All you need to know for Halloween

Halloween is a time for confession.

OK, for some of us, any day is a time for confession. But Halloween, maybe even more so.

We confess that we Halloween fans love to be spooked, to be reminded that all six senses not only still work, but can work extraordinarily well when properly prompted.

We confess that we love the creativity involved in Halloween decorations, from ingenious costumes to classic yard and home displays.

And we confess pure joy in buying a dozen bags of Trick-or-Treat candy the first of October, then going back to the store on Oct. 30 to buy candy for the Trick-or-Treaters. (Because Halloween is a holiday, all those calories and grams of fat don’t count.)

As we do every year, we ask Halloween revelers and revilers to respect each other. You love Halloween? Then have some class and don’t hassle those who object. You hate Halloween? Then turn your porch light off Tuesday night and don’t worry; we won’t tell anyone that you’re secretly watching Vincent Price while munching on mini-Mars bars.

In the meantime, we’d love to put some local Halloween creativity on display for 50,000 or so North Idahoans to enjoy. If you’ve got an especially entertaining costume (kids age 1-119 are eligible), take a photo and email it to us. If you’ve really knocked yourself out with a haunted garage, grave-riddled yard or macabre mansion, please, email a photo or two. Send them to mpatrick@cdapress.com and be sure to include your name and address.

On a slightly more serious Halloween note, The Press has received several calls from residents in the downtown Coeur d’Alene area who say they’ve spotted what looks like a ghost at night. Reports are that the spectre is female, but few other details have come to light. It’s almost certainly a hoax, but we’ve put a reporter and a photographer on the case. If we can confirm anything, readers will be the first to know.