The News of The Day

Now I love a good Halloween Haunt, hayrides, mazes, and bodies rising to attack. Scary is fun and Halloween is suppose to be scary. I write about scary everyday, I love it. Themes parks make millions of dollars scaring local residents and vacationers.

The question I have to ask is Can you go too far with it? Normally, I would probably say no, not really. Yesterday I would have told you there are no limits. If you enter a haunted house, expect the unexpected. Then I read the article about the dead celebrities display at Kings Island in Mason Ohio.

This summer is called ‘The Summer of Death’ by the media. We have lost a number of famous icons, Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, Ed McMahan, and Farrah Fawcett, just to name a few.

The images displayed at the Halloween show for Kings Island crosses the line, in this writer’s opinion. I think a good example of that is the skeleton sitting on a couch wearing a number 9 jersey and holding a Titan helmet, the top blown off. Lying across his lap is the skeleton of his deadly mistress, Sahel Kazemi.

So, if you ask me today, Can you really go too far? I wouldn’t have thought so but now my answer is a resounding, “Yes, you can.” I’m sure the effigy of Jeffrey Dahmer will appear in many haunted displays this year, as well as Lizzie Borden and John Wayne Gacy. The difference should be obvious to anyone with a soul. Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer, Farrah Fawcett died of cancer. I don’t want to see a skeleton posed to depict her famous 1970’s poster. For God’s sake, she was one of Charlie’s Angels, have some respect.

I’m not scared by seeing a boney Michael Jackson dressed in pajamas, well not anymore then I was when the original picture came out. I loved Michael Jackson but lets face it, he was a lot more scary alive.

What does frighten me these days is the lack of humanity we show as a species. The question I’d really like to ask is; “Whose idea was this?” Perhaps you’d like to explain your thinking to Steve McNair’s mother or to Farrah Fawcett’s son. When I walk into a haunted house, I want to be attacked by Chucky. I’d give that murdering doll a serious beat down. What I don’t want to see is the dead Ed McMahan introducing the skeleton of Johnny Carson. I can’t give Johnny a beat down, there’s no fun in that.

I think it’s safe to say the public agrees with me. Kings Island has decided to pull their Celebrity haunt. Apparently, cooler heads and an angry public have prevailed. Good riddance, I say. Go back to scaring me the old fashion way. Chase me around wearing a mask, carrying with a rubber butcher knife.