Spooky shows, horrific haunted houses and creepy scare zones lurk around every corner. Werewolves prowl the woods. Bushes come to life. Skeletons dance. And Jack O'Lantern is your host.

Sarah and I stayed after work several evenings to play in the park and check out Howl-O-Scream. We had a lot of fun... and I wasn't near as scared as I expected to be. I very much dislike haunted houses and scare very easily. But I enjoyed Busch Garden's haunted houses and was very impressed with them.

There were several haunted areas to explore: Sleepless Hollow Manor, Curse of Pompeii and Last Laugh Industries. I was most amused by Last Laugh Industries, an evil clown supply business peddling more than just rubber chickens, kazoos and bike horns. Scary clowns, possessed ventriloquist dolls, and demented side show performers brought back memories of my own circus days! I was particularly tickled by the clown car gone awry!

Sarah and I also went to see the various Halloween-themed shows. We enjoyed Jack Is Back and Starfright Orchestra very much. Fiends in the Festhaus was a muddled mess that we found disappointing. NightScares was the nighttime magic extravaganza that had so much potential but so failed to live up to it that it actually made me mad. Our favorite show was Monster Stomp, a clever rock n' roll revue with tap dancing lunatics and dancing skeletons.

Even the train was transformed for Halloween into Jack's Nightmare Express. The first time Sarah and I rode the Nightmare Express, it was still daylight and the effect was rather cheesy and unimpressive. But we gave it a second chance and rode again at nighttime, and what a difference the darkness made! The train ride was eerie and ominous and spine-tingling!