Werewolves and vampires and mummies are scary, okay?

Jack had his first encounter with Halloween spookiness today, and he did not enjoy it.  The werewolf was happy and funny, Dracula was perfectly friendly, and, sure, the mummy had a frighteningly bad 1920s-ish, New York-ish accent, but she was only trying to be nice.

Jack was having none of it.  Every time one of them came near, he clutched at whichever of us was holding him and hid his face.  I swear he was shaking one time.

He was fine with the other people around us.  He was making faces and smiling and making friend with strangers he could see over our shoulders, like usual, but these costumed people really freaked him out.

Seems strange that they would – he has no frame of reference for costumes, but he also doesn’t really have any reason to think they’d be scary.  Would he be as scared of someone dressed as Superman?  Maybe it was the heavy face makeup.

We’ll have an opportunity to find out next weekend when we take him to Rhode Island Comic Con.  And on Halloween, I guess.

3 Comments

  1. Momma Betty

    Well, what context did you have at 2 years old to leave the room when the TV played what you called “scary music”? Some things, visual or auditory, must be inherently vivid to children attuned to those sensitivities. How else could it happen? Neither you nor Jack had any experiences to call up those feelings.99

      • momma Betty

        Not that I can think of, but you were very sensitive to scary things. When you were four, we had to leave the theater where we were watching the Disney 101 Dalmations because Cruella Deville was so scary. And you were terrified of fireworks.

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