I’m really a big kid at heart.

I love comic books and superhero movies. I enjoy playing video games. And I have a small toy collection.

My favorite holiday, of course, is Halloween.

I am fascinated by the supernatural and occult, though I don’t believe in ghosts and goblins or ghouls and monsters.

It started when I was a kid. My parents have always been super cool and let me and my brother watch pretty much whatever we wanted. This includes movies we probably shouldn’t have watched as kids.

When I was 4 or 5, I remember watching Monster Squad. It’s a kid’s flick — well, kind of. It features Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, a mummy, a creature from the Black Lagoon and my personal favorite, the Wolf Man.

I have probably watched Monster Squad 50 times during my life. I watch it every Halloween as a tradition.

While I was in Alamosa as a kid, my mom showed me Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. That led to her showing me Hold That Ghost and the best Abbott and Costello movie, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

I adored Lon Chaney Jr. as Lawrence Talbot a.k.a. The Wolf Man. Bela Legosi is impeccable as Dracula and Glenn Strange is fantastic as Frankenstein’s monster.

Seeing that movie prompted me to watch Universal’s 1941 classic The Wolf Man. That led me on a path to discovering Hammer Studios’ monster movies starring British screen legends Christopher Lee, Oliver Reed and Peter Cushing.

For Halloween, I have dressed up as a werewolf almost as many times as I’ve been Batman (which is quite a bit. I’ve gone as Batman at least 5 times throughout my life).

I’ve watched every good werewolf movie and a lot of God-awful werewolf movies. My favorite, of course, is John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London.

But I absolutely love horror films and monsters and things that go bump in the night.

Each year I curate a Halloween playlist on Spotify. I spend much of September and all of October watching nothing but horror films. I decorate my apartment in macabre, Halloween decor. I eat way too many Reese’s bats and pumpkins. I love Halloween.

My mom and my aunt are firm believers in ghosts. They have shared ghost stories with me and my brother and cousins since we were little, often scaring me into staying up all night.

When I was in first grade, my teacher Mr. Blasi played a tape recording of La Llorona. It was probably a bit too scary for 6 and 7-year-olds, but I have loved the legend of the crying woman ever since.

Over the next month, you can expect me to share some of my family’s ghost stories and more Halloween fun.

Spooky Season is my holiday season. Monsters and goblins are my Santa Clause and elves.

As Legosi’s Dracula said in the 1931 classic, “Children of the night, what music they make.”

Luke Lyons is the editor of the Valley Courier. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter by searching @luke_lyons14.