I used to be terrified of all things Halloween.

Nowadays, there is nothing I look forward to more that the final week of October when I can transform into a strange, scary, or hilarious character and seeing others do the same, especially if I suspect that I might know their identity.

When I was little, none of it was appealing. Zombies, ghosts, vampires, they were all evil and alien, and anyone who could dress as one had something wrong in the head.

In recent years, though, I have been introduced to the world of "cosplay" which, defined simply, is costuming turned up to eleven. A cosplayer doesn't merely wear different clothes: they take a walk in someone else's shoes. Be it characters from the popular media, creatures of myth, or personalities of our own invention, cosplayers seem to treat the process of costuming as an exciting science.
This year, for example, I selected from early costume ideas something scary. My decision impacted by a character who I had seen and had left a startling image in my mind, I spent a great deal of time researching their history and present, as well as experimenting with different ways of emulating him. When my costume was finished, I found that this science was completed by my learning. As a Hunter from "Left 4 Dead", a zombie so like the one's that gave me nightmares, I felt not only frightening, but powerful and primal.

Zombies now aren't a horrible menace to me, they are story-telling devices. They represent some of the awe-inspiring and deadly power we have a race. Like all monsters in the world, both fictional and real, they have something to teach us.

Being a Hunter was thrilling and unforgettable, and now having been one of those wrong-headed people I mentioned earlier, I eagerly await next Halloween and an opportunity to learn more about the mysteries and adventures that hide within our deepest fears.