Zombie Doll Halloween Ornaments
As a kid, Halloween was usually a cold holiday. The smell of bustling fall leaves filled the air, and a crisp wind nipped at your face. The weather alone contributed to the ghostly spirit of the day. Some of my first memories of Halloween played out on the front porch of a Victorian home with tall, narrow double doors that opened to a vestibule of sorcery. The small vestibule was lit with black lights that made anything white or fluorescent radiate with an eerie glow. Unnerving music filled the air. It was a haunted house, my aunt and uncle’s house, and their front yard was strewn with toppled-over headstones, skeletal bones, arms, and hands that reached through the ground from their graves. A burning cauldron smoldered at the edge of the graveyard. My father was wrapped from head to toe in gauze bandages and positioned in a slender wood coffin propped on the stairs just inside the front door. An IV bottle of fluorescent red blood trickled into his arm.
My grandfather was Frankenstein wearing leather-soled brogues nailed to bulky wood blocks and bolts on his neck for authenticity. I think my aunt dressed as Morticia Addams. Morticia and Frankenstein greeted the trick-o-treaters, coaxed them onto the porch, and lured them into the vestibule. They implored the children to help them bring the mummy back to life. If the children only shook the mummy’s hand, it may stir him and help rouse him back to life. The mummy lay motionless until a hesitant child clasped his hand, prompting him to sit straight up with his arms straight out in front of him as he let out a frighteningly guttural moan. Some kids fled from the porch in terror. Others stood frozen in fear. But undoubtedly, the show intrigued and mesmerized children and adults alike.
The show evolved over time, and my father eventually dropped his mummy gauze and took on a Zombie persona. He used mortician’s wax to cover one eye and attached a bloody eyeball on his cheek below it. He walked hunched over with a conspicuous hump on his back, and he dragged one leg while moaning in agony. Some years, he secured a blood-dripping stub to one hand. Year after year, he emerged from behind shrubs and fences in our front yard and startled knowing and unknowing trick-o-treaters. Many thrill-seeking kids looked forward to knocking on my parent’s front door every year, even though they knew they would be frightened. I have friends who still talk about it.
This is the last in my series of Halloween ornaments for this year. It is a nod to my past and a father and family who made life very interesting. If you haven’t seen the others, please check them out: Pumpkin Haloween Ornaments, Sugar Skull Doll Ornaments, and Sinister Clown Ornaments.
My mom dressed as Napoleon, a friend, and my father dressed as Zombies.
