31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 11

OK, OK... I know this one's a stretch.

This isn't necessarily Halloween related. To the normal person.

I, however, have never been what - by any reasonable definition - what one would call normal.

So bear with me while I make a weird, makes-sense-only-in-my-mind connection between today's t-shirt and the 31 Days of Horror T-Shirts.

You see, the shirt today was from a movie that I'm certain many here know and love. And, to me, it encapsulates the wonder and magic of childhood. It captures the same feeling of longing and anticipation I felt for Halloween every year. I love this movie.

I'm talking about the sublimely awesome 80's movie - The Goonies.

How I longed to be a goonie. I grew up in Willowick and lived 8 houses from the southern shore of Lake Erie. Myself and my friends, in emulation of Mouth, Chunk, Data, and Mikey; spent a not inconsiderable part of our youth trying to find caves and hidden treasure in the muddy cliffs of the lake shore. Sadly, alas, we never found any caves in the cliffs. Or any pirate ships for that matter.

And, if you think about it, this movie had some pretty horrifying moments. From the cruelty and implied torture of the Fratelli's, to the dead body in the ice cream freezer, to the deformed and grotesque Sloth - this movie was chock full of horror related visuals. It had pirates, skeletons, and spooky caverns too!

Like I said, I think The Goonies is one of those movies that - for me at least - has that same sense of adventure and amazement that typifies childhood. And that's the same thing I love about Halloween. Some of my fondest memories from childhood involved the lead up to Halloween and the trick or treating, much as my other fond memories involved exploring the Lake Erie shore and playing down at 'Shit Creek' with my buddies. Shit Creek, by the way, was the outlet of a creek that ran under Shoregate Shopping Center and poured out in a wooded area on the Lake Erie shore near Cresthaven Drive. There was a real cave there, man-made, but a cave nonetheless. It just smelled really, really bad!

So, horror t-shirt? I say yes. And, since its my blog, I say it is! Thhbbbtt!

Goonies never say die!