I have never walked into a space that wasn’t a Queer Bar where I felt like a normal person, except Nightmare Weekend. This convention is where everything unusual is celebrated. A home for the outcasts and weirdos who are drawn to the macabre and obscure. A house of haunting attractions, fashions, and cinematizations of everything horror. My new home away from home.

Nightmare Weekend is a horror-themed convention organized by the privately owned company GalaxyCon. They are widely known for their comic book and anime conventions. This particular con was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center from May 2nd- 4th. It is a traveling convention filled with celebrities, parties, vendors, gaming, cosplay wrestling, scary-oke, and costume contests. Its next destination is Nightmare Weekend Cleveland from August 29th to 31st. It was reasonably priced, with multiple options for pricing like single-day, two-day, and three-day tickets. The best part was the option to volunteer instead of paying for entry.

There were numerous ways to volunteer. A 4-hour shift could get you admission for the day you volunteered, or a 10-hour shift gets you entry for the whole weekend. I am a working girl, so I didn’t have the free time to volunteer for 10 hours, which made me go with the 4-hour option. I volunteered on Friday, May 2, and had some of the most rewarding experiences of the convention during this time. 

My shift began at the Deep Space Boutique, the venue section where the vendors with merchandise sold for audiences 18+ were held. I was in charge of checking IDs before entry, ensuring no minors entered the wild side. After an hour, I was requested to be a celebrity handler, basically the person running the booth for the celebrity. I was assigned to legendary Ghost Hunter Expert Steve Gonsalves and author of the book “A Life With Ghosts.” He was an amazing, charismatic, and intelligent person, making the rest of my volunteering time extremely enjoyable.

I was stationed next to Matt Ryan on my right, the actor of DC Comic Character Constantine, and on my left was Dermot Mulroney, who was one of the latest Ghostface killers in Scream VI. Across from me was Sandy Johnson, who originated the role of Judith Meyers, Michael Meyers’ older sister and very first victim. Lastly, behind me was Vinessa Shaw, who was Allison in the original Hocus Pocus. 

Once relieved of duty, I got to experience the rest of the convention. Sadly, the vendors were closed by the time I got off, but there were still plenty of activities to enjoy for the remainder of the night. Nightmare night one began with a little bit of devilish dancing at the after party hosted by DJ Awesomus Prime. Then I headed over to the Scaryoke lounge and enjoyed the vocal styling of the creepy cosplayers before it was time for GalaxyCon After Dark Presents: Video Nastease, an 18+ Burlesque show. This show was jaw-dropping with performers of all kinds of body positivity, people of color, every kind of gender, and with a campy twist. Each performer had their unique spin on classic horror-related characters that meshed with the perfect balance of sexy and scary to a song equally random and fitting. I left the first night with a carnivorous craving to return on Saturday because there was still so much to experience.

I caved and bought a ticket. Nightmare night two was even more star-studded than the first night. Cassandra Peterson, also known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, was Saturday’s headliner, where she had a meet-and-greet line that never ended. I stood off to the side of the line and stared at her in awe for a good 5 minutes, then walked around to see what other celebrities were there. The other one that was exciting to see was Chandler Riggs, who played Carl Grimes from The Walking Dead, which that show happens to be my white noise when I’m trying to sleep. Another panel I stopped by was Joey D’Auria – Bozo the Clown – where he worked as the most famous clown for about 15 years with admitting to having no clowning experience. Our boy Bozo gave the famous advice for working in the entertainment industry, “remember kids, it’s not what you know but who you know. So be nice.”

There were easily over 50 vendors selling horror merchandise, anime merchandise, video games, personal arts and crafts, and so much more. There was hope to get to see them after all. Hands down, the best thing I bought was a thirst trap of Waluigi from the Super Mario games that this artist from Instagram drew. It just spoke to me. Honestly, that was the vibe of most of the stuff I bought because where else can you get that brilliantly thought-out style of art? Not Hobby Lobby, that’s for sure.

Now we are entering one of the best parts of Nightmare Night two, Fantasy Super Cosplay Wrestling! This was an epic show of solo wrestling matches of Fred Jones – from Scooby Doo – versus John Carver – slasher character from Thanksgiving (2023), winner Fred Jones. Michonne versus Neegan from The Walking Dead; they had zombies crash their match too, but Michonne came out on top. Next was the tag team matches, and first up was Art the Clown and The Little Pale Girl from Terrifier 2 versus Wednesday Adams and Uncle Fester, you already know Wednesday and Fester came through with the win. The most entertaining match was next up, these actors embodied the characters they were cosplaying, it’s Tucker and Dale from Tucker & Dale vs Evil, wrestling against legendary slasher icons Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. The winners were Tucker & Dale. If you have never seen that movie, I highly recommend it if you are looking for a campy laugh.

The time of The Nightmare Weekend Costume Contest has crept upon us, and the winning grand prize is $2000. The creativity came from the depths of the Black Lagoon. The artistic techniques of costume construction these contests possessed were truly unearthly. I think my jaw was left on the floor once all of the participants presented their pieces on stage. Every detail was truly to die for. 

I have never left somewhere feeling so inspired to follow my dreams. I’ve been keeping a horror-themed podcast in my back pocket for some time now. However, after going to this convention, I’m marking my words right here and right now, I will be there again, but as a special guest. It may not be next year, but within the years to come. Catch me at Nightmare Weekend presenting you the spookiest scoop on some thrilling and heart-pumping adventures.