I find that my idea of what Halloween smells like is very much demographically driven :) For me, Halloween smells like sweet, earthy piles of decomposing magnolia leaves, magnolia flower petals and magnolia seed pods. Especially the seed pods. They are very odd looking things, that just seem to belong to the fall/Halloween season and the actual seeds in them emit a very distinct scent when they are crushed.
I remember stepping on the red squishy things when I was younger, just so that I could get a strong whiff of that scent. I also remember stepping on the spiny pods themselves, which was not pleasant in any kind of way... I also remember my brother and his friends using them as weapons... oh how diverse the uses for these things were!
But I digress, I really miss that scent. I live further north of where I used to live, pre-hurricane Katrina, and there aren't very many magnolia trees at all.
The other Halloween scent that I distinctly remember is that of all the old paper decorations that my dad would pull out of the attic every year. It also had a very distinct smell, almost like a library. I remember opening up the old, taped and re taped boxes and inhaling the scent of the contents deeply. The smell was an aromatic memory trigger, just waiting bring back images of past Halloweens :)
Now, Halloween smells like clove candles and paint and Froggy's fog in "Gothic" scent :) It's a nice new heady combination. But, if a candle company could ever recreated those magnolia scents, I'd go broke buying as many as I could :)
So, what does Halloween smell like to you? I'm very interested to hear everyone's responses :)
Happy Haunting!
