nce upon a midnight dreary, he pledged his love so true and deary. With scary costumes worn at the scene, he married his wife on Halloween.

Rob Moyzan wedded his sweetheart, Becky and 12 years later, Ryan Kubishin took the hand of Amy, his bride. Both marriages took place on Oct. 31.

Add Ed and Darlene Arfken of Kunkletown to that list of couples who chose Halloween as their wedding day. The Arfkens are celebrating their 15th anniversary today.

Attraction to the dark side

Becky’s fascination with the night in which the dead come back to life and terrifying things keep children awake in their beds, began when her parents said no to her wearing scary costumes or watching horror movies.

“They did let me be the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz one year, but I was pretty much sheltered from anything that might make me afraid,” she said. Nevertheless, Becky grew up to embrace the fear factor that she found in her favorite horror movie, the original “Halloween.”

On the other hand, her husband, Rob’s family in Lehighton “went all out” to be afraid.

“We watched horror movies together,” he said. “I really liked “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th horror flicks.”

Asked if watching these movies kept him up at night when he was a child, he said with a laugh.

“I was afraid to stay in my bed for a few nights where something might get me, so I slept on the floor.”

Amy Kubishin fell in love with Halloween when she was a child.

“I loved the movie, “Poltergeist” with all the spooky and mysterious horrors in the house. On Halloween, I was dressed as a vampire, a witch, or a devil.”

When Amy met Ryan, it was a perfect match for two people who loved the mayhem of the macabre.

“We’re really into the ghost hunting TV shows, going to haunted houses, or anything about the paranormal,” said Ryan, who still likes to wear vampire teeth every now and then just for fun.

Weddings of Weirdness

Becky had met Rob at the Blue Comet Bar and Grill in Glenside and once she accepted his proposal, they decided to get married on Halloween. They found an old “creepy” barn in Lynfield for their reception. On Oct. 31, 2008, she wore a tattered wedding dressed and he was attired in a torn tuxedo. Both the dress and the suit were splattered with “blood” stains.

“My father arranged for a funeral hearse to drive us to the barn. We also hired a fire breather for special effects,” she said. “About 200 people attended our reception and most were dressed in costumes. A band played punk rock and psychobilly music which went along with the theme.”

When masks were required in public during the pandemic, Amy and Ryan Kubishin fit right in with the crowd. On their wedding day on Oct. 31, 2020, she wore a black dress and painted her nails the same color. Ryan was a vampire and their friend dressed as a Gothic vampire to officiate their wedding at the Hickory Run Chapel in White Haven. At the reception, their theme was enhanced by a fire juggler and a sword swallower, recreating a Victorian haunting experience.

Thriller chiller

Amy and her husband used to adorn their yard in Albrightsville with a witch’s cauldron, a grave yard, a creepy girl hanging from a tree, and a large spider web.

At Halloween in Jim Thorpe, she has dressed like Maleficent, an evil Disney Princess and Ryan has been a psychotic clown who scared neighborhood kids with a loud air horn.

Inside their home, she keeps a curio cabinet with a display of large insects, an alligator’s head, and other weird stuff.

“We live in an old house where an 80-year-old woman used to be and sometimes we hear footsteps,” Amy said. “We think it’s OK to be scared by something that is not real. We just laugh it off.”

Becky Moyzan likes the adrenalin rush she gets watching horror movies that have special effects and Rob enjoys them as well. “It’s just an opportunity to step out of reality into a fantasy world that’s more appealing to us than reading or watching fairy tales.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

For the Moyzans and the Kubishins, what goes bump in the night, or what opens a squeaky door, is just another scary delight that reminds them when they pledged their love on Halloween night.

Married by Stephen King

The Arfkens got married in the Allentown Rose Garden on Halloween.

“To top it off we were married by a Rev. “Stephen King!” said Darlene, who lives in Kunkletown with her husband Ed.

“I go over the top every year, not only decorating but we try to do trunk or treats for the kids. We always try to dress up as couples,” she said.

Two years ago they did a grave yard photo shoot as Beetlejuice and Lydia with Madcat Photography.

“We hope to do a huge masquerade vow renewal in the near future if funds would ever work in our favor,” she said.

Ghosts and more

Julie Yost enjoys decorating her home on Horseshoe Drive in Palmerton for her daughter’s Halloween birthday.

“We have a little of everything for Halloween,” Yost said. “Blow ups on the ground and in the windows, a cemetery, a large spider web with a spider, Frankensteins, a dragon cat and window decorations.”

To do this, they start at the end of September. “It usually takes us a week to get everything up and plugged in,” she said.

“We have lived in many different houses over the years but we always have decorated for all the holidays.”