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<p>OK, I will admit it: I am a scaredy-cat just minus the whiskers and tail.</p><p>The &#8220;Creature Feature&#8221; movies that would appear on TV when I was a kid, horror flicks, slasher films with gore, things that go bump in the night?</p><p>Nope. No thank you. I will just sit over here and watch &#8220;Casper the Friendly Ghost,&#8221; and even then I am not sure if I might not get spooked.</p><p>Yet despite my aversion to all things horror, I somehow have surrounded myself in my life with loved ones who worship at the altar of fright flicks.</p><p>My late fianc&#233;e was an aficionado, with a collection of VHS tapes that, after she died, I sorted through, picking up each box as if it were a dead rat I was holding by its tail.</p><p>Among the titles in her collection were such classics as &#8220;Basket Case,&#8221; &#8220;Bloodsucking Freaks&#8221; and &#8220;Pumpkinhead.&#8221; For Carla, a collection of such movies was as normal as having a set of encyclopedias at home.</p><p>She even once convinced me (OK, maybe pressured is a more accurate verb) to go to the movies and sit in the front row to watch the zombie apocalypse movie &#8220;28 Days Later.&#8221;</p><p>What I saw of it through the spaces between my fingers was pretty scary.</p><p>So having established by bona fides as a chicken that would make Colonel Sanders envious, let me tell you about two other loved ones who are committed hardcore horror fans: childhood friends Rich and Silvio.</p><p>These guys are more twisted than a pretzel doing yoga.</p><p>They have long joked/threatened that they would lock me in a room, prop open my eyeballs a la Malcolm McDowell in &#8220;A Clockwork Orange,&#8221; strap me into a chair and force me to watch the movies that make them giddy and make me squeal and squirm.</p><p>Because, you know, what are friends for?</p><p>So it was, that in advance of Halloween, during a rare get-together of all of my childhood friends, that they subjected me to a movie called &#8220;The Descent,&#8221; about a group of female spelunkers who go exploring a cave system they shouldn&#8217;t and what happens to them.</p><p>It was &#8212; spoiler alert! &#8212; filled with jump scares and frights.</p><p>I have to say that I think I held up pretty well and did not shriek. Much.</p><p>Certainly it was nothing compared to our visit last year to a haunted house in New Jersey where I f-bombed my way through the attraction, all the while pushing a friend, John, to move faster through the creep-filled hallways.</p><p>Having survived all of that terror last year and the viewing of &#8220;The Descent,&#8221; I believe I deserve to celebrate this Halloween in a style more in keeping with my aversion to horror.</p><p>I&#8217;ll have a bowl of Count Chocula cereal while watching Casper on TV.</p><p>With the lights on.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Christopher Mele</p><p>Mele&#8217;s Musings</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Christopher Mele is married and dad of two sons and two stepchildren. His childhood in the Bronx defined his friendships, which endure today. A career newsman, writer and editor, the Lords Valley resident is glad to share stories and insights about the challenges that the modern-day middle-aged guy faces. Reach Chris at seaosprey22@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Mele’s Musings: A no-spook Halloween is one for this guy