Playing hooky & terrifying ramS

‍So today, we have a couple of stories. Both are some of the earliest memories I have with my dad—not so much funny stories, but important moments in shaping our relationship.

We’ll start with the “Ram” story.

My dad loved reminding me of this one a lot, so maybe that’s why it is burned into my memory. It’s also what started me into loving all things horror.

We were driving home from my grandparents’ house, and I believe it was my mom, dad, Matt, Adam, and me. We drove by the Century Sportsmen’s Club Haunted Hayride in Auburn, and I begged my parents to stop. Well, Matt and Adam were not about it, so we turned around, brought them back to my grandparents’ house, and my mom and dad brought me to the hayride.

I don’t remember much of the actual hayride, but I remember loving every second of it. My dad picked up on the excitement in me, and when we got home, he ordered tickets to Spooky World.

Spooky World was a haunted amusement park that was only around for September and October, and it was right next to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. So the following weekend, my parents brought me to Spooky World.

At first, I loved it. The costumes, the haunted houses—every second of it, I soaked it all in.

And then the Ram guy walked by.

I’m not sure why, but I completely lost it. I started crying. I couldn’t move. I had to stand in the corner because something about a giant ram guy just did me in.

Dracula? Fine.

Frankenstein’s monster? No problem.

The Wolfman? Totally okay.

But a man dressed as a ram? Absolutely not.

I think the Ram guy picked up on how terrified I was, and since it was Spooky World, he kept following us around. I couldn’t handle it.

Well, my dad went up to him and asked him to stop following us—and he did.

Now, seven-year-old Joe thought my dad was the biggest, bravest guy on the planet for being able to talk down a Ram man. I think it was the first day I remember thinking that my dad was my hero.

In typical Andy fashion, he never let me hear the end of it.

Another one of my earliest memories comes just a few years later.

Brendan Fraser was one of the biggest action stars of the time, and my dad had shown me the 1999 movie The Mummy. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorite movies. Between Brendan Fraser defeating mummies and Billy Zane as The Phantom, I think I watched those two films on repeat for a few years.

But I digress.

With the success of the first Mummy film, they greenlit The Mummy Returns. On May 4, 2001, it was released. At the time, my dad was freelancing, so he made his own schedule.

I don’t know what day of the week it was, but I was in second grade when I got a call that I was being dismissed from school. My immediate thought was, “Oh no, not another dentist appointment.”

I walked down to the office and saw my dad waiting for me.

He asked if I was good to go, and I sadly said, “Yes.”

We got in the car, and he told me that we were playing hooky to go see The Mummy Returns.

I lit up like a jack-o’-lantern.

I got to skip school to go to the movies!

We went, I of course loved it, and I’ll never forget that day. He knew how much I wanted to see that movie and how exciting it would be to skip out on class for a few hours.

It was one of the earliest—and best—days I had with him.