HorrorHound Columbus Convention photos by Jayme Russell and Ike Oden
It is an agonizing struggle just to sit up at my desk. Where I once typed a fast and fluid 80 words per minute, I have devolved to pecking at my keyboard in what feels like slow motion with stiffened, sore fingers. My thoughts are drifting in and out of consciousness as I struggle to stay sane, self-medicating my body with alternating rounds of aspirin, coffee, beer, and whiskey. It will be a physical and mental struggle to recount the events that occurred over the weekend of March 23rd through 25th, 2012, in Columbus, Ohio. I am bound and determined, however, to give a detailed account, if only to give fans a glimpse at the shock, terror, and degeneracy that occurred at Horroround Weekend, Columbus.
Friday – March 23, 2012
First of all, it was my first convention experience. Ever. Part of this is due to monetary reasons; conventions are, first and foremost, cash parasites that suck away all manner of currency from your wallet in exchange for food, drinks, housing, art, DVDs, merchandise, and autographs. As a fresh-faced freelance writer I’m not exactly rolling in greenbacks. Until Horrorhound, the nearest conventions to me were in Louisville, Kentucky, and Strongsville, Ohio – locations just barely out of a convenient, affordable range.
It seemed serendipitous that Horrorhound decided to relocate their spring 2012 convention to Columbus, Ohio’s Crowne Plaza North (seen above) – a scant two hours away from my home in Athens. With housing arrangements made and spending money secured, my lady life partner Jayme (a fellow writer, photographer, and horror fan) and I embarked on a three-day journey into the heart of horror fandom with no idea what we were getting into.
We arrived Friday at around 5:00 p.m., when the convention was first kicking off. While Jayme was forced to languish in a winding line to the ticket desk, I was escorted to the front of a line for my press pass. Like a boss. Rather than do the right thing and patiently wait for my girlfriend to traverse the growing queue of fellow Horrorhounds, I did what any self-respecting, self-indulgent man-child would: gleefully explore the horror convention on my own.
Find out what Ike discovered on his own without his one and only after the break…
