I don't have any of my own kids yet (being only a sprightly 34 years old and far too young to take on such responsibility), but for the past few years I've been staging a Halloween event for my two nephews (5 and
.Last year at the start of October I sent them a crafted invite to attend a hunt for the ghost of John Tibbett, a notorious highwayman who haunts Wimbledon Common.
My sister promptly delivered my two victims on the day and I equipped them with their ghost hunting kit (a thermometer, torch, several pinches of salt, a small bell and a magic wand each). With wife in tow we set off for the common (2 minutes walk from my house).
It was about 4pm and an hour before darkness. I had borrowed an electronic dictaphone from the office and uploaded a number of sound effects (Horse galloping, owl hooting etc, and a grand 'STAND AND DELIVER' performed by yours truly).
So we hunted around for 30 minutes near the old windmill and found nothing, but I could tell the atmosphere was building, my youngest nephew (who was being closely monitored by my wife), was clutching his wand ever tighter and the sceptical 8 year old kept asking me 'did you hear that'. I occasionally let a low volume whisper of the dictaphone play Half an hour before the sun set I manuevered us in the direction of the grand finale.
On the Common is an especially spooky trail, it's always quiet there and always dark because of the canopy, this is where we headed. I was telling the story of the Highwayman and his dastardly deeds and how he loved money so much he had returned from the grave every Halloween to stop passers by.....it was working, I had them totally absorbed!
We arrived at the trail and walked into the shadowy darkness, Harry Potter wands, torches and thermometer at the ready.
There's a patch of this trail that is especially eerie and as we reached it my wife placed a tricorne hat and an old flintlock pirate pistol I had had for years. I drew the attention of my nephews to these items and then the wife let go with the dictaphone, 'STAND and DELIVER', and a horse galloping towards us! The atmosphere was electric, we all turned and rushed down the trail towards home, the boys convinced, 'he's coming to get us'!
Needless to say we reached the house and I made sure I turned the whole thing into a victory by claiming that we'd beaten the ghost and taken away with his hat and gun.
Then it was time for Halloween cake and drinks and Charlie Brown's Halloween on the DVD player.
I should point out that the boys grandmother was anxious all day about the boys being too scared (the youngest was 5), and I took this into full account and reassured them all the way, reminding them that they had their wands and that my wife could do Japanese magic.
And it all ended happily, the boys have been pestering me all year about this Halloween and there were no bad dreams. If anything the boys came out of it with a sense of achievement, convinced they had faced down John Tibbett (who the eldest nephew is convinced he saw.....maybe he did).
So this year I'm working on a wicked witch scenario based around the old cottage that borders the common.....I wonder if the boys will feel quite so confident this time.....muhahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha.
Any good ideas welcome
