People like candles for lots of different reasons; collectables, decoration, and of course the fragrant smells that permeate rooms when candles are lit. Way back when, certain townsfolk used torches to hunt down and kill Frankenstein’s Monster, and set fire to his castle. Then they used candles.

When they got back home they lit candles in their houses and placed them in the windows to keep him at bay, just in case he’d escaped the inferno. Which everybody knows he did.

Nowadays we don’t have too many monsters on the loose; unless of course you count the one’s that’ll be knocking on your door demanding candy in a couple of days. But around the holiday season, many of us still place lit candles in windows, unaware of the danger a tipped over candle could cause: burnt clothing, a house ablaze, or even something much worse – a death.

Real candles lit in the window are truly a scary thought. A candle in the window or an unattended candle anywhere in the house is something us grownups should avoid. All candles should be used only with adult supervision. It’s a rule everyone needs to remember, especially if you have little monsters running around.

Back on Flamingo Street I wish we had such a rule. If we did, maybe I wouldn’t still have a scar on my right hand. Then again, the candle that burned me and sent me screaming off to Doc Jim’s emergency room some 42 years ago wasn’t even lit. Just how did I receive second-degree burns from an unlit candle? This one you’re not gonna believe. I don’t, and I was there.

The plan was simple: Big Brother James had decided to make Mom a candle for her birthday that was three days away, Oct. 25. He said all we needed was wax, a string for a wick, and some kind of mold.

Twin Brother Mark and I ran around the house collecting all the candles we could find. We collected red ones, green ones, black ones and the real pretty white ones in the china cabinet. They were from Germany and mom and dad had never used them. We even got all the smell-good ones that mom had placed all over the house. Guess back then, Dad smelled too.

Into the kitchen we proudly marched with all the candles we had collected and gave them to Big Brother James. He had placed a large pot on the stove and started to melt the candles one by one. After they melted, Older Brother Richard reached in with a fork and fished out all of the string wicks. He placed them aside on a plate, and then picked out the best one for mom’s candle.

When all of the candles were melted, and the wax started to bubble, it was time to find a container for mom’s birthday candle. That’s when James had the bright idea to use a drinking glass.

He gave it to me to hold and said, “Just hold the glass with one hand. And make sure no wax gets on the counter, hold your other hand underneath it. That way, if any wax spills, it’ll spill on your hand and not the counter. Mom will be really mad if we get wax on her counter.”

I looked at him and shook my head. I was only 6, but I wasn’t stupid. He said, “Don’t worry if any wax spills; it’ll cool off before it hits your hand.”

Guess what? Wax that’s 200 degrees doesn’t cool off at all when it spills over the edge of a water glass. In fact, when the glass is full of hot wax and it shatters and all of the wax that dumps onto your hand – it’s still about 200 degrees.

When James poured the wax, the glass broke, just as mom and dad came through the kitchen door. They were returning from their blissful time grocery shopping without any kids. In an instant, they scanned the room and knew just what to do. I was jumping around screaming, and mom grabbed me and held my hand under cool water. James dropped the pan and ran from Dad. Still holding the wick, Richard ran after him.

Mark went with us to Doc Jim’s. All the way telling Dad what had happened and professing that he had nothing to do with it. He left out the fact that he was the one who melted the white candles from Germany. The candles they had bought on their honeymoon.

That was the first year of many that mom had not a pretty candle for her birthday, but a scary candle mold of my hand for Halloween. Each year we set it in the window. It was so scary that Frankenstein never came around our house.

I must admit, even though now I’m a fireman, we still use candles. Not for illumination, in windows, or on a Christmas tree. That would be too dangerous. We use UL-approved electric candles for window and Christmas tree decorations.

Nope, we use real candles for the smells they give off. That’s why we have lots of candles in our new house. The Wife makes me light them because of the smells I give off.

Have a happy and safe Halloween and if you’re driving around with your little monsters, watch out for all the others walking in the neighborhood. They might not be wearing reflective strips on their clothing — another good safety rule to remember.

And if you happen upon a really big monster, wondering aimlessly around with a flat head and bolts in his neck – tell him something for me. We have UL-safe candles in every window. And if that’s not enough to keep him away, The Wife will light all the smell-good ones.

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