Welcome to Spooky Town

On the evening of All Hallow's Eve,
when darkness encroaches and magic spells weave.
Darkness everywhere, it is now night!
The only view is the ghostly pale moonlight.

Walking down the empty sidewalk,
I see an odd gate that wasn't there before and gawk.
The signs above reads "Spooky Town: Enter If You Dare!"
I enter, with leery, the mysterious lair.

There's an ominous quiet all around,
as I follow the hallow ground.
Trees on either side,
what behind them hides?

On a leaf strewn path between the trees,
the branches sway in the autumn breeze.

The moon now seems aglow with an inner light,
like a beacon to a forbidden site.
A beacon toward what?
It beckons me further, a sinking feeling in my gut.

Did the path just change before my eyes?
I hear barely audible sighs.

On the whisper of the autumn wind, I can hear eerie sounds.
The music of Halloween everywhere abounds.

I see two entrances up ahead.
Seemingly doorways for the dead.
One is a Skull Archway, a gate shaped like a giant skull,
a fence of bones, leafless trees on either side.
At any moment, I expect to see Mr. Hyde.
The other entrance a Spooky Knoll.
A coffin opens and a skeleton beckons.
I'll climb over the fence I reckon.

I've just entered in a world hidden from all but my own eyes.
Is this fantastic world reality or lies?

Creepy buildings, up and down, surround the street.
What's kinds of creatures will I meet?
Floating ghosts, flying Witches, banshees, or more?
The variations are frightful but never a bore.
Looking all around, I see ancient maple trees everywhere.
Jack-O-Lanterns illuminate the chilled night air.
I see I'm on a pebble-paved street.
In the distance, I see an undertaker carriage,
with a reined horse clip-clopping with hoofed feet.
The coachman's skin is ghastly gray.
Then they slowly travel away.
Along either side are buildings lit by strings of lights
Pumpkins, skulls, and eyeballs illuminate the night.

On the right, the Black Cauldron Inn,
where a cackling witch greets me at the entrance.
Round and round the balustrade
several ghosts rhythmically dance
to a song both harmonic and otherworldly.
I back away, an anxiousness coming slowly.

In the field, cross the street, I gaze.
I see two trees with ghosts and a witch flying in the haze.
I look at the Inn and ask how they're doing it as I see no ropes?
For a suitable answer, the witch seems to grope,
"Trade secret, can't tell" and winks with a crooked eye.
I move along suspiciously and wave good-bye.

In the Inn's yard, there's a pumpkin patch.
The farmer's lighting the candles inside with a match.
All of the lanterns are carved with grimacing smiles,
Lit up in iridescent glows that do nothing to conceal their guiles.

Next to the pumpkin patch is a cornfield,
with a Scarecrow, intentions unrevealed.
It stands there like an autumn clown, it's face hidden
It's true identity forbidden.
The corn, it guards, looks all rotten,
As if the farmer had forgotten.

On the left, the Dragon's Breath Costume Shop.
A warm light is inside making the windows glow.
Within, costumes for sell and show.
Disguises and new identities galore.
An excessively exuberant voice inside my head says,
"Stay, forever more."
I shake it off.
At demented spirits I scoff.
Next to it the Casket Maker,
with it's wood being cut and buzzing saws,
the chilling sounds of death being prepared
to my bones, gnaws.

At Madam Ashbury's House of Wax, I see statues of monstrosities.
I decide to go in, as it peaked my curiosity.
A coffin opens, Mummy rises, and Igor rings a bell.
Something inside impels.
I see dozens of wondrous masterpieces all around.
For some reason I feel I'm being confound.
It feels like I had been deceived.
I decide to quickly leave.

Mystic Isabella's Psychic Readings is up ahead.
I approach with a nervous dread.
I enter the well-lit but, ominous dwelling.
I await my fortune telling.
Isabella the gypsy, an old hand beckons me to sit.
With a smile and twinkle of her eyes she is befitting.
The lights dim as her crystal ball glows
Her face went slack in repose.
"To and fro the tempest tossed.
In the maelstrom, soon to be lost.
I see many perilous scenes in your future.
To which resolutions cannot be sutured.
Your lifeline is strange and short.
In the end, your path will be forever thwarted.
This is your fate.
Now run before it's too late!"

I run toward Harper House,
with bats on the belfry and, on the porch, pumpkins with evil scowls.
Far off in the woods, wolves eerily howl.
It looks like The Addam's family home.
Not a sign of life, so I continue to roam.
Without a doubt,
I have got to get out!

The next house is far from the Spookiest House On The Block
So I go up to the door and knock.
As I wait, I notice a basketball hoop over the garage
and pumpkins hung across the second floor.
Just then an old lady answers the door.
She looks like a grandmother with a plate of cookies.
"Freshly baked young man. Want one?"
"I notice the trick-or-treating has begun."
I said "Sure but, just one."
As she gave me a cookie, I realized her pun.
I saw her eyes twitch and saw the chocolate chips crawling.
"On second thought, I think I hear my mom calling."
She got a nasty grimace on her face
and her home was replaced
with an evil doppelganger, the illusion lifted.
A skeleton in a coffin appeared when the garage door shifted.
I took off like a flash.
I heard her cookies fall with a crash.

Greaves Manor is up next.
So decrepit and unkempt,
it almost certainly must be hexed.
So empty and alone it looks.
From every cranny to every nook.
Uh oh! A sound!
A monstrous hand protrudes from the basement door,
near the ground.
Run! To the next house,
I scurry like a mouse.

The Alford Mansion is just as rickety as the last.
Like a journey into the far off past.
Shattered windows, broken shutters, cracked paint.
The whole place has an evil taint.
All around the yard, the last inhabitants, tombstones mark.
Up at the attic window,
A growl! A howl! A bark!
I think, "Run, before it sees you!
What to do?! What to do?!"

In the middle of town is a giant Halloween Tree.
From a distance I couldn't clearly see.
It's decorated with full sized live ornaments!
The clearer they became, the closer I went.
Werewolf, Reaper, Mummy, Ghosts, Vampire,
Bat, Devil, Pirate, Scarecrow, Witch, Skeleton,
I was drawn closer on legs that shook like gelatin.
They were all squirming this way and that
At the last second, I finally was able to combat
the urge to climb up on the tree with them
and be forever condemned.

Shady Hollow Funeral Parlor, once prestigious and grand.
Now a testament to a menacing and foreboding brand.
Inside, I see a Tall Man lifting coffins with one arm!
I feel a shivering cold,
a feeling of bad things to come and lots of harm.
Away, I've got to hide.
But everywhere evil things abide.

Tomb of Sir Edgar Goodbody.
Who lies in the tomb??
Like the town, it's shrouded in gloom.
Who was Edgar Goodbody?
My mind can only fathom,
"Was he killed by the Tall Man?"
My thoughts are all running numb.
Oh, no! On the hills in back
a robed figure carrying a scythe, some kind of creeper!
It's taking off its hood. A soulless skull. The grim reaper!
Before he sees me, I run down the deserted, forsaken street.
Is there no one normal here to meet??

A huge Haunted Fountain is up ahead.
My legs feel heavy as lead.
As expected, like the rest of the town,
a terrifying site.
I struggle to hold back my fear with all of my might.
A giant skull with glowing eyes,
two gargoyles spitting water like regurgitated sighs,
In the surrounding mist of the water, what's that??
Snakes with their jaws yawning open ready to bite!
Taking a wide birth around this melee,
I quickly get away before I become snacked on prey.

On the left, in the water a Haunted Galleon floats
Alongside dozens of other ghastly boats.
The old sails, filled with holes, sway in the wind.
The decrepit hull like a wrinkle old rind
The brine sloshes to and fro over the sides.
Where does the crew hide?
Suddenly, the Captain climbs from the cabin, cloaked in ancient rags.
I now see the skull and cross bones flag.
He's all bones and empty eye sockets
The Captain croaks in a scratchy voice,
"Aye, matey, do ye like my pirate ship?"
I tell myself to get a grip.
"Me crew just returned with a treasure and booty,
He laughs "enough to cause a mutiny!"
With that, the crew arises from the cabin laughing and singing,
Swords and mugs of ale swinging.
Every swallow of ale pours between their ribs
I yell out, "You're dribbling, get a bib!"
The Captain was enraged and standoffish
"You'll walk the plank and swim with the fish."
I heard the canons blast.
I ran away from this scene fast!

Castle on Spooky Hill looks halfway decent,
even though it's very old.
Stepping by the surrounding moat,
I grow bold.
Just one look, what can it hurt?
The drawbridge begins to lower its considerable girth.
Inch by inch it lowers. I have time to take in all of the detail.
On closer inspection, the stonewalls look eroded by rain, snow and hail.
Gargoyles look down upon me from above.
Like grotesque looking granite doves.
A creaking on the roof! Oh no! A vampire is climbing out.
I look down at the open drawbridge and shout.
The grim reaper is following me!
This night won't let me free!!

I dash to the arcane Dr. Tingle's Laboratory.
A doctor can't be part of this evil town.
"Or can he?" I frown.
I edge closer to the doctor's office.
Behind me the "things" I avoided yell and hiss.
I take the steps two at a time.
I knock hard on the door covered in filth and grime.
I hear approaching footsteps inside.
A mad laughter, then a change to Dr. Jekyll from Mr. Hyde.
"Dr. Tingle here. Hello there young man, may I help you?"
I tell him about what has happened.
He replies "I hope they didn't scare you to death.
Without fresh specimens, not much good my experiments will do."
Nooo! He's the mastermind of this freaky, macabre town!
I got to get out of this place!!!!
The mad scientist yells to his minions,
"Get him, and stop standing aroun'!"

Nowhere left to run. Nowhere left to hide.
To the cemetery and Hallow ground, they can't get inside.
I slam the gates shut behind me and watch the army of death approaching.
I slowly edge backward as they arrive at the gate.
I'm satiated with glee as they can't get in and I wait.

Minutes go by and I know I can't get out.
Was this cemetery used as bait?
I hear a creaking sound behind me and I spin around with heed.
I see what I most dread indeed!
Getting to his feet, a vampire in a casket!
Laughing, they all know I was caught like a bug in a net.
They've all entered the cemetery and Dr. Tingle asks,
"Don't you know, young man, that we control all aspects of death?"

Over my shoulder I feel ghastly breath.
The cemetery is now covered in Jack-O-Lanterns,
all lit, seemingly mocking me with their flicking smiles.
Ghosts, vampires, and reapers for miles surround me.
Bats swarm overhead,
filling me with utmost dread.
A Mummy is slowly dragging its legs toward me,
the end of his bandages floating in the wind freely.
A Werewolf howls up at the moon,
a most incessant tune.
The pirate Captain exclaims, in his booming voice,
"Arr matey, you'll walk the plank now, you've no choice!
A witch cackles overhead with her broom, a banshee wails.
Its now thundering and raining pails.
The Tall Man is carrying me into the undertaker's carriage.
A torrential storm is in full rage.
In her clairvoyant whisper, Isabella, the gypsy, said
"I told you trouble lay ahead!"
Dr. Tingles stops to talk to me and says,
"This electrical storm is in full bloom for my experiments as promised.
You came to us just in time!"
I see a headless rider out by the barren hills and forest.
"Ah, I see you've met Sir Edgar Goodbody, my last test!"
The evil grandmother approaches and says:
"I told you to take a cookie, you little brat,
make more cookies out of you, when you get fat."
They all chant "Welcome to Spooky Town. Welcome to Spooky Town,"
as the carriage door slams shut.

I hear "Welcome to Spooky Town. Welcome to Spooky Town."
My eyes bolt open and I see my family all around concerned
and my mother says "Why so down?
Don't you like your latest Lemax Spooky Town item,
Tomb of Sir Edgar Goodbody?"
I tell them "I'm fine. It was just a nightmare.
But I need a walk alone without anybody."

I take my sweater and round the corner on to a desolate Halloween street.
Children, in costumes, run into me and yell, "TRICK-OR-TREAT!"
I proceed down further and all of a sudden it's night and I'm standing in front of a sign:
"Spooky Town: Enter If You Dare!"
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!