Paranormal Activity

Halloween was a big deal at the Nagasawa house. Not as big as Christmas, but big nonetheless. That’s because my wife and daughter are really into the decorations and costumes, and all the little trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood.

I usually spend the last few hours before dark putting up scary decorations at the entry to our house. I’ve gotten really good at this, and while it’s pretty scary stuff, I temper it just enough so that the little kids will still come to the door for their treats.

This year my wife bought a life-sized plastic skull with red, flashing eyes. I decided I would put it right out front with the pumpkin my daughter and I had just carved. We were kind of behind schedule, and I started seeing kids in costumes with their parents walking up the sidewalk.

I had balanced a cookie sheet on a stepladder and planned to put the skull on one side of the cookie sheet and the pumpkin on the other. The skull was already on there and I had forgotten that it was made of plastic and was much lighter than the pumpkin I was about to place on the Teflon sheet.

The pumpkin was so heavy that when I plopped it down, the cookie sheet acted like a seesaw catapult and launched the skull with flashing eyes into the air. It went straight toward a group of preschool-age kids, and when they saw the skull flying at them, they scattered, screaming and crying.

They were definitely traumatized, and all the parents of the kids came up to me and asked why I would play such a cruel prank on their children.

I ended up closing up shop after that, not because of the parents, but because I had no candy left after compensating that group with a sweet settlement.

Melissa Rivera is a designer with her own company called Unleash Studio. Take a look at her unique designs, just in time for holiday shopping for one of-a kind items: unleashstudio.com Unleash your Web potential. Send them to me: rnagasawa@midweek.com