My love of Halloween started when I was a kid. When I was about ten or eleven, my mother took me to Kmart and bought me a plastic Dracula costume. That Halloween, I went trick-or-treating with a pillowcase and filled it with candy. When I got home, I changed into my Luke Skywalker costume from the year before and went back out for another round. I came home with twice the candy. My mother, of course, inspected it before we could eat it.
My mother was the one who introduced my younger brother David and me to Halloween. We watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Halloween specials, old black-and-white horror films, and Dracula movies. Those memories have stayed with me my entire life.
By middle school, I was already creating stories. My mother brought home scrap paper from work, and I folded it into tiny comic books, writing and drawing tales of horror, science fiction, fantasy, and space adventures. Teachers encouraged my imagination. Dyslexia made spelling difficult, but it never stopped me from wanting to tell stories. Today, technology helps me put those ideas into words.
Vampires always fascinated me, not simply as monsters, but as mysterious, graceful, charming, sometimes seductive immortals who can move unseen through the world. Their powers are extraordinary, but so are their burdens. What does it mean to live forever while everyone you love grows old and dies?
I loved the original black-and-white Dracula, The Lost Boys, other Dracula films, and even Vampire in Brooklyn. Beneath the fangs and darkness, I saw possibilities for stories about loneliness, love, regret, and redemption.
Banners of the Crimson Fist
That fascination eventually became my novel series, Banners of the Crimson Fist.
It began while I was researching my family’s German ancestry and coat of arms. I found an account of an ancestor resisting an oppressive nobleman. He stood on a cart, raised his fist, and said “No.”
That moment sparked something in me. I blended the spirit of defiance with vampires, romance, battles, betrayal, sacrifice, and the consequences of immortality.
The story grew into five books, five acts of a much larger journey. The special family-history prologue appears in the Collector’s Edition. The first act is “Birth of the Beast.”
The books are available on Amazon, but I dreamed of doing more than putting the story on a shelf.
Banners of the Crimson Fist on Amazon
The Birth of Midnight Cathedral
In February 2026, I founded Midnight Cathedral, a theatrical gothic-metal project bringing the world of Banners of the Crimson Fist to the stage.
Imagine a dramatic reading brought to life with original heavy metal songs, characters, narration, Victorian Gothic vampire costumes, a ruined cathedral and castle setting, theatrical lights, and rolling fog.
Alice Cooper’s theatricality, Metallica’s power, and Evanescence’s atmosphere are among the inspirations that helped me imagine the production.
Midnight Cathedral is more than a musical group. It is an original theatrical horror experience where storytelling, music, and visual performance come together.
My brother David is our lead male vocalist, and I am the creator, narrator, and supporting vocalist.
Music has been part of our lives since childhood. I played drums as a teenager, while David sang from an early age. He later performed in a Christian/gospel pop group with singing and dancing.
The group had a recording deal through Warner Brothers/Curb Records, but management and contractual difficulties stalled its future.
Our mother always wanted to see us perform together.
She passed away on May 30, 2014.
Bringing David and me together through Midnight Cathedral means more to me than I can easily explain.
We have our own lives and responsibilities, but now we have this shared experience that I wish our mother could see.
Building a Dream From the Ground Up
This project has required a tremendous amount of work.
I work around fifty hours a week at my regular job, and much of my overtime has gone into building a backyard studio from scratch and paying for music, equipment, lighting, scenery, promotion, and the production itself.
Everyone involved contributes their time and passion.
Andrew, for example, has put extraordinary effort into building our website on his own time and at his own expense.
Our goal is to create a theatrical production where the audience doesn’t simply hear the music. They experience the story.
From the costumes and atmospheric lighting to the original compositions and spoken narration, every element is designed to transport audiences into the world of Banners of the Crimson Fist.
We’re planning our first live performances in Georgia in 2027.
My biggest dream is to bring Midnight Cathedral to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre someday.
Not because I expect fame or riches, but because standing on that stage with my brother and the people who helped create this would mean we accomplished something remarkable together.
The Face of Halloween 2026
I also entered the national Face of Halloween 2026 competition, never expecting to be selected.
To my surprise, I was.
For someone who has loved Halloween since childhood, being part of a national competition celebrating that passion is an incredible experience.
The competition has also given me an opportunity to share my story and introduce people to Midnight Cathedral.
I’m asking supporters to help by voting for free once every 24 hours and sharing my voting page with friends and family.
Every free vote helps.
Face of Halloween 2026: Vote Here
Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this competition.
The Heart and Soul of Midnight Cathedral
This isn’t something I can do alone.
- David is our lead male vocalist and my brother.
- Julie brings our female lead vocals to life.
- Adena embodies the Angel of Death.
- Atanas plays lead guitar.
- Randy contributes rhythm guitar and bass.
- Marty is our drummer.
- Andrew plays keyboards and has devoted so much of his time and talent to our website.
I am grateful for every one of them.
Every person involved brings something unique to this project, and together we’re building something that goes far beyond simply performing songs.
We’re creating a theatrical world filled with original characters, music, storytelling, costumes, and atmosphere.
The Future of Midnight Cathedral
Our first theatrical production, “Act I: Blood of the Black Mountains,” follows the opening act of Banners of the Crimson Fist.
Through twelve original songs and dramatic narration, audiences will experience a Gothic vampire story filled with love, tragedy, darkness, and immortality.
We’re currently developing the music, costumes, stage production, lighting, and visual effects in preparation for our first Georgia performances in 2027.
People interested in our music, theatrical production, books, and upcoming performances can follow our progress through the official Midnight Cathedral website.
Official Midnight Cathedral Website
Listen to Our Music on Spotify
A Lifetime Love of Halloween
Looking back, I never imagined that a simple plastic Dracula mask my mother bought me at Kmart would eventually lead to writing vampire novels, creating original music, and developing an entire theatrical production.
What began with a plastic Dracula mask, a pillowcase full of candy, and my mother’s love of Halloween has become a story, a series of books, and a theatrical metal production that I hope will move audiences.
Halloween has always been more than costumes and candy to me.
It represents imagination, creativity, storytelling, and the wonderful feeling of stepping into another world.
Those childhood memories helped shape who I am today.
And now, decades later, I’m still chasing that same sense of wonder.
Only this time, instead of wearing a plastic Dracula mask, I’m bringing an entire Gothic vampire world to life.
Midnight Cathedral isn’t just my dream anymore.
It’s ours.
Paul Cupstid Foust
Creator, Author, Narrator
Midnight Cathedral
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