and black cats are seen,

the moon laughs and whispers,

'tis near Halloween.

—Author unknown

Francis Hodgson Burnett, the author of the lovely book "The Secret Garden" observed, "I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us."

I will say there really is a difference between dealing with " black magic" and "make-believe magic." Most of us wouldn't be caught near a Ouija board, at least anyone I would want to hang around with. Those are not items to mess with.

I know others will differ, but for me, even movie trailers or clips about things of the occult — or any type of supernatural movies — scare me to death.

It chills my spine just looking at Stephen King, let alone reading one of his books. I guess I just have an overactive imagination.

But Washington Irving is another story. "The Legend of Sleep Hollow" is just good Halloween fun.

Irving lived and wrote in Tarrytown, N.Y., which is not far from Greenwich, Conn., where we lived many years.

The supernatural can be scary and hard for young children to comprehend.

When our son, Tom, was about 12, he and his friends would watch Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video over and over.

Our youngest son, Jim, was only 3 at the time — and I kept him away and busy when the boys were watching.

Unfortunately, one day, Jim, who was curious about the music, slipped by me for just a minute and caught a glimpse of Michael Jackson just as he was morphing into a werewolf.

No matter what logic we used to try to convince him otherwise, his little mind just couldn't grasp the fact that the werewolf wasn't a real creature — his eyes told him otherwise.

Jim slept near our bed for quite a while.

Our 5-year-old neighbor, Johnny, has always been spooked by the life-size ghoul or cackling witch that talks as you walk past.

His mother even wrote a letter to Costco asking them to please not put one up this year so she could buy groceries because, even though she has told him differently, Johnny still thinks the plastic figures are alive.

Having lived in the East for so many years, it amazes me how elaborate some people get with their decorations here in Utah.

It does become magical when we dress up for All Hallow's Eve. Since moving to Utah my friend, Elouise Jensen, lends me a witch costume each year, which I appreciate.

I am the witch of the north end, and she is the witch of the south end of our street.

Across the way, two of our neighbors dress up and put loud haunted-house music peppered with "The Monster Mash" and other Halloween specialties on a loudspeaker. It makes for a pretty good scene.

On. Nov. 1, all the make believe is gone, just memories and kids suffering from stomachaches from eating too much candy.

E-mail: sasyoung2@aol.com