From The Editors: October 28, 2015

“Monster” Mark Kosobucki

Okay. Erie misses the boat on some things. But squeezing every last celebratory drop out of each season surely isn't one of them.

So to honor our homegrown Halloween hysteria, we invited "Monster" Mark Kosobucki to run wild with this issue's cover, harking back to old school pulp horror comics. And in his first feature for the Reader, Matt Swanseger takes us on a whimsically historical journey through some of the lesser-known haunts of Erie County.

Halloween's roots, meanwhile, can be traced to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. However, the modern interpretation — with its wearing of fishnets and mainlining of sugar — shares little with its ancestor. Nevertheless, traditional Samhain celebrations continue globally to honor the cycles of nature, the end of the harvest, and the transition of life into death.

Similarly, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is celebrated Nov. 1 throughout Latin America and increasingly in the U.S. The holiday is an opportunity to honor loved ones who have died, and to recognize life's fleeting nature.

Beyond Halloween's gleefully gaudy ghoulishness is the season's reminder of our own connection to nature's rhythms, and the simple acknowledgement that — all trials and tribulations aside — we're pretty damned lucky to be here.

We had a lot of fun with this issue and hope you do, too, however you choose to celebrate the season.