I met Jason Voorhees and lived to tell about it

Scott Powell (spowell@gaffneyledger.com) covers education issues for The Gaffney Ledger. There he was. The man of my teenage nightmares in the flesh.

The 6 foot, 3 inch, 230-pound muscular man seated at the table wearing black sleeveless gloves seemed at ease with the world Friday evening as he shook hands and signed autographs. I nervously approached the table and introduced myself to Kane Hodder, the stuntman turned actor who played the villain "Jason" so memorably in the last four "Friday the 13th" movies.

Hodder was a nice guy. He told jokes and was more than willing to play along with requests from fans for a photo of "Jason" acting like he was going to choke one of their friends.

Hodder autographed an 8 x 10 photo for me of the hockey masked villain bursting through the door wielding an ax in a pivotal scene from the climax of "Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood." Written on the photo in silver ink are the words: "Scott, You're Next. Kane Hodder, 'Jason.'"

Hodder was one of many actors and actresses available in the celebrity room for autographs and pictures throughout the "Horrorfind" weekend I attended March 2-3 in Towson, Maryland. This was an early birthday present for my 35th birthday.

An hour after getting his autograph, I found out the "Jason" actor was staying just two floors upstairs from my hotel room!

I am really glad "Jason" is played by an actor whose a nice guy. Otherwise, I might not be here to write this right now.

I now have the dubious honor of having made the list for three of the most memorable horror movie villains from the last 20 years.

My autograph collection at home also includes signed photos by the actors who played Freddy Krueger and Pinhead in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Hellraiser" horror movie series.

Freddy's autograph arrived via actor Robert Englund's home business postmarked from Elm Street in 2004.

"Scott, Die Slow Punk. 'Freddy Rules,' Robert Englund" is written on a closeup of Freddy Krueger in full makeup giving me the evil eye. "Scott, See You in Hell" is the greeting on my photo signed by Doug Bradley, the actor who played the villain Pinhead in eight "Hellraiser" movies.

I later watched Bradley read selections from his book on masked movie villains and then perform scenes from a one act play he has performed in London.

At a seminar, I learned from a guy nicknamed "Gravedigger" how to turn wine racks into tombstones.

Evening convention activities on Friday included a late night showing of the original "Hellraiser" movie and "Scaryoake" where convention attendees stood up in front of hundreds to perform popular scary songs. Members of the convention staff performed the theme from "Ghostbusters."

Another author did a great version of a Snoop Dog rap song. Although I hate rap music, I was sufficiently impressed that I got up early to hear the author read a chapter from his unpublished book "Cabal."

I met lots of new friends that share my enjoyment of scary movies, haunted houses, Scarowinds and other frightful Halloween fun.

I spent two hours talking to a Southwest Airlines stewardess who spent a vacation last fall touring Transylvania to see Dracula's lair. I joined the makers of a scary teddy bear line on a walk across the hotel parking lot for a late night dinner of steamed oysters and Maryland crab cakes. I watched several scary movies.

It is hard sometimes for me to reconcile my fascination of watching scary movies and reading Stephen King books with my natural tendency to want to see the good in people. Even in make-believe movie worlds, I think seeing good people triumph over evil leaves me with the hope of being able to overcome when confronted with trials in my own life.

At least "Jason" is played by a nice guy.