Each year, near the middle of October, strange figures start appearing in the front yards of suburban homes that are otherwise unremarkable. Foreboding tableaux of skeletons and graveyards, ghosts and ghouls, or an occasional witch, greet neighbors and passersby alike. Such lawn ornamentation has become almost as popular as jack o’ lanterns and trick-or-treating.
Yet on a recent morning walk I happened to see one of these displays with fresh eyes. For as I paused to gaze at three skeletons, dressed in bright clothes and seemingly having a good time, a sentence spontaneously took shape in my mind: “Halloween helps us deal with our subliminal fears.”
I keep skeletons in my closet, I suddenly realized. Hidden safely away from my day-to-day awareness, in other words, is the visceral knowing that beneath the surface features of each person that I know and love and meet — and beneath my own features as well — is a skeleton! During Halloween season, however, all my underlying anxieties about death come out of the closet, so to speak, and I’m given potent reminders that, very soon, my bones will no longer be clothed with flesh.
Below are a few more portraits of skeletons, and of several other creatures who dwell in the closeted underworld of our collective imagination. See where they take you. If you’re so inclined, share what you find in the comments section that follows this post.
Light Morning 
ashes to ashes, dust to dust, with loving transformational intent