Stars of the monster world.

Well, here we are again.  

I was just talking to one of my oldest pals about vampire books. Except for a few such books I worked on professionally, I don't think I ever read one except Bram Stoker's classic. It's certainly not for lack of vampire stories. There are millions. Vampires come back in vogue every once and a while, and you can't escape them. Then we need a break. 

In my opinion, the most enduring scary stories center on situations that strike a chord of empathy within us. They aren't just about dangerous creatures beyond any we've fought before.

Go home spider you are drunk

And I'm not really talking about critters for which we have sympathy, although some are. I mean scary monster stories that act as metaphors for true situations.

Vampire: A parasite that takes the life of its host and entraps it at the same time.

Frankenstein's monster: A terrifying and uncanny creation that destroys its creator.

Werewolf: An innocent human under certain circumstances becomes an uncontrollable killer. 

Ghost: A tormented soul that cannot rest due to circumstances of its former life. 

Those are the biggies for a reason. Other Halloween monsters still have iconic characteristics, but are not so well defined as metaphors: 

Mummy: Obsessive and cursed love through millennia -- I think we've lost that aspect of this guy, who ain't wrapped too tight. 

Witches: Evil, spiteful beings who aim to destroy others for any or no reason -- way too many people sympathizing with them these days. 

Zombie: Grotesque and unreasonable, but our interest is from our point of view (Yuck! Argh!) rather than from any empathy with the staggering dead body. 

Then you have your miscellaneous devils and monsters, who are either tempters of just forces of destruction. 

I personally never wanted to go out dressed as any of them on Halloween in my youth. My favorite getup of all time was Superman. I have always wanted to be one of the good guys, even when I wasn't.

But I'd have dressed like anything to get me some of that free Halloween candy.  

Those are my thoughts on our favorite spooky critters; which monster is your favorite?