I would like to report a crime.
Someone has stolen Halloween.
I am not sure how and when it happened or who exactly is the perpetrator of this crime. 
I do know the celebration that once was does not exist with the same passion any more.
Gone are the devils, ghosts,wolf-men,witches,wizards and warlocks. 
Freddie,Jason,Michael,and Leatherface?
Gone.
Scream is what people do at each other now a days.
Some how some body has actually figured out how to kill zombies because quite frankly, I have yet to see on this year.
I just got back from my morning bus run. 
I drove through at least a dozen towns in northern Bergen County. 
Here it is the morning after cabbage night, or goosey night or mischief night or what ever you may have called it growing up,and I did not see 1 piece of toilet paper hanging from a tree. Not one car was egged or covered in shaving cream. 
There were no old shoes hanging from the wires overhead.
I even heard a news report that silly string has actually bee banned in some areas.
What has happened to Halloween?
What has happened to fun?
When did the entire country become so afraid to get dressed up in a scary costume?
When did we become so sensitive that any attempt at humor is frowned upon as politically incorrect?
I can remember a costume design meeting a few years ago. 
We sat around a picnic table and through out ideas. Every thing from scary to silly to funny to racey to off color . I remember someone asking"okay, did we go to far on that one?". Each time that question was asked the answer was the same.
"It's Halloween.......nothing is offensive!"
Sadly, that is no longer the case. 
Sadly, today everything is offensive. 
Sadly we can no longer laugh at ourselves, never mind each other.
 Sadly,it's true. 
Some one has stolen Halloween.
Some one has stolen fun.
It makes me sad.