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What SCARES You? (An Open Thread Discussion of Fear.)

We're getting spooky this week.

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Did you know Minneapolis City Hall is famously haunted by the ghost of John Moshik, a convicted murderer who was hanged there in 1898? Also, the ideas coming outta some of these politicians are pretty scary, amiright?

Greetings. Dr. Boller* here, scribbling in my notebook as you lay on a chaise lounge: What scares you? (*Mr. Boller is not a doctor; he graduated from a state school with a worthless journalism degree—Ski-U-Mah!)

As we careen spookily into the Halloween weekend, let's chat about scary stuff in the broadest and/or most specific senses. What stirs your existential dread (climate change, income inequality, creeping neofascism)? What phobias grip you (ablutophobia, coulrophobia, or, god forbid, samhainophobia)? What Minnesota locations "give" haunted "aura" (Glensheen Mansion, the Soap Factory, Cuzzy's)? Or, on a much lighter note, what sorts of frightening media do you enjoy (Rosemary's Baby, Stephen King, the Misfits discography)?

If these very prompts are giving you the heebie-jeebies, don't sweat it! This is your Friday Open Thread, so talk about whatever the hell (place the Devil lives, very scary) you'd like.

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