The pick up line at kindergarten is filled with parents eager to grab their child, fight the traffic getting out of the neighborhood and then get the weekend started. As Indiana, 5 years old, gives his teacher a high five he exclaims, “It’s Boot Hill TONIGHT!” She pulls her head back then tilts it in a quizzical manner. I then sheepishly explain that our “haunted house” opens tonight for the first time this season. She smiles and tells him to have fun.

He swings his backpack to and fro all the way to the car urging his little sister to hurry up. She too, is rushing as fast as her little 2 year old legs can carry her.

Once buckled in the carseat, he is demanding that we immediately make our way to the home haunt that my husband and his crew have created and ran for the past 17 years. We still have at least another 4 hours until we have to leave our house but time is lost on kids. 4 hours is an eternity.

After much begging, pleading, a quick game of Plants Vs. Zombies and waiting for daddy to get home, we finally make our way to my mother-in-law’s house (40 minutes away from our home).

He bounces out of the car, skips thru the skeleton and gravestone clad walkway (saying hi to the creepy scarecrow prop), busts thru the front door and immediately starts taking off his clothes.

The kid is ready to scare. It’s not even 5:30 pm, he simply can’t wait to get into his costume and put slider pads on. He is ready to prey on guests through the thin veil of fog, ready to pounce on unsuspecting victims and he lives for the screams.

My husband and I understand that this is completely not normal for 5 year olds. But it is OUR normal. Our kids, like most haunt kids, have been surrounded by scary masks and prosthetic makeup pieces since he was born. It’s not that things don’t scare him or even make him timid; but like a lot of kids in his situation, he gets used to it very quickly.
During his first Halloween season we introduced him to daddy in costume, eye black and then the mask. He was only 4 months old and he giggled with delight. Now, after 2 years of being able to scare guests himself, he is a seasoned veteran.

As the rest of the crew makes their way into the house and begin their transformation, Indiana is already in his costume and waits impatiently for daddy to apply the eye black.
“Is there a line?”
“Are people here yet?”
“IS. IT. DARK. YET?”

I ask him to sit down and let the grown ups get ready. The anticipation in the air is palpable and my little boy isn’t the only one chomping at the bit to get his first scare of the season.

A little over a month earlier at Midsummer Scream, my husband bought him a set of slider pads and let him go. As I sat in on panels taking copious notes for Horrorbuzz and my column, he (unbeknownst to me) entertained the masses and gathered quite the crowd. My phone was blowing up with text messages, photos and videos of “the little monster” that I just had to see.

Now, I sat back and watched as daddy taped up his pads and made sure they weren’t going to fall down from his skinny legs to his ankles. With a few notes from daddy, “Do not step foot into the street. And do not leave my side”, Indiana and his dad walked out the door into the fog.

BAM!
SCREAM!
“I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE!”

I stood back and smiled as I watched him perfect his scares. We have given him pointers on how to get in and out of a scare for a couple seasons now. He has spent his whole life watching daddy and other amazing monsters stalk guests. I was amazed as he had truly created his own character.
His gait changed. His shoulders hunched over. He cocked his head in a weird and very unsettling way. Then he would stop, widen his stance, make eye contact with someone, put his gloved hands on his knee pads and slowly tap.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click…

BAM!

He would take off like a rocket and slide towards his victim.
It isn’t always pretty. He needs work on his standing up from his sliding but nonetheless,  it is effective.
It wasn’t just kids who were scared of him. I watched as he continuously surprised and genuinely scared adults. His small stature is on his side. People don’t expect a scare from that low and the creep factor is real.
When he got a scream or a jump back, Indiana would do a single hand clap in victory. Then he would move on. He was non stop, just like he is in every waking moment of the day.
The smile on my face was enormous. I was beaming when guests asked him to pose for pictures. I was also proud when he would see that a child was a little too scared, he would gingerly approach and put out his metal clad glove for a high five.

This repeated for most nights throughout the run of Booth Hill this year.
His jaunts as a monster don’t last long, 15 minutes tops. Then he will go back inside for a snack or maybe sit at the merch booth for a well deserved rest.
During one of these “breaks” I got the chance to have a one on one interview with my son.

What do you like best about being a monster?
“Sliding”

What do you not like about being a monster?
“Nothing. I like everything.”

Do you like scaring people?
“Yes. I like to scare little people (kids) One of them was really,really frightened of me.”

Do you feel bad when you scare people?
“No. I’ve made a baby cry and I didn’t feel bad.” (Yikes. Put a quarter in the therapy jar)

What scares you?
“Zombies, plants and flowers.” (I’m glad my name wasn’t thrown in there)

What is your favorite thing about Boot Hill?
“It is putting eye black on. And the Pepper’s ghost.”

Do you like scaring with daddy?
“Yes I do. Um, doing cool stuff with him is the best.”

We weren’t even 5 minutes into the interview when he started to get ancey.
Hearing the sounds of screams, Indiana starts jumping up and down, urgently pleading to “get out there.” He’s afraid he will miss the chance for a good scare. So I put his mask back on him, he grabs my hand and out we go.

BAM!
He got one.

At 10:10pm the crew comes back in, tired and sweaty. Indiana is smiling and wanting a snack. His sister, who isn’t really a fan of scary…yet, is in her Elsa pjs playing with the dollhouse and rather blasé about the whole thing.

Indiana reluctantly changes into his pajamas and whines because he wants to stay up with the adults as his daddy carries him out the door to my car.
All buckled in, I make my way out of the quiet cul de sac to head home. I look in the mirror and see that Indiana’s eyelids are getting heavy. I ask him one final interview question:

Did you have fun tonight?
“Yes. It’s Boot Hill tomorrow…right?”

He’s asleep before we hit the main thoroughfare. I put my little boy to bed, he snuggles down with his blanket and favorite stuffed animal, just like any other kid. The only difference is that Indiana isn’t having nightmares of being chased by monsters.
No.
He’s the monster making other people run for their lives.