, they were told to throw them at us. The first "scene" was just some lame fake car accident and the actors were just moaning with blood on them, nothing too crazy. Mine was the first "scary" scene and I was unaware of this corn cob arrangement, so imagine my surprise when I got pelted with a whole bunch of corn, lol! After the first few rounds of this, I said "screw it" and fired up my chainsaw for the little kids as well.
Around here, Halloween is more of an adult holiday. It was flooded, but some people still took their kids around for trick or treat, at least to a few houses that advertised they were participating. It seemed the adults couldn't wait to put the kids to bed though, so they could break out the booze and pot, and party it up. I have nothing against Halloween. I like the decorations, and think it's fun for the most part, but I'm not into egging and things of that nature. At one point when I was a teen, it became popular to egg anyone and everyone who happened to be out walking around. That was a lot of people, considering I lived in a city, and on top of that, some would spray Nair/Neet (hair removal products) in people's hair. Now that Halloween's over, I have to dig my gel clings out again, and replace the Halloween ones with something...either more leaves, or Christmas ones, but in my opinion, it's too soon for the Christmas decorations.