Wonderland Burlesque's Scary Mary Quiz

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Scary Mary Quiz

In honor of this, the month of Halloween, I bring you these most intriguing questions.

Answer if you dare!

1/ What scared you as a child?

Thunder and lightening at night. 

It took me many, many years to get over it. I used to hide under the covers, at the bottom of my bed, in closets, under my bed. I have no idea why I was so scared. But I was absolutely convinced 'it' was going to get me.

I have no idea what 'it' was. But 'it' was bad.

2/ What was the scariest movie you saw as a child?

I've shared this in the past. One night I snuck down and sat behind my Mom as she watched Ten Little Indians on television. It's a 1965 film, so this must have been about 1967. I have always thought Claire Bloom was in it. She is not. It's Daliah Lavi with Shirley Eaton (It seems the women always captured my attention, the men? All interchangeable. Even Fabian.) 

I watched it, horrified, as each person was killed off. I thought the whole thing rather dramatic, important, and glamorous. Somehow, I managed not to get caught and snuck back to bed. 

I spent the rest of the night trying to hide... under beds, in closets. Finally, I chose to curl up in the window sill next to my bed. I have no idea why I thought that was the best solution. 

Thank the universe the storm screen held.

3/ What is the scariest movie you have ever seen?

I love horror movies. The scariest movie I have ever seen is not a horror movie. I've mentioned Requiem for A Dream many times on this blog. It boiled my brain like no other film. 

But, it's not a horror film. 

My current favorite scary film is The Babadook. 

But I am also a huge fan of all the Halloween movies with Jamie Lee Curtis and the Friday the 13th films. But that has more to do with nostalgia than effective scares. 

4/ Other than the Corona Virus and the orange ogre remaining in the Blight House for another four years, what scares you, today?

Retiring. 

I mean, I can't wait to do it, but health insurance and money issues and the unstable state of social security; the thought of actually not having a job terrifies me. Plus, I feel as though I have three people I am kind of financially responsible for and need to make sure that I can meet their needs. It's a daunting thought. But their welfare IS my welfare. If they're not stable and secure, I don't know that I could live with myself. And I certainly couldn't enjoy my retirement if they were struggling. 

That is my other big fear about it... that I won't be comfortable enough to actually enjoy my retirement. I continue to work on a plan, but... I don't have much faith in my abilities to come up with something surefire. 

But then, is anything surefire? How does one take the plunge without knowing everything that's under the surface of that particular water? 

Good news, though. I think I have figured out what I will do 'on the side' when I do retire. 

Paint. 

I love painting rooms - especially basements. I love the trim out. I love rolling it on. I just really love how paint adheres to a wall and how you can manipulate it. I get in a zone and get lost in the process.

But I am going to be picky. No big projects. I work alone. I have to have music. Nothing higher than nine feet (maybe twelve). No unreasonable timelines. And I will only work for 'nice' people. There will be a brief interview and if I find their answers wanting or get 'a feeling', then no dice.

I love the idea of walking away from a job saying, 'not for me, no thanks'.

5/ What is currently your most irrational fear?

It's still the kitten in the middle of the highway scenario. Anytime I am in my car,  on the highway, that one springs to life. Nice thing is, the only time that occurs these days is when I am going to the grocery store (once a week) (and I have started taking backroads, instead) and road trips (very rare these days).

6/ What is the scariest dream you have ever had?

This was actually rather cool. It played out like a movie. I was at an abandoned, old-fashioned carnival - like the 1860's. I was brought on as a caretaker (I believe I was Deborah Kerr in The King and I mode or The Innocents). There were these dusty, dirty children who were tasked with creating these tchotchkes that this fat pig of a man would sell.  Each child was chained to a horse on the carousal. 

I work to try and understand the dynamics of the situation in order to rescue the children.

I believe I came to the conclusion that in order to free the children, I had to free the horses.

The world was absolutely blanched of color, shades of grey with just the occasional touch of pink and everything seemed to be covered in some kind of white dust. I wrote it all down, because it played just like a movie and became rather complicated. 

I don't think it was scary, as much as very detailed and suspenseful.

If I knew enough about the 1860's, I think it would make an excellent novel. But, I am so lazy!

7/ Do you believe in ghosts / poltergeists?

Not really. Not in the sense that they have been ascribed. 

I believe in energy masses. Like leftovers. Imprints. I don't think they have intent or any type of will. I see them all the time or become aware of their presence. 

There are two in my basement and several that float throughout the boyfriend's house.

During the day, I catch them moving, typically very quickly, out of the corner of my eye. But at night, in the darkness, they take on mass and hover. Most are benevolent. Hanging out in a doorway. But there is one... on the wall, to the right at the foot of my bed. It's male and changes size. It's not there every night. But when it is...

...it kind of frightens me.

8/ Have you ever lived someplace that you believe was haunted?

I owned a possessed daybed once. Possessed. Not in the typical sense. It contained an imprint of someone. 

It's another long story.

My father's father had two sisters, Maudie and Lulah. 

Lulah was ambitious, well-educated, traveled and cautious. She would never marry, but had a successful career as an educator (she developed one of the first IQ tests). 

Maudie was a party girl and prone to drink and getting into trouble with men. She was divorced a number of times. Finally, she just stopped bothering with the nuptials. She ran around with members of the Minneapolis Mafia during prohibition. 

Lulah, by scrupulously saving, bought a lovely house on Park Avenue, here in Minneapolis. Maudie shows up on her doorstep one day. She'd had a torrid affair with a black man, a hooch-runner for the mob, and was pregnant. 

Well, the two sisters did not get along well enough to live together, so Lulah, at great expense, had the house converted to a duplex. Maudie would live upstairs. 

Maudie gave birth to a little girl, named Violet. It was a difficult birth and Violet was a sickly child (probably due to all the bootleg liquor Maudie consumed). Maudie kept Violet in the attic, where she slept on a daybed. 

Eventually Violet was stricken with some type of debilitating disease and passed away in the attic, on her daybed. Maudie would die of drink, while Lulah lived out her days in that house, passing away at the ripe old age of 89.  

I used to visit Lulah. She was near the end of her time by then. In addition to all that she'd accomplished with her life, she'd been a disciplined ballroom dancer. She'd show me her old gowns and was fascinated with what I was doing in the theatre and with music. 

My parents inherited the house and I went to live there. In the attic, I found the daybed. It was metal, and heavy, but was easy to assemble and disassemble. It also had it's original mattress. I moved it everywhere I went, as I gleamed it's importance. Using it as a couch, I had a cover made for the mattress with large matching cushions made for the back.

Eventually, however, I had to let it go, as I was moving to L.A. from a small town in Iowa. I left it in the hands of a young Native American man I worked with at the newspaper. He was a gentle soul and I sensed in him something spiritual. He just happened to be looking for a new place to live as I was searching for someone to take over my lease on this beautiful old house on the river. 

I left Violet sitting on polished wooden floors in the middle of that bright, magnificent, high-ceilinged living room, facing a large window that faced the river. 

I do hope Violet is alright. 

9/ Have you ever been to a really scary 'Haunted House'? Describe the experience.

Yes. I love haunted houses. Most leave a lot to be desired, but there is a company here, in Minneapolis that does it right. The event is called The Haunted Basement. 

It's a non-profit artists conglomerate that takes over a warehouse in northeast Minneapolis and puts on a spectacular theatre experience. There are dozens of environments and scenes you can find yourself in and the actors are very committed. It's different every year. I have attended three years. The first year was the best. Very physically challenging.  I remember getting trapped in this rope spider web and not knowing how I was going to get out. All these people were behind me, trying to get by, pushing and panicking. It was super scary.

They're a clever group. It's always psychologically creepy and very interactive. The last year I went, I found myself sitting on the lap of a filthy, boozed-out Santa, trapped in a suburban 1960's hellhole with a little girl, face full of chocolate (at least I hope it was chocolate), ripping open presents and demanding things while her Valium Barbie of a Mom kept trying to serve up disgusting, poorly-concocted, holiday-themed food items. Santa bounced me on his privates and said suggestive things to me. 

And I am now scarred for life.   

Learn more about them, here.

10/ Have you ever successfully scared someone (a prank) or been successfully pranked?

Other than the typical 'boo' kind of scares, I have not.

However, I once got pranked big time. 

It was Lulah's house. I had it all to myself, so I threw this giant Halloween party. A group of theatre friends got together and decorated every room... including the attic. It was fun. We had a haunted ballroom, elaborate ghosts hung around the ceilings, and a room dedicated to a little girl who had fallen into a well. 

I invited theatre folks from all these shows I'd been recently involved in, including this group from a small town, where I'd directed a very decent production of Arsenic and Old Lace. Because they were theatrically-inclined, people went all out with their costumes. 

The party had been going on for about an hour and there were a good 40 guests milling about. All of the sudden we hear the rip, rip sound of a chainsaw. I remember, I was at the top of the steps leading upstairs, when up ran a tall man in workman's overhauls wearing a hockey mask and brandishing a real chainsaw! Everyone screamed and we all started running about (we may have been a little tipsy at that point). 

Of course, it turned out to be one of the actors from Arsenic and Old Lace. He was a farmer and had done a spot on job bringing the whole thing to life.

Oh, we laughed. Yes, how we laughed.

And we all drank a little heavier for the rest of the night.

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Okay kids, your turn! Leave your answers in the comments section or copy them to your blog and leave a link. 

Until next week... 

Thanks for reading.

Come to Daddy -  Aphex Twin

The Perfect Drug - Nine Inch Nails