Well, come on. Are you surprised? It’s Halloween after all. Naturally I would want to flash back to the epic video, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. I have to tell you, I was young when that came out. I loved him, and had heard the song eight million times, so of course I wanted to see the video. My mother was apprehensive about letting me see it, but finally gave in because OH MY GOD, I didn’t want to go to school the next morning and be the only one who hadn’t seen it.

So I watched Mikey turn into a werewolf, I watched him sing and dance in his tight red leather jacket while reassuring his girlfriend (the woman with the world’s biggest eyes) that there was nothing to be afraid of, and then watched him turn into a zombie and get jiggy with a cemetery full of the undead.

Awesome! I loved every second of it, thought it was incredible, and laughed off my mom’s worries.

Then I went to bed and laid there with my bedside lamp blazing, terrified out of my mind. It took me three nights before I could fall asleep easily. Oops. Give me a break though. I was eight. What was my mother thinking, letting me watch scary shit like that?! (Just kidding, Mom!)

Anyway, I looked all over YouTube and I can’t find any full length clips of Thriller that allow you to embed directly (boo!) so here’s a link instead. I love watching it as much as I did then, I’m just not scared now when I watch it. I mean, Michael Jackson scares me for many reasons, but being a funky dancing zombie is not one of them.

You should also know that my friend Tanya Callendar (hi Tanya, hope you find me if you ever Google yourself, I miss you!) and I spent hours in my living room, watching, studying, rewinding, and studying some more until we had memorized and totally perfected the entire dance routine. Seriously. Tanya and I were badass.

However, despite being unable to embed the actual video here, I did actually find one of the coolest things ever. A group of groomsmen at a wedding surprised everyone by acting out the dance scene in the middle of their reception party. It is hilarious.

They’re not the best dancers ever, but the concept is there, and honestly if a group of people busted out with the crazy zombie dancing to Thriller at my wedding, I would be ecstatic.

Also, you’ve surely seen this, but watching 1500 inmates dance perfectly to Thriller in their prison yard never ever gets old.

Happy Halloween!