Scary is OK for Halloween

The kind of scary that comes from telling ghost stories around a campfire.

Fear is a different thing, it’s not really about a mummy, vampire or a ghost.

Fear is more about an evil person in real life who does not look like a monster. Someone who blends in. Someone you might not even notice at the grocery store or at a campground.

Here is one such person:

Insane killer escapes on field trip to county fair

Ever think about this stuff when you go tent camping?

Maybe you are out for a couple nights camping. This guy who escaped from the state mental institution is out there too. He is watching you, but you don’t know it.

For tent campers, there’s just a thin layer of nylon between us and the outside world.

Some of these guys might have to register when they establish a new address. No special requirement if they just want to wonder through a remote campground with no camp host or cell reception…

Out at that lonely campground there’s no waiting in line to show ID as is the practice at the border or the airport…

Want to get a good night’s sleep while tent camping? Don’t think about an escapee from a loosely administered State Hospital for The Criminally Insane.

If you are prone to these sorts of thoughts- just keep them to yourself. Don’t stay up and tell stories around the campfire that may turn out to be disturbing. Don’t remind your friends that the escaped psycho would have to fill out paperwork and wait on a background check in order to buy a gun, but that no screening is required for someone who just wants to gather up a few common items to use in creating a night of mayhem.

Don’t mention that no paperwork is required over at the hardware store to pick up a gallon of drain opener, a few road flares, or a propane tank.

Don’t mention that the fugitive could wait until everyone is asleep, silently open the valve on a propane tank and set it next to a tent. He could walk 30 or 40 feet away, catch his breath, then light and toss a standard road flare over towards the tent. There wouldn’t be time to get out.

Don’t remind your friends that they are far from any gated community with alarm systems or security patrols. Don’t remind them that people sleeping in tents make a soft target for escaped killers.