Richard was a big fan of Halloween. So we had to do a little decorating around his tombstone.

One tradition at our church has been a Halloween party for the kids. As part of this celebration there was often a haunted house – if there were enough older kids to run it.

When Richard was in Youth Group there was never a problem getting a crew for the haunted house. He loved running the haunted house.

Among the stuff still in Richard’s room are his props for Halloween. There is the ragged Dallas Cowboys t-shirt. Full of holes, with no sleeves, and adorned with dried fake blood, he wore it for years. There is all his makeup for creating cuts and bruises. And his big bottle of “blood.”

And of course the big plastic skeleton. He had it for years. It’s gotten in pretty bad shape. Richard had to duct tape it back together in several places.

I wanted to take it to the cemetery and sit it up against the headstone. But I didn’t want someone to come along and steal it.

There was no haunted house planned for this years church party.

But it would be really cool if Richard showed up and staged one of his own. A real haunted house this time.

With one very special ghost.