a great documentary just in time for halloween.

the other night we watched the american scream, a documentary featuring three families in fairhaven, massachusetts, who love halloween. i mean really love. they go all out transforming their home so that for one night people can be spooked and awed. they call themselves "home haunters."

i remember trick or treating in my childhood neighborhood and there was a home like this. they didn't decorate as extravagantly as the homes in the documentary but i was pretty spooked. and i still remember it to this day. home haunters don't get paid or receive any honorary recognition, but they know that people will remember the experience for the rest of their lives. this is what drives them to spend long nights and weekends preparing for the scariest night of the year.

this documentary is funny. we laughed so much. it's touching. it's inspiring.

i remember taking a course in nonprofit management. our trainer mentioned a study - two people were asked to type as many words as they could in a set amount of time. one person posted pretty good numbers, but the other knocked it out of the ballpark. when asked what drove her to type so many words, she said, "i wanted to do my best." the whole point of that session was to find people who have the will and tenacity to go above and beyond in what they do. 

i couldn't help but think about that course when i was watching this documentary. there were certainly other themes that were so beautiful - like one of family and community - but there was one of passion and drive. these home haunters didn't just put on a halloween show for one night. they poured their hearts into it. and it showed. and that really moved us and kept our mouths open for about half of it.

so glad we watched this. we're definitely ready for halloween now. 

do you remember going to a haunt house?