When I was a child, my parents would respond to any pity party in our house with, “Yeah, and it will probably rain on Halloween, too.” And they were usually right–except for that one year when it snowed on Halloween. In Georgia.  I thought they were magical beings, my parents. How could they know months in advance that it would literally rain on our plans for October 31st? Magic was the only plausible answer. Chance clearly had nothing to do with it.

Nowadays, Halloween is admittedly my least favorite holiday. I love the dressing up bit (here’s looking at you, Loki on Rollerskates)–and who doesn’t love an excuse to eat as much sugar as you want?–but the grownup side of Halloween is simultaneously too unabashedly sexy and gruesome for my taste.

There is one spooky thing* that I love, though, and that is abandoned buildings. Some people get the heebie jeebies even thinking about going inside, but nothing gets my creative juices flowing quite like a good derelict building with a mysterious past. This is why I’m an avid follower of Pinterest boards like this one and this one and this one and this one and this one.  And the main reason I follow the blog Dainty Squid is because she shares my penchant for exploring these forgotten places. I even have a story idea percolating in my brain about a woman who explores abandoned buildings.

So I was super stoked today when I decided to take a different path home and found this:

I was sad that I only had my little point-and-shoot with me, and not a decent camera. I will definitely have to go back another time and get some better pictures.

The rest of my walk was also decidedly spooky. I mean, look at this place:

What a fun little unexpected adventure. Happy Halloween everyone, and stay safe tonight!

*Okay, two spooky things if you count cemeteries, but I don’t think those are spooky. I think they’re beautiful monuments to the people who have created the world we live in today.