"My Baby...Have You Seen My Baby?"...by Jim Terry

Growing up, and as mentioned in a blog post last year, we used to have an amazing spook alley at our home that would consist of ghouls, ghosts and of course goblins.  I always felt bad for the small children that would "have to" come to the famous Terry Spook alley, because it was always their parents that "FORCED" them to come. 

While the parents were being entertained while they took a quick flash back into their youth by going through our spook alley, the kids were having a much different experience. Have you ever seen a small child on Santa’s lap, screaming their head off because of their fear of a red suited man with a really, really big beard and a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly?  Their reaction to our small production on Halloween was just like that plus about twenty times more fear interlaced in their little eyes.  I mean what type of reaction would you expect of children who were being escorted by a 7’ grim reaper?  In their journey towards our home, they also would be noticing mummies  and zombies throughout the graveyard, witches on the roof of our home, bats flying about and finally reaching their destination only to be greeted by the great Dracula himself! I'm sure most kids probably thought, "I'll skip this treat Mom and Dad...please!" 

I look back on it now, and I know we, as kids, always complained a lot in setting up the spook alley. It really was about a month’s worth of work, but with the patience of our Mom and Dad, we always ended up with what was said to be, "the perfect Halloween activity” amongst all those that were brave enough to attend.  And for us? It really was a lot of fun!

Funny how time can change one's perception of things isn’t it?  I finally am realizing, in my mid-forties, how smart my Mom and Dad were. For instance, I now look at all the “work” we did, each and every year in preparation for Halloween, as a wonderful time to build some amazing memories which I can now share with people. I also now look at all the effort we put into our spook alley as a great way to teach young kids the meaning of work…to be responsible…to be prepared...to meet deadlines…and finally in teaching us to grow and love each other as a family by creating situations for us to be together. So "kuddos" to my Dad and to my Mother in heaven for teaching us so many things in life, but most importantly how to love. Your dedication, devotion and perseverance to being such amazing examples has not gone unnoticed. 

I am keeping this short today because I wanted to share with you what was, and still is, a family tradition of our family. We used to listen to a “scary” story off of an album called "Halloween Horrors" –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9TsHehltcQ– each and every year, a night before Halloween. It helped get us in the mood for the holiday and set the stage for our spook alley on the following night.  

As we all sat around the stereo and heard the crackle of the needle hitting the vinyl record as it slowly spun around, we would listen intently and carefully.  The whistling wind intermingled with the distant sound of thunder would precede the apparition as she would cry into the empty and dimly lit halls of the old mansion, “my baby..have you seen my baby?”...Call me a "scaredy cat" but it still makes me a little unnerved and brings back such vivid memories from my childhood of being young, excited and scared all at the same time. Listen if you dare! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  We hope you have a great holiday that is safe and fun!

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