Halloween Collective

The Midnight Article "Halloween: The Only Time You Can Be Yourself" was written by u/Metalsa and posted to r/MidnightPaper as part of the Halloween Challenge 2020.

The text of the Article was as follows:

**HALLOWEEN: THE ONLY TIME YOU CAN BE YOURSELF**

That time of year has come again, dear readers. The time we celebrate death and everything monstrous. From the people that dress up as goblins, witches and vampires to the folks that choose to impersonate real serial killers, all forms of evil are welcome on this festive night, Halloween. And while the children are going door to door in search of sugary sweets the adults have their own celebrations, often involving parties and alcoholic beverages. And while most people take this opportunity to dress up, a select few get to truly be their grotesque selves, if only for one night.

But why on Halloween? Is there something special about this night? Are the dark forces that much more powerful on Halloween? Turns out that’s not it, dear readers.

“There’s nothing magical about the night itself really.” a real werewolf tells us. “I mean I guess you could call it societal magic, but really it’s the only time I can show my true self and no one bats an eye. It’s the only time society accepts me as I am.”

A vampire had this to say about the situation:

“It’s not that I magically transform into a vampire on Halloween night. I’m a vampire all year round, but now I get to really shine, so to speak.”

So, it would appear that there is nothing inherently magical about Halloween that allows these creatures to show their true forms. The only thing keeping them from doing so every day seems to be the fear of rejection.

“I’m a goblin. I’ve always been a goblin! I will always be a goblin! I know these things, but if the rest of the world knew them as well, I would be ruined! How is a goblin supposed to get a job? It’s easy for ‘normal people’ (he uses air quotes). And, of course, I wouldn’t get any support from my family either!”

When asked why his own parents wouldn’t accept the truth, we are informed that they are not goblins, as he is the only one in the family who is like this. According to Frederic the goblin people hate what they don’t understand, forcing him to hide the rest of the year.

We were curious if this has always been their Halloween experiences and a witch helps us understand:

“Yes and no. There isn’t a specific age at which Halloween transforms you into this, or a specific ritual that makes you a ‘monster’ (uses air quotes). You’re kind of born like this without knowing, but throughout the years you start to piece together why this night is special to you. You try to be different things and by complete accident you try being the thing you were supposed to be and it’s like nothing you’ve ever felt before. And different folks discover this side of themselves at different times, you can’t really force it. So, to summarize, I guess I’ve always been a witch and now I finally understand this.”

We asked a ghoul if he’d rather be this at all times. He had this to say:

“Well, fucking obviously. Of course, I don’t want to fucking hide all the fucking time. Who in their right mind would prefer to spend so much energy just so they can be miserable? And trust me it makes you miserable to live like someone you’re not.”

Another witch tells us that “it could be worse”:

“I mean I could be way worse off. I can pretend to be a normal person (she doesn’t use air quotes) fairly easily, so there’s that. Can you imagine being a mermaid though? Now that’s rough.”

The mermaids made no comment.

But a few of the creatures have stated that they would like to make themselves known, as a collective.

“We shouldn’t have to live like this.” an outspoken werewolf in the group tells us. “We have every right to live amongst the people. The only thing that sets us apart and makes us abnormal is the way we’re treated.”

The same goblin we spoke to earlier tells us the following:

“We are not evil. We don’t hurt anyone. We live the best we can all year round and don’t hurt any humans and we still wouldn’t even if we were finally allowed to live as ourselves. We don’t anything other than to live.”

But when asked if he thinks that is achievable, he is not very optimistic:

“I wish, but my wish doesn’t make it reality. Hopefully one day it will be though.”

There you have it, dear readers, the plight of those less understood. We hope you enjoyed this special edition of The Midnight Paper and until next time remember, this Halloween let your inner monster out.

Description:

"The Halloween Collective" is a group of Biological-Type and Undead-Type Oddities that were interviewed for a Midnight Article. They appear to be very similar to the depictions of classic monsters in popular culture.

Included in their ranks are werewolves, vampires, goblins, witches, ghouls, and even mermaids. These creatures live in absolute secrecy, being forced to appear as human the rest of the year.

The vampire interviewed in the Article stated that "it’s not that I magically transform into a vampire on Halloween night. I’m a vampire all year round, but now I get to really shine, so to speak.” A witch had this to say: "Yes and no. There isn’t a specific age at which Halloween transforms you into this, or a specific ritual that makes you a ‘monster’ (uses air quotes). You’re kind of born like this without knowing, but throughout the years you start to piece together why this night is special to you. You try to be different things and by complete accident you try being the thing you were supposed to be and it’s like nothing you’ve ever felt before. And different folks discover this side of themselves at different times, you can’t really force it. So, to summarize, I guess I’ve always been a witch and now I finally understand this.”

We can infer, by this quote, that all the "monsters" described in the Article appear to be normal humans on days other than Halloween. If they dress up as the monster that they truly are underneath their human "disguise," they will be able to embody their true selves.

An interesting fact to note is that the goblin described in the article was born to human parents. It can be inferred by this that a "monster" can be born to any parent, and that they will have to find a way to raise that child in secret.

The Collective themselves are a group of "monsters" who wish to be able to live as themselves year-round, without "normal" humans fearing or attacking them.

Origins:

The cause for the existence of these "monsters" is unknown, as is the reason why they appear to be human for most of the year. It is possible that this "cloaking" is an evolutionary trait, one meant to protect the "monsters" by allowing them to hide in plain sight.