Horror-Inspired Tattoos

We're all horror lovers, right? So, it's natural for us to find ways to express it. Sometimes, we like to do it visually so everyone seeing us, can see what we're into. For some, it's wearing black and black nail polish, for others it's a nose piercing or eyebrow piercing, for yet more, it's a permanent expression--a tattoo.


When I was considering my tatt, I knew one thing-I wanted just one tatt. It had to be symbolic, it had to personify all that is me, all my elements, and also make a statement because I felt having more than one tatt would take away from my message and muddy the waters of what was ME.


I was going to do a Jack O'Lantern and also considered a lady in white traditional ghost outside some cemetery gates, then a Green Man symbol and ultimately asked myself--what is really me in the most basic form? Autumn. It always came down to the colors, tastes, smells, feels, and Halloween. Nothing says autumn more than a leaf. A changing leaf, in my colors since I only wear yellow, green, orange and brown. Everything cherished, amazing and beautiful, tasty, exciting and arousing happens in autumn!


So, you love horror, want a horror tatt, but what do you get? Well, you can shock the hell out of people, or you can say "I like the creepy, the gothic." Castles, cemetery gates, ghosts and bats are all classic gothic elements. Then, there's love of horror movies in which you can have characters from your favorites from Leatherface to Chucky.


Tatts are not just permanent, they within a glance tell people not only what we value, but our very taste. I remember seeing a man with a full sleeve that was all colorless black and white looking and very complex. It was so complex, that I tried not to look too closely, but couldn't help staring and staring and staring, hoping to capture one element in it. When he saw me looking too long, he sighed angrily, lifted his sleeve and I came over and examined it and still the image was so complex, I could not make out the elements. He pointed to parts of it. "That's my dad's car coming down the winding road and there's the Psycho house at the top of the hill and there's a lady in the window and a gargoyle on the roof." He snorted and shoved his sleeve down. "Jeez!" He snarled. I still couldn't see it. No matter what his intentions were, the execution was so horrendous that the point was lost on all viewers. Only he could interpret it. And, it showed a certain level of bad technique in his whole life. There is message and then there is execution. This is, after all, supposed to be ART.


I'm curious if any of you have considered having a horror tatt to show your life-long love.


If you were to get one, what do you think would say it all--if you could just have one tatt?


I'm curious to hear.