Halloween Parade -

I just listened to Lou Reed’s “Halloween Parade” which inspired me to write this Halloween post.

Reed wrote his song as a tribute to friends who were lost because of AIDS, using NYC’s annual Halloween parade as a backdrop.

His parade had Alfred Hitchcock and Greta Garbo and Cinderella and friends of his I haven’t heard of.

I didn’t much care for the song, but I liked the idea of a Halloween Parade.

For my Halloween Parade of people, including those who have died or who have a “dark” vibe, or just love Halloween, here are the people I’d ask to join.

My sister and my father (my mother would love to watch); Neil Gaiman’s Coraline; the Wicked Witch of the West and a monkey on her shoulder; Katherine Rundell and her fantastic creatures; Boris Karloff; Mary Shelley holding Frankenstein’s monster by the hand; Robert Redford as Harold Beldon from a Twilight Zone episode; Rod Serling; Scrooge and the ghost of Christmas Future; Freddie Mercury; Dr. Bumbrain from “Gleam” by Kurt Christiansen; the entire cast of Dark Shadows; Hannibal Lecter; my friends Nancy and Jerry; the people my daughter and I ran into in a cemetery in Scotland last year celebrating Halloween; my son dressed as a sheriff (possibly Woody from “Toy Story”); my daughter dressed as a head on a platter; the hunchback of Notre Dame; the guy my husband and I ran into in a cemetery on Orcas Island who asked “What’s the matter with my dog’s eyes?”; Michael Jackson and his Thriller dancers; Charlie Brown and his bag of rocks along with Snoopy and Woodstock; and Ichabod Crane.

The parade would be in New York City, right through Central Park, because why not?

Participants could toss waxed lips and candy cigarettes, snack-size Three Musketeers bars, and candy corn pumpkins.