What Halloween Means To Me Day 2: Laura Jorgensen

I met today’s contributor standing outside of the historic Plaza Theater after taking in hours upon hours of fright flicks at last years Buried Alive Film Festival.  We bonded over our mutual love of horror.  Well…that and out mutual love of making fun of steampunks.  Ladies and gentlemen, meet Laura Jorgensen.
In addition to her modeling work, Laura is one of the premier writers covering the Atlanta scene.  She writes for The Backstage Beat, a local entertainment website and magazine, but her heart clearly belongs to the undead.  Her passion for the Atlanta horror scene definitely makes her a kindred spirit.  She was featured, alongside yours truly, in the inaugural Atlanta Ghoul Guide.  Her trademark Zombie Marilyn Monroe character is an undead fixture in this city, and can be found at just about every horror event ATL has to offer.  Best of all, this year she becomes an official Halloweiner as she joins SOC, Leah, and Renee Lila Thirdeye For SOC's Halloween Adventure; our record breaking Halloween Night quest to hit 6 haunted attractions in one night!  Lets see what the blood-soaked bombshell has to say…

“Just trying to pin down one reason or a handful of reasons why Halloween rocks is such a daunting task. Where do I start – the abundance of horror movies on tv, Halloween stores popping up all over the place, haunted houses, horror punk music, (fake) blood, zombie walks, or costume parties? I guess it is all of the above, but really, truly, it is the freedom to be whoever or whatever you want to be for the whole month of October. You want to be a zombie? Right on! You always wanted to be a cross-dressing fairytale princess? Cool! You need to let it all hang out and flaunt it? Get yo’ freak on!

October is the only time of year that people will truly appreciate your costume craftiness and character acting. It’s also the only time your freaky, geeky habits will rank as cool with the general public (not that you or I care, but quite frankly I hate dealing with judgmental people) and you can be absolutely anything your brain imagines and heart desires! For me, that is Zombie Marilyn Monroe – combining my love of zombies with the most iconic beautiful blonde bombshell. I love the ultimate freedom that Halloween gives me and other people to be who or whatever they want, and mostly, I just love monsters and gore!

I love Halloween and all of October because it is a 31-day celebration of all things macabre. Whereas with all other 11 months, you have to hunt down your favorite costumes, special effects merch, and makeup, Halloween month offers it up to you on a silver platter. Being an avid horror fanatic, this is the best opportunity to stock up on new gear and meet new fiend friends. The camaraderie and enthusiasm of horror fans is simply electrifying!

Another reason I love Halloween month is that Atlanta has a ton of Halloween events. In Atlanta alone, we have three of the best gruesome haunts – (1) Netherworld – where you can find a chainsaw wielding Son of Celluloid and the best special-effects make-up artistry and animatronics around! Hell, their main SPFX guy, Roy Wooley is kicking some serious ass on SyFy channel’s SPFX reality show Face Off right now; (2) Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse – a real-life zombie apocalypse simulation that includes a special zombie shooting range; and (3) Chamber of Horrors – torture porn at its sickest. We have a big Little 5 Points Halloween Parade and zombie walks or pub crawls all over town. Almost every weekend there are different costume contests in bars, clubs, and/or other venues for prizes. 

Horror punk bands like Gwar, The Casket Creatures, and The Misfits tend to roll through town during October too! For those days you just want to chill, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story will be back on tv. To celebrate the fact that zombies have infiltrated nighttime television – there are The Walking Dead viewing parties and trivia nights at Diesel Filling Station bar/restaurant. For those looking for a bit more culture, Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts has an adult-themed, macabre puppet show, The Ghastly Dreadfuls. On the PG-13 side, Six Flags, roller coaster park, has its “Fright Night” month. Also PG-13, the Georgia Aquarium and Fernbank Museum of Natural History get in on the spooky events too. It’s a magical, wonderful time of year – like Christmas for horror kids and outcasts!   

During all of October, I can be who or whatever I want and it is praised, photographed, and loved. There is no other time of year where I feel this much excitement, pride, appreciation, and love like I do when I am rockin’ my Zombie Marilyn. Horror is my outlet from a horrible, dreary life as a day walking outcast. Horror takes away all the pain and replaces it with the endorphins of fear. Horror makes real life tolerable. I love October and Halloween because it brings me closer to horror, zombies, and the sexiest monsters imaginable. So go on and feed your inner Frankenstein this month, boils and ghouls! Happy haunting!!! xoxo -Zombie Marilyn Monroe”

 24 days ‘til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.  24 days ‘til Halloween, Silver Shamrock.