There will be a big pumpkin wrapping himself around the houses in your neighborhood on Monday.
When I was a kid, my friends and I would gather together on Halloween after school to plan our activities for the evening.
We would make out the best neighborhoods to visit because we knew they had lots of goodies.
We would get lots of goodies, most of them made right at home, and they were always pretty tasty.
There was always some damage done to property around the community and the most favourite job was to move the outhouses near the outskirts of town.
We would move them a few feet to the left or right and then hide in the bushes to see the results.
We couldn’t afford many fireworks for Halloween evening and the community would have a small bonfire and let off some fireworks.
It was a pretty good time for all, especially the children.
Now the youngsters get great big bags of candy and other goodies to help fill their pouches.
The teachers are thrilled with the morning after Halloween when the kids are sitting at their desks gobbling down the candy from the night before.
Some of the houses are decorated with lights and with predominant artificial cobwebs, spiders, ghosts, tombstones, and skeletons.
According to Celtic beliefs, the spirits of the dead are able to pass through into the living world on the night of Oct. 31.
They believed that spirits and ghosts of the dead could visit from the underworld and harm the living or take them back with them.
Apparently, people dressed up as spirits and ghosts if they ventured out on this night in the hope that this would confuse the visiting spirits and thwart their intentions.
Halloween is not a time that inspires many to travel.
But Canadians don’t have to pull out their passports or buy expensive flights to take a spooky Halloween escape.
Canada is loaded with haunted houses and creepy places, and these four are well worthy of a trip this time of year.
There are many times of the year when we can have some fun and Halloween is one of those days.
Take care, and most of all, have fun on Halloween.
Ken Wilson is a freelance columnist with the Tribune/Weekend Advisor.
