Halloween is upon us, a day full of manufactured goose bumps, from spooky costumes to horror-film fests to the Neighborhood Kids Who Just Won’t Quit Ringing the Doorbell.
But recent weeks have given the average adult quite a bit to be jumpy about. This Oct. 31, there seems to be more reason than ever to whistle past the graveyard — or the newspaper rack, take your pick.
It got me curious about what makes the average Coloradan jumpy. So I asked a few people, some who have gone in harm’s way.
The result of this decidedly unscientific survey: While we might not have steel nerves, we aren’t yet peeking through our blinds, knees knocking.
Olmedo Tapia turned 88 on Wednesday. The World War II veteran served as a gunner on an Army halftrack in the Pacific theater. His right side bears a scar from a wound in the Battle of Saipan. These days he walks with a cane.
“What scares me?” he said. “Bad women. No, seriously, I never get scared. Even in combat, I was never scared. If you’re gonna get killed, you’re gonna get killed.”
Gerry Larson of Milliken works for Otis Elevator Co. as a repairman. On Thursday, he was taking his lunch break on the 16th Street Mall.
The dark maw of a 40-story elevator shaft doesn’t bother Larson, but the economy has been on his mind. Still, he was holding fear at arm’s length.
“There’s nothing you can do about it,” he said. “What would you do? Pull all your stocks and bonds? You’ve already lost the money, and what’s left of it might as well be left alone.”
He fired up a Salem cigarette and took a deep tug.
“Hmmm, let’s see,” he said. “Something to be scared of? China calls our debt in and sells it to Mexico for pesos. Now, that’s a scary thought.”
Vicky Day has spent 30 years as a travel agent in downtown Denver. Between her career and general wanderlust, she spends a fair amount of time in the air.
So, what scares her?
“The only honest fear I have is flying,” Day said. “Am I in the wrong business?”
Is it the threat of lost luggage? Missed connections? Lousy food at 35,000 feet?
“It’s the crash-and-burn part that makes me panicky,” she said. Oh, that.
John Haney is a detective in Denver Police District 2. He also co- owns Haney’s Coffee Shop. His fear?
“For the world to go caffeine- free,” Haney said. “But in a serious vein, it would be for the world to lose order. It just seems like little pieces are getting chipped away. And injustice really scares me.”
Paula Cushing chairs the zoology department at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. She is also one of Colorado’s leading spider experts.
So what does someone fond of all things eight-legged fear?
“Gravity,” Cushing said with a laugh. “I don’t downhill ski because I don’t like falling down. But that’s about it.
“When you study things that elicit a lot of fear in people, you tend not to develop much fear yourself.”
Finally, I got in touch with Marty Jones, a popular Denver musician who has spent countless nights under the unforgiving glare of a spotlight.
“Losing my ability to sing and play music, that’s at the top of my fears list,” he said. “One nightmare for me: I get held hostage on the set of ‘Entertainment Tonight,’ where I’m forced to read People magazine, watch hockey fights and drink mass-market beer. To piped in opera music and Brooks & Dunn songs.”
Now, that’s scary.
William Porter’s column runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com.
