35 People Who Won Halloween This Weekend

Environmental psychologist and wellbeing consultant Lee Chambers from the UK explained to Bored Panda why so many of us are drawn by horror and Halloween. "The whole ethos of Halloween and the flirting with evil and death is fascinating because it is a place we rarely go as humans, especially in today's safe and sanitized world," Lee shared with me.

According to the expert, we not only get to explore this side of ourselves without any judgment, we also get to test our emotive response to fear in a way that's both safe and controlled. In other words, we get to experience the positive sides of horror without the negatives.

"We can get the adrenaline rush of being scared, all while knowing we are in control and can exit the situation if it’s too much. We also cognitively know it’s not real, so we can trigger ourselves and test how we respond to threats, giving us the ability to practice coping mechanism for difficult times in life," he said.

Furthermore, psychologist Lee pointed out that Halloween and horror can help us test where our limits are. "We can explore the taboos of negative emotions like fear in a playful way, see where our limits lie, and do it in a supportive environment with other people. Getting scared and mastering our fear with scary entertainment and curated shocks can make us feel like we can take on all sorts of challenges, and can even feel like therapy when we take into account the physiological rush we get and the feeling of having survived."

Meanwhile, celeb expert Mike, from LA, told Bored Panda that stars are "under quite a bit of pressure" to come up with great costume ideas. It's not all just glitz and glamor—there's some serious planning and preparation involved.

"They know it will generate a guaranteed photo that will be splashed all around the world. Plus, it’s got to be original and impressive, that’s what their fans are expecting. They don’t want to disappoint them, and it’s a rather easy way for a celebrity to get positive press by showing their fun side," he told Bored Panda about the advantages of coming up with a creative, fun, impressive costume.

I was curious to find out why so many of us love to dress up as our fave celebrities for Halloween. According to Mike, there are a couple of reasons for this phenomenon. "They either want to honor a favorite celebrity, or they want to have some fun by mocking a celebrity they don’t care for. It’s also actually kind of fun to 'become' a celebrity and imagine what their life might be like!"

Mike agreed that many people have a hard time separating actors from the characters they play in movies. "Celebrities know that, and some will accept it and capitalize on it, while others will fight it and try to distance themselves from the characters they play," the celebrity expert noted how stars can react to this piece of knowledge in different ways.

"Most fans on Halloween are looking at celebrities and their characters as one, and will usually dress as the character, which is probably going to be easier to pull off and the most recognizable of the two!"

This year’s Halloween fell into a bit of a gray area regarding the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. While the danger of getting ill is still ever-present, the continuing vaccination programs have made it a bit safer to go about with ordinary life. ABC7 notes that Halloween participation is rebounding and people are spending more than ever.

However, wearing your Halloween mask is no excuse for not wearing your regular medical mask underneath and maintaining social distancing. It’s fine to have fun, but you can’t throw all the safety precautions out the window—now that would be scary.

October might be the spookiest month of the year, but we often take it for granted. Sure, a lot of us love a good scare from the comfort of our own cozy costume or from our sofas in front of a good horror movie, but we don’t always question why we find it so fun. Not too long ago, I reached out to Doug Murano to learn about why we love horror and scary stories so much. Doug is a writer and a Bram Stoker Award-winning editor, so you know for a fact that horror flows through his veins.

"I suspect that most of us—regardless of our spiritual beliefs—have a longing for something beyond this life. Human beings seem to be pre-programmed with this urge," writer and editor Doug, the founder of Bad Hand Books, told Bored Panda that many of us yearn to learn more about the supernatural. Real-life is beautiful and interesting, but it often isn’t fully enough. We’re just too curious to sit still and be happy with what we have.

"So much of horror and speculative fiction grapples with death and what happens after we die that I can't help but believe much of our interest in such stories is an expression of a longing for experiences and existences beyond our perceptions," Doug explained.