Halloweensih Activities
A Memoir by Chantal Bellehumeur
My favourite holiday is Halloween. The first year Jeff and I were together, he found out exactly how much I got into it. He learnt that there was no avoiding it like some adults with no kids or grown up children, and that it wasn't just a one evening celebration with me either.
For our first Halloween, in October 2014, I hosted a dinner party like I did every year. I didn't morph my entire apartment into a haunted home as usual though since I found it to be too much work. I couldn't leave my home bare of any Halloween decorations thought, so I selected some props from my three large storage bins and created a gory scene in the kitchen.
I didn't throw a party and neither did my son Aidan. It was just a simple dinner and the few people we had invited could not make it so it was just the three of us.
On the Saturday before Halloween, Aidan, Jeff, and I put on costumes; a black cape for Aidan, a black Victorian dress for me with makeup on my neck that make it look like it was cut, and a bloody hockey mask for Jeff so he could represent Jason from the horror movie ''Friday the 13th''. We had fun creating various morbid scenarios and taking pictures, then ate supper together by gloomy candlelight to the sound of creepy music from popular horror movies.
Halloween fell on a Friday that year and I had happily signed up to volunteer at the NDG Food depot for a thriller zombie walk after reading a newspaper article about it. Any donations collected would be used to help poor families and I knew I would feel good about being part of it.
I had fun learning the moves to Michael Jackson's popular song weeks before the big day, and practicing the dance in my living room over and over again with the music.
Jeff wasn't interested in dancing in public and he would of had to ask to leave work early to join me because everyone was supposed to show up at the depot at around 4:00 to get ready. I had gotten laid off at the end of September so I didn't think the early meeting time would be a problem, but I ended up starting a new job a few days before Halloween. I was allowed to leave early on Halloween though, as requested.
That evening, I went to the food depot wearing a black skeleton hoody and added some matching skeletal gloves as well as white bloody rags to my outfits.
A few tables were set up in the church basement and I got zombified along with other Thriller dancers. I ended up helping out with other people's makeup; just white face paint, dark shadows under our eyes, and fake blood.
A free dinner of chilly was served to everyone by one of the regular female volunteers and we all practiced the dance together before heading out on foot to our first location, Vendome metro station. Cameramen from a local news station were waiting for us there, and filmed parts of our dance. We were on the news that night.
I had a blast performing Thriller outside at various other locations in my neighbourhood, and couldn't wait to tell Jeff all about it.
After our last performance, I returned home by bus in my simple zombie costume, and helped my superintendents pass out candies for a little while. Actually, I was doing more scaring. I was dressed as the Grim Reaper for that.
Jeff had agreed to meet me at my place later in the evening to celebrate Halloween with me. When he showed up in front of my apartment building, I had fun teasing him in my costume until he realized it was me under the black hooded cloak and dark skeleton mask.
We headed inside and watched a scary movie together, then I changed into a sexy costume I knew Jeff would like. Aidan was sleeping at a friend's house.
The next day, I was able to show Jeff a short video that had aired on the news. I was sure that I was going to do the Thriller zombie walk again one Halloween and told Jeff he should come, letting him know that he didn't have to do the dance. Some people had simply been holding the NDG depot's banner or ridding in the back of the truck that had the radio to play Thriller and other dance songs to gather curious crowds. He said he would think about it.
*****
The following year, Jeff and I were married and living together. He had no choice but to fully participate in the Halloween festivities. There was no man cave to run off to... I don't think he actually felt forced into doing anything, but I know he did most of it mainly to make me happy rather than his personal amusement. Halloween was a day like any other to him before, but that changed.
During the month of September, I was already starting to think about what to do for Halloween. I had heard of a big zombie walk happening every year and was interested in learning out more about it. After doing a Google search, I found what I wanted.
On October 31 2015, there would be a zombie walk downtown. It was actually going to be the fifth one in Montreal and had grown in popularity. There was already over 1000 confirmed participants when I first looked. The event was scheduled to start at 1:00 and required many volunteers. I filled in the sign up sheet, but it was pretty vague and when I got an e-mail from one of the organizers about three weeks later I opted out. I needed to do a ninety minute training on a work day before the event and was not available.
I was mainly interested in participating in the walk itself anyways, and Jeff agreed to do it with me. He also agreed to be a zombie in an independent film I chose to be in for fun.
While browsing on the zombie walk's official Facebook page, I had seen a post about a film maker needing as many zombies as possible for his movie called Punk Fu Zombies. I contacted him to get more info and soon agreed to wake up early on Sunday September 27 to be an extra. Jeff came along mainly to keep me company, and I was glad that he did because everything was really weird and slightly uncomfortable at first.
I had been told to be at a specific address near Viau Metro Station for 9:00 am, so Jeff and I got there shortly before that time. I remembered from my acting days that a 9:00 call meant to show up earlier, but it appeared that the rules were different for independent films where none of the cast and crew members got paid.
Not only was I expecting to start working at 9:00 sharp, I also thought we would be meeting at a public venue. When Jeff and I got to the address I had noted down, we were both confused. We still walked up the metal staircase to the second floor residence and rang the doorbell. It took a while for somebody to answer the door and Jeff was about to pull out his cell phone so that I could log into my Facebook account to double check my message.
The tall man who finally greeted us had dark messed up hair and was wearing what looked like red and black checkered pyjama pants with patches on them as well as a jean jacket over a t-shirt. I asked if I was at the right place for the zombies and he let us in. Jeff and I soon discovered that it was a home rented by a few students.
The man introduced himself as Gabriel and asked us how we had heard about the extras needed. He got really excited when I told him it was from the zombie walk posting. He hoped that many others had seen the post as well and would show up. I didn't want to break his bubble and tell him that there was no info on the posting so I said nothing.
Gabriel sat on the couch in the messy living room full of equipment and played around with his laptop while occasionally shouting to somebody else in his household or telling us something.
The majority of the actors were missing, one of them was in his room playing video games really loudly, and the makeup artist had not shown up yet.
Jeff and I sat down on the hardwood floor in the hallway and waited for instructions, watching as guys went in and out of rooms. They all had coffee mugs but never offered us any.
I suggested we start on the makeup but Gab said he wanted it done a specific way for everyone so we had to wait for the makeup artist. He said some people would have to be trained to do the makeup too since he didn't think it could be done by a single person. I didn't mind helping out with that and said as much.
Until at least the makeup artist showed up, there was nothing for Jeff and I to do. I suggested going to get coffee at a cafe and coming back but to my surprise Jeff said no. We continued to sit side by side on the floor wearing the simple costumes I had made up.
I had found a long sleeved shirt in the Halloween section of Jean Coutu which I thought would be good for a zombie. It looked like a green unbuttoned checked shirt with part of a rib cage and blood... I gave it to Jeff to wear. I was wearing light blue jeans with wholes in them as well as a black long sleeved shirt I didn't mind getting dirty. I also brought my dark green leather jacket in case we were shooting outside and I got cold. I had no idea of the filming location.
Finally, about one hour after we arrived, some of the actors started showing up as well as a couple of other extras, and the makeup artist arrived. We were soon told that we were going to set up outside so people started going out the front door. I was glad to discover that the temperature had gone up.
Shortly after a folding table was placed beside the sidewalk and preparations to make a naked doll look like a baby zombie started, Gab who turned out to be the director, decided to go directly to the set.
Some people got in their cars with bags of stuff for the shoot while others had to use their legs. Jeff and I were part of that second group.
We walked for about fifteen minutes until we reached an open field of sand, pebbles and rocks. That's were we would be spending the rest of our day. There were no bathrooms around that we could use if needed; just surrounding bushes, dry plants, and thin trees for cover.
The folding table was set up again and the nice makeup artist showed me how to do good zombie makeup so I could help him. We all needed to look like zombies from 60's and 70's horror movies so he told me to mix white face paint with a hint of black as well as green to make a blue tint. The mixture was grey at first, but the makeup artist said it would become blue as it dried on the skin.
I took the cover of a plastic container to use as a pallet and created the mixture needed as a base coat. With a thick artist's paint brush, I applied the face paint to my husband's face, ears, neck and hands while the makeup artist continued to work on his first zombie.
I was then told to put a darker shade of the mixture around the eyes and creases for shadowing.
We were going to use liquid latex and ripped tissue paper to create rotting flesh and scabs. A small amount of the product had to be placed on each person's hand to make sure they were not allergic first. If there was no reaction, we could use it elsewhere. The makeup artist created rot on his zombie's left cheek and I was told to do some on the right side of Jeff's neck. Blotches of black and red paint was added to the tissue after application.
I thought we were done after that, but was told to add a bit of green, yellow and red blobs. The fake blood, red corn syrup, would be added later.
While the makeup artist continued to work on others, I applied what I had been taught on two other extras (a teenaged girl and a young man) as well as myself. Jeff held a small portable mirror in front of me while I worked on my own makeup. We all looked awful with our bluish skin, fake scabs, rot, and blood, but in a good way.
I added a scab to my right hand, then a bit of fake blood from my own stash as well as dirt to my costume as an afterthought. I didn't need my jacket since the sun was shinning brightly and kept me warm.
I insisted on taking pictures using my iPad and found that Jeff and I as zombies looked better on film than in real life.
Since I didn't know when we would start shooting, I decided to find a place to pee. Jeff came with me to make sure nobody walked by me while I had my pants down. It was a bit awkward and funny at the same time.
When I came out of the bushy area, I acted like a zombie and Jeff decided to take some pictures with his phone. We could see part of the Olympic Stadium in the background.
We rejoined the others and waited around until we were needed, then headed out deeper into the field to shoot. We mainly did shots of the few zombies and punks fighting together or us zombies feasting on bodies. Before feasting shots, the zombies involved had to put some red corn syrup on their teeth and inside their mouths to let it drip. At least it tasted good. When the punks got ''bitten'', they had to get their makeup done to join the zombies.
Everything was pretty chill; unlike any other set I had been on. It was nice in a way, but nobody told us when it was time for lunch or if we could eat the sandwiches from the coolers. Because we were not getting payed, I had been told that lunch and drinks would be provided but there did not seem to be anything communal. The main actors ate and drank when they wanted, but the few extras were never offered anything and we didn't want to just assume we could take anything in case there was't enough for everyone. Luckily, Jeff and I had brought some food with us. We ate our homemade chicken sandwiches with our dirty hands.
Later in the afternoon, we did scenes with a man dressed as the devil, a scary looking clown, and a young boy zombie who seemed to really love the taste of the corn syrup. He kept licking it off his sticky fingers and even took some from his mother's zombie costume.
The four year old child was adorable. During his first shoot, he started walking forward with the rest of us zombies and said "zombie, zombie, zombie." Everyone laughed and we had to do the scene again without him speaking.
Although we were having fun, by mid-afternoon Jeff and I were ready to leave but stayed until the end. The last thing we did was play motionless corpses.
When the director called it a day, everyone took some provided wipes and water to try removing their makeup. I was glad to have brought a facecloth with me because it facilitated things. I shared it with Jeff, who scrubbed as much as I had. The hardest part was removing the fake scabs. It was like taking a Band-Aid off.
It wasn't an easy task to get cleaned up, but Jeff and I got most of the gunk off before heading directly to the metro station. It would have been enough not to get weird looks if we didn't still have our dirty bloodied costumes on. I think a few people may have wondered what we had been up to.
Although the movie we acted in had nothing to do with Halloween, it still got me in the spirit and I was eager to go on the zombie walk. I was pretty confident that I could do a good makeup job if I bought what I needed. I figured I could find everything at the dollar store as well as the Halloween depot I discovered.
*****
A few days before the movie shoot, I went to run a personal errand in one of the connecting malls near my downtown office and found a Halloween depot. I instantly became excited and had to check it out.
When I entered the large store full of costumes, accessories, and props, I didn't know where to begin my browsing. My curious green eyes darted in every direction, wanting to see everything at the same time.
I made my way around the two sections of the store as popular music from horror movies played and life sized animatronics went off. I was amused and could't help but smile.
As I was looking at everything for sale, I spotted a Victorian ghost bride costume. In fact, there were three of them in rectangular plastic packages and I looked at each one to see if I could find my size. They only had one size and I didn't think it would be my fit, but I decided to try it on anyways.
I searched for an employe and found a man dressed as a cowboy. When I asked him if there was somewhere I could try the dress on, he silently directed me to some changing rooms I had not seen.
The salesman, who didn't seem to care all that much about his job, took the package from me then gave me the long dress and told me to be careful not to let it drag on the floor.
I went into one of the two changing rooms and slipped on the white dress with grey shredded material on it. It was a bit big around the waist, but I was able to adjust the white belt and the costume fit like a glove. I smiled at my reflexion in the mirror.
I came out of the changing room still wearing the costume and told the salesman it was perfect, but he continued to look unimpressed. He did show me a vale that came with the dress and I told him he had a sale before getting changed.
Because there was a metallic wire around the bottom of the dress, it was hard to put back in its original packaging so the salesman just put everything in a big plastic bag for me when I went to the cash to pay.
A big fake spider came down beside me and the man apologized in a monotone voice, saying he didn't mean to let if fall. I am not sure if he was joking.
After my purchase, I walked back to the office with a big smile of my face. I showed a few of my co-workers my new dress and could not wait to show Jeff.
I was actually meeting my husband and his sister Heather at the Starbucks inside Peel Metro station right after work.
Heather was moving to Burlington, Ontario on the same street I had lived on as a child, and we were meeting for a quick coffee to say a final farewell before she left the city with her boyfriend and two daughters. She had just come back from visiting her father in the hospital and Jeff was going next.
As soon as Jeff saw me, he asked what was in the big bag I was holding. When I told him, he rolled his eyes. "There goes our savings!" he jokingly said. I reminded him that we each had our own bank accounts. I have to admit that I tend to splurge around Halloween, but I always spend within my means. My personal savings remain untouched.
I informed Heather that I had been thinking about creating a corpse bride costume but didn't want to ruin my wedding dress. I had seen a bridal gown on a manakin in the window of The Salvation Army thrift store and considered trying it on, but the Victorian dress was more my style.
I showed them both the dress I had bought once we were all seated in the deserted food court.
I enthusiastically explained how I planned on splattering some fake blood on the dress and wear it to the zombie walk. Jeff pleasantly made fun of me for spending over a hundred dollars on a dress I was going to purposely stain.
Back home, I briefly showed my new costume to Aidan before starting dinner.
After supper, I put on my dress and veil then played around with some basic makeup to give myself a corpse look. I put on some black lipstick and used a damp thick black face paint crayon to make it dark around my eyes.
I knocked on my teenager's bedroom door to show him what I looked like and he said I looked spooky before politely telling me to get out of his room like he usually does when I stay too long and he is busy playing a video game on his computer.
Just for fun, I decided to go up to the first floor to give my superintendents our October rent check, still in my costume.
I knocked on the door and when Tony answered I asked him if he liked my costume. His reaction told me he did. Tony called out to his wife Denise to come to the door, and when she saw me she said she liked my costumes. I told her my plan and she responded by saying I might be cold. She had a point. The see-through sleeves of the dress were very thin. Denise also pointed out the fact that the dress would get dirty. I didn't mind that part so much.
I knew Jeff would be coming home soon, so after my short visit with the neighbours I patiently waited for my husband in our bedroom. When he came into the apartment, I exited our room and jokingly told him I had died waiting for him.
Jeff told me I looked really creepy which I took as a compliment. He took a picture of me with his cell phone and sent it to his sister with the caption "In case you wanted to sleep tonight..." Heather eventually responded something to the effect of me looking scary and that she could imagine what I would look like with the fake blood added.
Jeff's dad apparently told Jeff I did a good job when my husband showed him the same picture during another visit at the hospital.
I loved how people were encouraging my playful morbid behaviour.
*****
The first weekend of October would have been my usual time to start preparing for Halloween, but I decided not to put up any major decorations again because it was too much work. Instead, I suggested we do Halloweenish activities away from home. Aidan was't interested in the majority of the activities I suggested, but Jeff kept an open mind.
On the evening of Saturday October 3rd, Jeff and I headed out to Drummondville with a reserved Communauto vehicle to visit a haunted village I had seen advertised in one of the local newspapers. It took us a lot longer to get there than expected because the Champlain Bridge was closed. We had to take the Jacque Cartier Bridge to get off the island and there was a lot of traffic. The forty five minute ride we expected to go on ended up being close to three hours. Mind you, we did stop at a Tim Hortons off the highway to eat a quick dinner and drink coffee. The service was pretty slow.
When we got back on the highway, we followed the directions the GPS gave us and ended up on a road with tall trees on each side. I thought it was the ideal place for a haunted village. Le Village d'Atan du Quebec was actually open all year round with different themes each season.
When we arrived closer to the site, we were instructed by a security guard to drive to the farthest parking lot from the entrance. The other lots were completely full.
As he slowly drove to a parking spot, Jeff said he didn't realize how popular the place would be.
Jeff and I got out of the car and walked in the semi-darkness towards the entrance. Upon entering the wooden building where the ticket booth was, I was already impressed. The big interior with a high roof was decorated with the kind of props I usually put up.
When we got to one of the cashes to pay our way into the gated site, I was complimented on my outfit. I was wearing my black skeleton hoody as well as the gloves to go with it. I was happy to see that costumes were encouraged.
My husband and I headed outside and walked on a dirt path with wooden torches longing each side to light our way. We crossed a spooky covered bridge and had to choose between two direction; keep going straight or turn right. We decided to turn right and ended up walking in front of a few buildings we had no access too before arriving on a street with many decorated houses we could enter.
Jeff was really nervous about entering the first one we chose to go into, not knowing what to expect. He doesn't usually like haunted houses, but when he came out of it he said he would be okay to enter more with me. That one only took a few seconds to walk through, while others took much longer to visit. We only ever had access to the first floor but that was enough.
The fenced village was composed of many other haunted houses, a circus, an old school where a short show was performed, a church, and cemetery. Each location had live actors in costumes, interacting with the visitors. Some of the actors walked around the site as well. In some areas, we could hear spooky music.
Each place had a large square sign at the front to determine the scare level. Some of the set ups, such as a bubble house, were meant for young children while others were created for people who love a good scare. There was a level in between as well.
On the impressive site by the water, there was also a small candy shop, a place to buy popcorn as well as cotton candy, a small cheese factory, a donut shop, and a tiny bakery. We entered each one except for the donut shop out of curiosity but only bought something at the bakery; a fresh loaf of chocolate chip bread got us a free bag of six bread rolls. We had been given hot donut holes while in line at the school and found them delicious, but felt we had enough treats with the goods from the bakery so didn't buy any actual donuts.
We actually visited everything except for the donut shop and one house which had a very long lineup for some reason. The last building we entered was a labyrinth across from this particular house.
The whole time we were wandering around, I felt like I was in heaven. Seeing the carved pumpkins outside as well as the small lit lights around some of the houses gave me the sensation that I was taking part in some sort of trick or treating for adults. We didn't get free candies, but a lot of other treats in the form of fun spooky surprises.
Jeff and I were having so much fun that we neglected the time. When we saw how late it was, we realized we needed to rush back to the car and hope we would return it on time. We ended up calling a Communauto agent halfway home to see if we could extend our time by half an hour. Luckily nobody else had made a reservation for the same car right after us.
*****
Later in the week I was trying to figure out family activities to do for Thanksgiving and ended up continuing with the Halloween theme. On the online list I found of the top ten things to do around Montreal during Thanksgiving weekend, pumpkin picking was included. I had never done that and thought it might be fun so I printed out the information about each nearby pumpkin farm.
When I asked Jeff later that day if he wanted to go pumpkin picking, he said yes thinking that I meant going to buy some pumpkins at the grocery store. I had to clarify and he took it into consideration.
There used to be a shuttle bus going to the pumpkin farms and back, but that service was cancelled so we would have to reserve a car. Holidays and long weekends were generally hard to book at the last minute.
On Saturday October 10th, Jeff and I slept in and ate brunch, then decided to try going pumpkin picking. Aidan had slept over at a friends' and wasn't interested in coming with us. He preferred to stay at his friend's house longer.
Using Google Maps, I figured out what pumpkin farms were closer to us which turned out to be two on the same street in Notre Dame-de l'Ile Perrot. I called them both to find out their opening hours. Quinn Farm was closing at 4:00 while Verger Labonte was closing at 5:00. We thought we could either check out Quinn farm and then head over to Verger Labonte, or just go directly to Verger Labonte.
Jeff and I didn't think we would be able to get a car, but looked anyways. None were available near us so we started looking at other locations that were close to a metro station. We found one but wanted to check out all our options to see if there might be a car at a closer Communauto location. When we came back to the original car we had seen, it was no longer available. However, a car near our apartment suddenly became free so Jeff booked it right away. We had one hour before we could go pick it up, but we had things to do before leaving anyways. We were still in our sleepwear.
We left for Notre Dame de L'Ile Perrot at around two and got there close to a half hour later. After driving through the centre of the town, we found ourselves on a road with tall colourful trees on each side. There was a bike path on the left as well as hiking trains going into the woods and we thought it would be a nice place to explore if we had more time.
Jeff continued driving and we ended up at Perrot street where we had to choose between going right to go to Quinn farm or left to head to Verger Labonte. Jeff went in the direction of Verger Labonte and parked the car on the side of the street shortly after we passed the place. We then walked.
Dressed warmly in my long black fall coat, hat, and thin gloves, it wasn't cold for me so I found it very pleasant to be outdoors. Jeff didn't feel the need for a hat, but I think it was mainly to keep his hair looking good. He mainly kept one hand in mine, and the other in the sleeve of his brown leather jacket.
When we got to the farm, I saw that there were pumpkins of various sizes as well as different kinds of apples ready to be bought. There were also a few animals within pens.
Jeff and I got in line to purchase our tickets for the self picking option. We needed to take a tractor to the pumpkin patch which was right beside a cornfield maze, so we decided to get tickets for that attraction too. Payment could only be done with cash so I ended up covering Jeff's fees to avoid having to go in a different line indoors for him to use Visa or Interact. After I paid, I was given two sticker bracelets for us to wear on our wrists. I was also given a piece of paper as well as a small sharpened pencil for an intellectual game we could play inside the maze so I put them in my purse as we got in another line. A loud tractor with two attachments full of people was leaving.
While Jeff and I waited for the next tractor, we observed two pigs in their pen as well as a few goats, a donkey, and a lama.
A tractor soon arrived with several people who had just gone apple or pumpkin picking. Once all the passengers were off, new ones got on. Jeff and I sat side by side on a wooden seat and patiently waited as the tractor filled up with adults and exited children.
We rode in the tractor for about five minutes, passing by many apple trees, and finally got to the large cornfield and pumpkin patch.
Jeff and I decided to venture in the maze before going pumpkin picking so we headed where we were told to go for that activity. A few other people did the same and a small group formed.
A young woman wearing a long white lab coat with a giant plastic spider protruding from the left front pocket greeted everyone. She then informed us that there were three mazes; a short one which should only take a few minutes to find the exit, a medium one which was estimated at about a half hour to forty five minutes, and a long one that could take up to one and a half hours to complete. After the rules were explained, we were all free to go in the maze we wanted.
Since it was close to four o'clock by this point, Jeff and I decided not to venture in the biggest maze. We chose to go into the medium one and found the exit in a record time. It took us about five minutes.
Rather than try the maze again to see if there were other paths to take that would take us longer to get to the exit, Jeff and I went straight to the pumpkin patch and started looking for decent pumpkins. I found a white one, an albino as I called it. I liked it but was told by a young man wearing a white lab coat that we had to go wait in line to pick pumpkins and go in the section we were told to go in. I wasn't allowed to take the pumpkin I was holding so I put it back down on the muddy ground.
Jeff and I walked to the beginning of the mazes and start of the pumpkin patch, but there was nobody around to direct us so we just went right back inside and started looking for pumpkins again. At first we stayed behind a set of low ropes used as a divider, but when we saw that another family was venturing in the other sections we did the same.
The majority of the pumpkins had been detached from their vines, and some of them had already began to rot. For the most part, they were just muddy. I was still having fun examining them to see which ones we should bring home. Jeff helped me out.
We both enjoyed the view of the conifers and trees lining the side and back of the pumpkin patch. The leaves had started changing colours, creating a lot of reddish patches among the greenery.
After only a few minutes of wandering in the pumpkin patch, Jeff and I found two medium sized orange pumpkins and a white one we liked. Having decided they were going to be the ones we were bringing home, we got in line to get them weighed.
The price of the pumpkins went by weight but each pumpkin cost $3 minimum. We noticed that a few small ones got abandoned since they were not worth $3. Ours were decent prices; a little less than what we would have paid at the grocery store.
Since we had a bit of time to kill after our purchase, Jeff and I decided to go into the small maze. It took us longer to find the exit for this one than the larger one, and we only headed in the right direction because we heard the tractor arriving and wanted to backtrack. We technically found the exit by accident, thinking we were walking back through the entrance.
Everyone got in the tractor which took us back to the beginning of the farm. When we got off the vehicle, I read on the game paper we never used that if we returned our pencil we could get a free apple. I found a pencil on the ground and told Jeff to pick it up so that we could both get an apple. We had to exchange the pencils inside the store, so we went in and picked up a few goodies before going to one of the two cashes; a package of six apple muffins, and an apple crisp.
After paying for our treats, we exchanged our pencils for large apples.
Before going back to the car, Jeff and I went to take a closer look at the animals. The goats were running around in their pen, the two pigs squealed really loudly between snorts, and the donkey as well as the lama were hiding close to a small wooden shack. I noticed a few ducks and other wild birds on the other side of it.
Close to the entrance of the farm where there were many decorated pumpkins on rectangular blocks of hay I hadn't noticed before, there were a few small cages. We saw rabbits, guinea pigs, and chickens inside them. A large brown chick kept hiding under a hen.
Jeff and I left the farm as it was closing, satisfied with our outing.
On our way back home, we stopped at a Starbucks for some coffee. It was the biggest one either one of us had ever seen. We sat on some comfortable chairs in the corner by some windows, and as we sipped on our hot beverages we ate an apple muffin from the farm each. They were fresh and tasted really good.
The apple crisp was eaten as a dessert later on. Aidan was home for dinner so he was able to try a piece of the delicious treat.
I had the pleasure of bitting into one of the free apples a few days later. I hadn't eaten one in years and it tasted great. The apple was also very juicy. Seeing that I had enjoyed it so much, Jeff told me I could have his.
*****
The day after our farm outing, Sunday october 11, I decided to decorated our pumpkins. I was only going to decorate one at first, but Aidan said I could decorate his too. Rather than carving them, I decided to paint them.
In order to help me with my project, I looked up ideas on the internet and saved a few pictures on my iPad so that I could use them as references. Once I knew what I wanted to do on me and Aidan's pumpkins, I gathered my art material and placed them on the kitchen table.
I painted the happy and angry faces of the Nightmare Before Christmas character Jack Skellington on my white pumpkin, and did a Minecraft version of a pumpkin for Aidan. I had to draw on a piece of paper, cut out my black cubic design, and glue it on the orange pumpkin rather than paint directly on it. I think they both turned out great.
I also decorated a few mini pumpkins Jeff and I had purchased at the Atwater Market. A basket of them cost us $5, so we brought home ten. As I suggested, Jeff brought one over to his dad at the hospital. I ended up taking two of them to the office to decorate my desk.
While Jeff was away visiting his dad, I painted the words Trick, or, and Treat, in old english style lettering with black paint on three of the mini pumpkins, and did childlike 3D art with three others; one had a ghost, the other a bat, and the third a big spider. Together, they became our kitchen table's centrepiece.
Jeff's pumpkin only got decorated on Thanksgiving Monday. He told me that since I had so much fun decorating the others, I could do his. I didn't know what to do for his at first but ended up painting the face of E.T on it. I though he looked pretty cute.
I left the big pumpkins out on the table for a few days, then transferred them to the fridge so that they would not go bad before Halloween.
*****
On the Saturday night of October 17, I felt the need to have a Halloween dinner. Although I was enjoying all the activities we were doing so far, I was starting to miss this tradition of mine. It was too late to host a dinner that day, so I planned one for the following evening. I invited my friend Sylvie and her daughter but they couldn't make it. We had a family Halloween dinner instead.
On the Sunday afternoon, Jeff and I walked to Dollarama to buy a few items. My husband left me alone in the Halloween section for a few minutes to get something for himself in another aisle. I warned him it was dangerous. My basket was full when he came back.
Later in the afternoon, I put on a long maroon dress with black frills and small skulls on it which I had purchased in the summer during a sidewalk sale on Mount Royal Street. That particular dress wasn't originally on sale, but I ended up getting a 20% discount.
My plan for the evening was to make myself look like a broken porcelain doll. I first applied white face paint all over any exposed skin, so on my face, ears, neck, part of my front and back, plus the top half of my arms. I planned on wearing long black gloves to cover the rest of my arms and hands. Jeff had to help me apply the white face paint on the hard to reach places later on.
Once I had covered as much of my skin as I could, I put on a coat of mascara on my long eyelashes and used red lipstick in the middle section of my lips to make them look puckered. With liquid eyeliner, I drew "holes" here and there as well as thin lines going away from them. That was supposed to create the cracking effect. I had seen it on the internet.
At first I wasn't satisfied with the way my makeup turned out. In fact, I was disappointed because it didn't look anything like the pictures I had used as a demo. However, after getting pictures taken and seeing that I looked like a cracked porcelain doll on film, I was happy. Jeff reminded me that it was supposed to be for fun so I stopped trying to make everything perfect.
I had a lot of fun doing Jeff's make-up. We had purchased some white wraps with fake blood on them so he wore one on his right hand, another on his right leg, plus one covered the top of his head. When I was finished with him, he looked like an accident victim.
Using liquid latex, I created some injuries and sprayed some fake blood on my cooperative husband.
I attempted to make it look like I had sewn a cut on his arm but it didn't quite work out like the Youtube video I had seen. It still looked gross thought, and Aidan thought it was real at first. Jeff kept saying "ouch" as I passed a needle and black tread through rolled up pieces of dry liquid latex stuck to his skin and Aidan came into the kitchen to tell me to stop.
Eventually I told Aidan my trick and reminded him to go dress up. He was still in his pyjamas.
My son put on the black ninja costume I had purchased for him at Jean Coutu when he asked for it. He wasn't sure if he would have a chance to wear it at the time, thinking he was too old to go trick or treating and not knowing if his school would allow costumes the day before Halloween. Seeing that I always bought myself a new costume or two every year, I could not deny Aidan his request.
I placed a new set of black plastic plates with matching cups and bowls on the table as well as utensils. I had already taken out some plastic body parts from the storage area to use on Halloween and kept the severed arms and legs on the table with white bloody cloths. I got some decorative candles as well as black tapper ones and tealights to use and placed them with the mini pumpkins. Round chocolates that had wrapping which made them look like eye balls were placed inside a clear jar and one in everyone's bowl. Tissues with fake blood were placed inside some of the bowls and on the table.
We ate some spaghetti with meat sauce, or maggots with rotten vegetables and human flesh sauce as I called it. Jeff and I drank some red wine with our meal and Aidan had some juice, or blood as I called it. For dessert, we ate pumpkin pie. We had been unable to find any for thanksgiving so were making up for it.
After dinner Jeff agreed to watch a horror movie with me. We changed out of our costumes before going to sit on our couch because we didn't want to stain it.
*****
On Sunday October 25, Jeff, Aidan and I headed to St-Jean-Sur Richelieu, about half an hour from our home, because I had made reservations for a dinner show within the biggest haunted house in the province of Quebec. I had stumbled on the website for l'Hotel 54 while randomly browsing for haunted hotels during a moment of boredom at reception.
I had read that the themed restaurant was originally next to a cornfield but had moved a few streets down. I have to admit that the outside of the venue didn't look at all like what I had imagined. I thought it would look more like a mansion for some reason and so did Aidan. We were surprised to see a two story building with pitch black walls that resembled a warehouse. There was a sign with the name of the place on it so I knew I hadn't gotten the address wrong. The two costumed actors standing on the second floor balcony was an additional hint that we were at the right place.
We arrived a few minutes early so the restaurant wasn't open yet. After getting out of the car and finding the front doors of the venue locked, we crossed the street and headed towards some metal benches surrounding a historical monument. It was too cold and windy for us to stay in that open area and we didn't see any buildings of interest around to go into. Walking towards the water might have been nice if we had been dressed a bit more warmly, but neither one of us really felt like wandering around. We headed back towards the venue and considered waiting in the Communauto vehicle. Instead, we waited in the small line that had started to form in front of the main entrance.
A young man in a mad scientist costume suddenly burst the door open and gave out a loud laugh which scared a few people. He asked the first people in line what their names were, found them on his guest list, and invited them to go inside. The rest of us had to continue waiting outside.
We were the third group in line so it didn't take too long for us to be told we could go in. I had to go to the cash and pay the balance of our bill while Jeff and Aidan were brought to another room. When I went looking for them a few minutes later, I found them sitting at a long black wooden table in the dark dinning area illuminated mainly by black lights. My husband and son were both calling out to me, which was what helped me locate them.
I joined Aidan and Jeff and we conversed, looked at the white drinks menu that looked like it was glowing in the dark, plus ate some olives and mini pickles.
A young couple came to sit at our table and the man in the mad scientist costume from earlier soon informed us that it was our turn to go visit the haunted house. Jeff, Aidan and I along with the couple followed the man to the entrance and were told to go down a set a stairs where a big cage with a skeleton inside it was hanging from the ceiling above.
We bravely went downstairs, unsure what to expect.
A short video about the safety rules was playing on a large flat screen. When it was over, the door to our right opened up. A woman in a gory costume spoke to us in a raspy voice and let us inside.
We all went in one scary room after another where live actors interacted with us. It took us about half an hour to reach the exit which led us back to the dinning area. The visit didn't feel that long though because it was more entertaining than scary.
I was happy to see Jeff having fun despite his minor fear within the dark corridors and rooms since he had not been too eager to go into the haunted house to begin with. In fact, he was originally going to stay behind. I was actually surprised that he decided to come rather than wait in the dinning area, and have to admit that I was amused by some of his reactions.
I think Jeff was glad when he was out of the haunted house, yet the spooks had not quite ended. We were still expecting something or someone to jump out at us. The mad scientists's loud and crazy laughs got Jeff every time.
Before ordering drinks, we decided to explore each area of the dinning room and take some pictures.
In a corner where you could buy popcorn, there was a wall in honour of Jason from the movie ''Friday the 13th'' with a bunch of white hockey masks on display. There was also a life sized prop of an old decaying man sitting in a wheel chair. In the other corner where the bar was located, three life sized manakins stood in place. There was one of a headless bride, plus a chained mummy as well as a skeleton wearing fancy clothing and a top hat.
We walked back into the hallway where the exit of the haunted house was as well as the bathrooms, and had fun posing with the manakin of an old looking server holding a round tray with a skull on it, as well as a standing open coffin with a fake skeleton inside.
As we were finishing taking pictures, a small group came out of the haunted house and a woman screamed at the site of us. She then laughed and said she thought we were part of the attraction. I took it as a compliment since I was dressed a bit costumy with my short Halloween patterned dress and black lipstick.
Shortly after we got back to our seats, I ordered a beer for Jeff, a coke for Aidan, and a virgin bloody caesar for myself. It wasn't until I received my cold drink and took the first sip that I realized it was spicy. I felt like a traitor because as I was putting my glass down the man in the mad scientist costume came to ask me about my food allergies and I had to confirm that I could not have anything with spices, garlic or onions. I even had to say that I could not have dairy products. I had explained over the phone about my digestive illness and didn't want to elaborate again. Saying I was allergic was just easier.
Some dinner rolls were soon placed on our table so we ate some as we waited for our food to be served and the show to start.
A short and plump gory looking woman walked on stage and got the show started. As she was talking, I was given a glass of tomato juice as an appetizer while everyone else were served cream of vegetable soup. I told Jeff that if I had known before that I would get tomato juice, I would have ordered a different drink.
A few fun performances were done and then there was a short break while another course was brought to us. We were all given salads. I had a chef salad with balsamic vinegar on it while everyone else were given caesar salads.
The show resumed and paused once more for the main course to be served. We all had chicken breasts with gravy on it, or as they wanted us to believe, the gross concoction previously blended on stage. They forgot that I should not have any of the gravy, but I was too hungry to complain about it so I ate it along with some of the grated vegetables.
The staff remembered that I should not have any dairy, so I was given a small bowl of fruit salad for dessert instead of a piece of cake like everyone else.
Throughout the evening, the people on stage were both entertaining and funny, while also sticking to the gory theme. The waiters and waitresses walked around scaring people here and there, and then interacted with them.
My favourite performer was the magician, who did many impressive stunts and illusions. For example, he hammered a nail right through his tongue, and then did the same through his nose. He also got himself out of locked chains while wearing a straitjacket.
For the big finale, the same magician walked on shards of broken glass and then lied down with his face in it while a heavy man dressed as Leatherface stood on his bare back.
When the show was over, we could take pictures with the actors if we wanted. I took mine with the Leatherface character, who pretended to choke me. I played along.
We all had the option of going into the haunted house again, but I had a feeling Jeff would not be too interested and didn't want him to have to wait half an hour by himself when the restaurant was closing up. So, when the announcement was made I ignored it.
As we were heading back home, Jeff said he enjoyed himself a lot more than he thought he would. Aidan said he had a good time too. I was glad that I wasn't the only one who had fun.
We had issues returning home with he GPS wanting to take us to a closed bridge and having to go around the island, but Jeff got the rented car back on time.
*****
On Halloween, I started getting ready for the zombie walk shortly after a late breakfast. I put on my ripped pair of jeans as well as the zombie shirt Jeff had worn on the set of Punk Fu Zombie, and set up in the kitchen to do my makeup.
Realizing that I needed a mirror to see what I was doing, Jeff brought a long one from our bedroom into the kitchen. I sat in front of it and got to work, painting my face grey and using liquid latex to make scabs etc. I looked similar to how I had been on the set of Punk Fu Zombie, but added a black makeup made for the teeth to make them look rotten. My final touch was spraying some fake flood in my mouth and letting it drip down. It tasted awful!
Adding fake blood on my face and clothing was a lot more messier indoors than outside. The red liquid went on the pale tile floor and spread when I tried to clean it up with a wet sponge. It eventually went away completely, but for a few seconds I thought I might have stained my kitchen floor.
Once the floor was clean, I put on a fake metal looking chain that linked my neck and wrists. I had originally purchased it so that I could be Jeff's zombie pet if ever he didn't want to dress up as a zombie for the walk.
I showed my zombie self to Jeff and Aidan, who both liked my makeup job. I compared it to the one I had done the previous year for the Thriller dance and felt that it was so much better; a lot more realistic. Jeff and I Aidan agreed.
I had a feeling the majority of the people who would be attending the zombie walk would put a lot of effort into their costumes as well as makeup, and was eager to be among them.
Although I had tried convincing Aidan to come with me and Jeff, he had no interest whatsoever. His friend Cecilie was originally supposed to come with us, but she absolutely wanted to give out candies. When I told her the walk only started at 4:00, she decided not to come.
Cecilie still wanted me to do her makeup and I was more than happy to do so. I had told her to drop by my place right after lunch.
While I waited for her, I went to show my zombie self to my superintendents. Only Denise was home. She asked me about the Victorian bridal dress I was originally going to wear and I told her I found it inconvenient.
As I was standing in the hallway, I noticed that Denise's youngest daughter Michelle as well as some of her friends were decorating the front yard with tombstones, dummies, and cobwebs so I went to scare the small group of girls in their twenties.
While I was outside, I saw that Denise and Tony's oldest daughter Cassie was focussing on her decorations so I slowly approached her and started growling. She turned around and jumped. After laughing, she said the sound I was making was freaking her out.
I headed back inside the building and went to get my painted pumpkins. The big ones were placed outside while the little ones were placed in the lobby.
I returned outdoors and posed in the fake cemetery with a plastic bloody leg for some creative pictures. Aidan was the photographer because Jeff was busy doing housework. I made sure to add fresh blood in my mouth before the shots.
When I went back inside, I forgot my small spray bottle of fake blood behind one of the tombstones. Luckily, it was still there once I realized it was missing and sent my son to get it.
Cecilie arrived wearing a zombie outfit just as I was about to start on Jeff's makeup. Her mom, my friend Sylvie, was with her.
We all went into the kitchen and I did both Cecilie's and Jeff's makeup at the same time while Sylvie watched. She wanted to learn how to do zombie makeup so that she could do it for her son Florent later in the evening.
Cecilie was given a similar zombie look to mine while I made Jeff look like a fresher zombie because the bloody chest plate with a large stomach wound I had bought for him at the Halloween depot was the colour of his skin.
When everyone looked as gory as possible, we went outside so Sylvie could take pictures of us. A few passing neighbours asked if they could take pictures of us too so we posed for them.
Cecilie and I then headed to the grocery store in our costumes, just for fun, and Sylvie followed us to see people's reactions.
Two kids hanging out on the sidewalk with their mom played along and ran away from us screaming (and laughing).
When we entered the store, Cecilie and I walked to the meat section. I took a package of ground beef and headed towards on of the available cashes with it. People were looking at us, but not saying anything. A few customers had smirks on their mouths.
Cecilie knew a few of the employes since two of her brothers had worked in the store, so she had fun with them.
While I was paying for the meat, Sylvie overheard a man quietly telling his daughter to stay away from us. Apparently he did not find what we were doing cool. Sylvie told us when we were outside and it made me laugh a little. I also felt bad for the girl. I hoped that she wasn't deprived of trick or treating.
I brought the meat home, and my guests left. Aidan decided to go with them. My son had originally planned on watching Animes at his friend Emeric's house but his friend was not reachable.
Jeff and I soon headed out to take the bus. I brought a fake leg with me, and an arm was sticking out of my small black backpack.
While we were standing at the 162 bus stop, a man across the street asked if he could take a picture of us with his daughter. The young girl looked scared, so I assured her that I was not going to bite her and then gave her a candy. I had a few more in my bag and planned on handing them out to other brave kids along the way to the zombie walk.
My husband and I took the bus to the Villa Maria Metro Station and then headed to Place des Arts. Nobody reacted to our costumes along the way, and we deducted that if there was ever a zombie apocalypse people would be blind to it for a while.
When we got outside, loud music was playing and there was a large crowd of people. Most of them were dressed as zombies while others were simply observing or taking pictures. Some people looked confused and lost.
Jeff and I got asked a few times if we could get our picture taken as we walked down the crowded street towards a Starbucks. We took the time to pose.
When we arrived at the popular coffee shop, there was a big lineup of zombies and more confused people. I heard somebody ask if there was a zombie party going on?
Jeff finally got his desired coffee and bought a bottled red fruit juice for me.
We sat on a set of concrete stairs outside within the ''Cartier des Spectacles" to have our drinks, and continued to get requests to get our picture taken. We posed every time. I would often spray fake blood in my mouth first.
When we heard an announcement of where the walk was officially going to start, we slowly started making our way there along with other zombies. We saw the large makeup tents, food trucks, stage, and parked Party Experts vehicle.
We waited at the starting point for all the zombies to gather, during which many people on the other side of the temporary metal railings took pictures of us. I pretended to gnaw on my fake leg a few times for show, then added fresh blood to it.
I could of sworn that when the walk officially started and we all moved forward, the theme song from the Walking Dead was playing. I saw later on that somebody had a portable radio with him. He played Thriller a few times as well as other popular tunes since he was a disco zombie.
A couple of innocent women with strollers suddenly found themselves among the group of zombies on the street and had to figure out how to go back on the "safe" sidewalk; not an easy task with what seemed like a never ending chain of metal railings on the sides and a crowd going in the opposite direction they wanted to go. It was actually kind of funny to see their reactions though, but only because it wasn't a real zombie invasion. They were laughing at the situation so I felt it was okay to do so as well, but only in my head...
A lot of us were acting like real zombies, without actually bitting anyone. We walked slowly, growled, pretended to want to grab people... I got into character a lot more than Jeff did but that was okay. I was happy that he came with me and participated.
Jeff and I were surprised by the number of people on the sidewalks watching us. It was more like a parade than a walk! I was happy to give the captive audience a show, refreshing my blood every so often.
My husband said that a few people and zombies gave the hand that was in my bag a high five. I noticed a few zombies pretending to want to eat it. Others pretended to want to take my leg snack away...
It took us about a half hour to get to the finish point. Although activities were still happening, Jeff and I headed straight home.
Darkness set as we were travelling.
On the bus, I got thirsty and remembered my unfinished juice. I got the plastic bottle out of my bag, and as I started taking a sip the bus jerked forward which made me spill a bit of liquid. Jeff said the little chunks around my mouth added to my zombie look so I didn't even bother washing the juice off my face.
When we got off the bus and started walking towards our apartment, we noticed a few young trick or treaters with their chaperones.
*****
Jeff and I had a quick snack of leftover noodles with salad dressing on them, and after quickly freshening up we headed back outside the building still dressed as zombies to help give away candies. Denise as well as an old neighbour were dressed as witches and sat at the entrance of the lobby. Both glass doors were wide open. Denise's sister was sitting there too, wearing a costume made with what appeared to be blue coloured ripped up garbage bags. I am not really sure what she was supposed to be.
Jeff and I roamed one side each of the fake cemetery. My husband kept a small bloody bowl of candies with him and handed them out while I just scared people. I made sure not to freak out the little ones, and if I saw that anyone was too scared I pretended to want their candies rather than harm them.
From time to time I would crawl on the sidewalk or follow people. Every so often I would hide between parked cars or behind trees and then make an appearance. My fragile chain ended up breaking apart in the process, but I didn't care.
At one point during the night I saw a tall boy dressed like a ninja. He had the exact same costume as Aidan, and I soon realized that it was him.
Apparently, barely anyone were trick or treating on Cecilie's street, so her and Aidan decided to go collect some candies rather than wait around to give some out as originally planned. Sylvie had tagged along and tried to hand out her candies, but she told me it didn't work as well as she thought it would. Some parents thought she was giving away her child's goodies.
As Sylvie and I were chatting on the sidewalk, Aidan asked me if he could sleep over at Cecilie's. Once I said yes he went inside to drop off his big bag of candies and get some overnight things.
Once my son, Cecilie, and Sylvie were on their way again, I resumed my zombie acting. Jeff had not taken much of a pause, and continued giving away candies as the good zombie.
Time flew by fast for me and soon it was time to call it a night.
Jeff and I went inside our apartment building after getting confirmation that Denise did not need any help removing decorations. We took a shower together to get cleaned up, and sat down in the living room to watch a horror movie. It was our second night in a row doing this. The previous evening, Jeff came home with a bottle or red wine and to my surprise Aidan joined us to watch the scary movie after dinner.
The day after Halloween, I put away all our costumes and decorations. Jeff and I went to the store to buy some discounted candies as well as chocolates and saw that the Halloween merchandise was already being replaced by Christmas stuff.