Back in December 2012, I wrote up five things I learned from horror movies on Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog. I added a bonus six one from a personal story: Don't laugh at guys with chainsaws. Julie Flanders was curious about the story, so I thought it would be perfect for October's purrsonal stories.

When I was eight, several friends, their parents, and I went to Dixie Caverns' haunted cave. Two sisters, let's call them Denise and Mary as they are the very ones from Once Upon a December Nightmare, their parents, their cousin Cathy (not her real name), and I arrived there a weekend night before Halloween. We toured the gift shop and bought our tickets.

Then, we stood outside the gaping cave entrance for what felt like an hour before we were allowed inside.

Spooky music and the cool cave air surrounded us. We walked in a huddle with our group. Lights sparked to our left. A creepy cackle echoed farther away. Ghouls and goblins groaned. We continued on. Step by step. Scary attraction by scary attraction. Except I wasn't really scared. Cathy and I started to find the "spooky" sets more funny than terrifying.

Then, we came upon a man with a chainsaw.

Our own laughter cackled as we taunted the man. We said things like, "You're not real." and "You don't scare me." We were two eight year old girls, and we were mocking a dude with a chainsaw.

I guess he had enough. He pulled the cord, and the chainsaw roared to life.

As he ran toward us, our laughter died away and we darted behind a woman we didn't even know. We crouched down, so he wouldn't spot us. After all, the chainsaw could've been a tad more real than we once thought.

We were much more subdued when we finished with the haunted cave too.

That's why, folks, you should never laugh at a man with a chainsaw.