Creepy True-life
Let us help you rehome your unsettling toys!
Sara Vipond, 43
Walking into the bar, I couldn’t wait for the latest episode to start. My local was hosting a showing of The Walking Dead and of course, it was right up my street.
I was a regular at the bar in Portland, Oregon, USA, and it was there where I met Brian, now 54, way back in 2006.
He’d been working at the bar for a while and we would regularly chat about the latest episode of the show.
We seemed to have a mutual love of horror, but for years he was simply my friendly bartender.
However, in 2018, when the timing was right, things took a romantic turn.
We discovered that not only did we both have a love of horror, but Japanese horror specifically.
Not to mention all the other creepy stuff, too, especially anything paranormal.
Brian had seen similar films to me and everything seemed to just slot into place.
‘Have you seen The Day of the Triffids?’ Brian asked. ‘Of course!’ I laughed. We just got each other. I’d never met anyone else like him in my life!
We both kept creepy stuff in our homes
Soon, I fell head over heels for Brian and we spent a lot of time watching horror movies together while drinking margaritas and eating tacos.
A pro to dating a successful bartender – amazing homemade cocktails and snacks!
That year, we visited the Portland Horror Film Festival for the first time and it was a truly amazing experience.
‘I can’t believe I haven’t been before,’ I admitted.
After that, our relationship went from strength to strength.
Brian met my children Raya, 13, and Triton, 10, and he was amazing with them.
We both had a lot of creepy stuff in our homes. Well, creepy to other people at least.
We loved stuffed plush toys that were a little rough around the edges and we were absolutely fascinated by the macabre.
Whilst we tended to avoid having any demons in our homes, we both thrived when collecting spooky belongings.
‘You know, I think someone should make a business of taking weird toys and giving them to the weirdo community,’ Brian said to me one day.
‘Yeah, that would be very popular!’ I laughed.
At first, it was just a throw away conversation that we laughed off.
Mostly because we were surrounded by unwanted toys that had been given to us by loved ones. Only, afterwards, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Maybe it could be popular? I thought to myself.
And with Brian’s 50ththbirthday coming up – Icould give him the gift of a lifetime. A business! And so I put a plan into place. I built a website and social media pages and had business cards and stickers put together.
I kept the whole thing a secret, and when the business cards were ready, I wrapped
