Halloween...back then

[Susan]

Ode to Halloween:

I grew up with basic fundemental knowledge that nothing was more sacred and holy than getting one night a year to take candy from strangers, stay up late, watch movies I wasn't supposed to and dress in cheaply sewn costumes made at home. Porches back then weren't decorated with lawn art of pumpkin lights strung on bushes or country craft art staked into the ground. Those who did decorate did so with taste, with severed hands and skeletons dangling from a noose, cobwebs and blacklights. And in some instances it would be tradition to scare the crap out of kids by chasing them, or having a spouse dressed in some god-awful mask leap out from behind the door and snatch your hand.

It was right around the time of all the rumors of candy poisoning that fueled public hysteria, but we lived in close-nit neighborhoods where everyone knew eachother. As the sun went down the anticipation rose, pumpkins begin being lit on porches, in the distance someone had a vinyl record playing scary noises. A few older kids dressed like KISS were hanging out, a little old for trick or treating, but not so much the tormenting of the younger kids and smoking behind the house. Dad sat back in his chair to get away from all the racket and watched an old horror movie, mostl likely a comedy. I would start to watch it but with eyes transfixed on the light outside as it dimmed. Finally some friends would come over, one in that perfect costume her mother paid too much for, and her little brother in his sorry one-size too big cowboy outfit who was the neighborhood "tag-a-long".The official whiner we would never cease to pick on.

Our Family never bought customes, when I say never I mean my brother literally cut holes in one of moms sheets, I'm not sure if she knew about it.  I was the only wonder woman wearing shorts and a t-shirt..the only pirate with moms oversized slip on...the only kid who probably recycled their homemade costume for the next year, slightly modifying it to be something else like the year I just glued foil on cardboard wings and wore the same dress as the year prior. It wasn't until years later that each consective halloween beginning at age 9 I was something of a vampire or Elvira.

  We poured out the door and left the adults mostly far behind as we raced from door to door as the rumors were already hitting the streets of the house just around the corner giving away full sized candy bars! We tormented the younger kids telling them stories of actual true killers who murdered in that very town...true stories, we swear!  By the time we rounded the corner to go home someones older brother (the one dressed like Gene Simmons) and his friends would tell us about "Bloody Mary", making it seem just plausible enough to insite panic and nightmares later that nite. After a bagfull of treats and scares we would go home, wind down and dig through the candy...making sure no cyanide or razor blades were in there. There was alot of the cheap stuff, double bubble and spider rings, but some threw in pocket change or stickers. In retrospect mom set aside more "unedible" snickers bars that later I saw wrappers in the trash.

And the tv would be showing cheap old goody horror films, which I would dedicate myself to staying up past midnight watching. After way too much sugar I had to switch out the light and go to bed, you felt safe and happy..for it was a good day. But in that moment right after you switch the light off, the distance between you and the bed seems infinate. You wish you had never said bloody mary into the bathroom mirror just to prove that kid wrong.. so you make a blind flying leap under the covers, whip them over your head, pull your toes in and make a little hole on the side to breath. You scream, then you realize you want to kill your brother for having shoved that giant rubber spider down at the end of your covers as he giggles with glee just outside your door.

No other day seemed as atmospheric as this one. There's no need to go over rthe current sad state of affairs of this holiday, (commercialism, lack of participation, parents without kids trick or treating for themself, and nobody giving out candy or decorating because of "safe malls" where they get candy from retails stores because scaring children is is psychologically damaging)

but I'll always have the memories.



Post Edited (10-20-03 22:50)

[Uncle Fester]

I don't think back to those days enough.I just got all warm and fuzzy inside!  "Uncle Fester drops FULL size bar in Susan's pillow case" Thanks!

[AndyC]

Sure brings back memories. Thanks Susan.

[raj]

Hear, hear.  And I remember going to the corner gas station and getting a whole quarter (which actually was worth something.)

And we could go in costume to school that day -- even dressed as a soldier or cowboy, carrying a cap gun.  No one objected to the "paganism" of the day.  We also sang Christmas carols in December-- including religious ones.  Not only was no one worried about "offending" someone, no one got offended.

[The Burgomaster]

When I was a kid (late 1960s - early 1970s) , the sidewalks were STREAMING with Trick-Or-Treaters. People basically stood in their doorways the whole night handing out candy. It didn't make sense to go back inside the house because less than 30 seconds after one group of kids walked away, another group would show up and ring the doorbell. It was amazing.

Last year, NOT ONE KID showed up at my front door on Halloween. Not one.

I do live in an area where I would not expect a lot of kids to show up, but I would expect SOME.

Not one.

[Scott]

I use to use my pillow sack and be out till nobody would come to the door anymore. It was a real challenge to fill that pillow case. In the 70's it was the razor blade scare then later the posion scare. To bad all the good things in life are past with nothing on the horizon. It was part youth and the times.

Halloween
Parades (real ones, especially memorial day in the spring)
Drive-In Theaters
Theaters with balconies
Amusement Parks (real family ones by the lake with an outdoor theater)
County Fair (big ones that traveled by 2 mile length trains)
Monster Movie Matinee
Chiller Theater
Drum and Bugle Corps (every area had a local non-school related corps)

Local Sports Teams (with a true past and tradition)
Pro Wrestling (the dark age of the sport)
Playing Guns (soldier)
Sled Riding (on the greatest of hills)
Building Fortresses (from scrap wood)
Club (gang)

Little Rascals
Abbott and Costello
Star Trek
Twilight Zone
Godzilla

Some stuff is still around like. (but the focus isn't the same)

Little League
H.S Band
H. S. Sports

New stuff that has taken the place of the old in our current time are:

Theaters (with stadium seating)
Video Games
Satilite Television (24 hour news, weather, genre channels)
Soccer
Martial Arts
Computers and Internet
Malls

[Susan]

>>And we could go in costume to school that day -- even dressed as a soldier or cowboy, carrying a cap gun.<<

And I doubt they suspended you and you ended up on the news for bringing a "gun" to class. Cap guns, ahh memories! I wonder if those are still sold in dollar stores anywhere or if some organization banned them.

Yes boys and girls, this was also before the days of "fun size candy bars" (which aren't so fun to me). Where best to my recollection the only real chocolate bars were few and far inbetween.

>>Last year, NOT ONE KID showed up at my front door on Halloween. Not one.<<

Not uncommon. Fewer are actually handing out candy in these past years. Alot of it is due to laziness and lack of holiday spirit. The other is probably fewer trick or treaters make one want to go buy a bunch of candy only to get stuck with it. Parents are dragging their kids to church functions, malls and other places where they can get "safe candy" (which is crazy since there has been no documented ACTUAL case to my knowledge of a stranger poisoning candy) Drive down a typical neighborhood on that nite and you'll see few porch lites on indicating they're handing out candy. Why does a kid want to walk an entire length of a street for one house (why does a parent..i've seen some so lazy they drive their car vs walking with the kids) One year they had the nerve to come 2 nights before halloween because it fell on a weekday ..most of the time I get alot of parents without kids who "claim" they're sick (go to the store and buy a bag!) or have the nerve to beg for candy for their INFANT...let's get real folks.

I'm glad i've made it fun for a few kids ('ll be out of town this year tho) in the past several years where i've went all out and made the porch up with cobwebs, black lights, scary noises, cool wicked carved pumpkins and dry ice. I've had many a kid scared to come up...parents taking pictures, and kids talking about it later on ("Did you see that COOL house?")...because nobody else does it so it makes it special. If I can make a lasting impression on one kids life by scaring the pants off of him it was all worth it. I was SO impressed one year when a man pretended to be a stuffed dummy holding a bowl of candy lept up as the kids reached for it, and chased down my godson and his friends when he was about 5. They were screaming! And to this day (he's 10) he still talks about it with a fondness I can only relate to my childhood halloweens.



Post Edited (10-21-03 18:27)

[chili]

I suppose it depends on where you live...  I live in a small town in south Texas where Hallows Eve is still going strong.  Lots and lots of decorated yards, people in costume sitting out in the yard scaring the little ones and then giving them their treats.

The old records have pretty much been replaced by CD's, but there are still the black lights, strobes, hanging dummies with oak leaves falling out of the arms and Jack-O-Lanterns.  I have instilled in my kids a lot of the old things that you mentioned, and they all (5 now! from 2 to 15) start asking me a couple weeks beforehand what I am going to "be" for Halloween this year, because I always dress the part with them.

When that evening comes, I leave work early so I can help them with their makeup, fake blood and vampire fangs, and some lucky one or two of them get a couple of my old flanel shirts they rip into part of their costume.  We also keep a big box in the attic full of old costume bits that we rumage and add to every year. Then when the sun has become a ghost itself, we pile into the back of a relatives old pickup to start our two hour journey into the transformed neighborhood for some scares and the loot.  Then it's on to the local haunted house put on by a bunch of volunteers every year in part an old warehouse.  After we get back home, the old movies begin and we turn the living room floor into a candy sea.

I love this time of year and it's one of the few times where we can all have the same dose of fun together.  For us, it's a family tradition, and I will really be sad when the last of them is "too old" for trick or treat.

[Scott]

Our neighborhood is actually really active. In fact people from out of town drive to our neighborhood to safely get their Halloween candy. They come by the van loads. We always have one or two very good haunted houses within a two blocks of my home which are free.  

When my daughter was younger and going out for the first time I was concerned, but not as much since moving here 9 years ago.

We also have a few very good haunted ride locations in our county. One is in a historic town on a miniture train. It's great as the gouls and monsters jump out at the passengers and then proceed to follow the slow moving train along the tracks.

The other is a very elaborate haunted hayride run by a nearby fire department.

We use to have a profession group that did haunted events in the area, but we haven't seen them in a couple years. They stopped doing it. They were very good.

[Susan]

Where the heck do you live Scott? I'm thinking small town? I live in the suburbs of Dallas and it ain't no hayride here

Your train ride story remidned me of when I went to Old Tuscon - there was some mine train I recall going on that seemed frightening, like it would go off the tracks. There was a part where it went towards a giant spiderweb and stopped, then went backwards. It was pretty cool.

We have haunted houses here too, I guess it gives the teens a job. I remember when I was 5 or 6 we went to one and all my friends screamed and cried, they were too scared to go in after seeing a guy wealding an actual running chainsaw chasing people down in an old rundown house that looked straight out of a horror movie. It was daylight too, but blood was sprayed, bodies lay about.....I demanded to go in, of course....and did.

The guys in the military  overseas sure knew how to bring a piece of america to the islands in order to show the kids a good time. :-)
I'm sure the locals thought we had lost our minds.



Post Edited (10-21-03 20:40)

[Scott]

Yea, I went to Old Tuscon Studios last spring. Great place. Loved BIG JAKES ribs.

I live in a town called Absecon in New Jersey. It's about 8 miles from Atlantic City on the mainland.

The professional troop we use to have in the area also did the running chainsaw. I never seen kids run so fast. Great stuff.

[Scott]

The stuff below is from my childhood in the Elmira, New York area back in the 70's.

Halloween
Parades (real ones, especially memorial day in the spring)
Drive-In Theaters
Theaters with balconies
Amusement Parks (real family ones by the lake with an outdoor theater)
County Fair (big ones that traveled by 2 mile length trains)
Monster Movie Matinee
Chiller Theater
Drum and Bugle Corps (every area had a local non-school related corps)

Local Sports Teams (with a true past and tradition)
Pro Wrestling (the dark age of the sport)
Playing Guns (soldier)
Sled Riding (on the greatest of hills)
Building Fortresses (from scrap wood)
Club (gang)

Little Rascals
Abbott and Costello
Star Trek
Twilight Zone
Godzilla

New Jersey is generally humid, salty, sandy swamplands. Casinos make up the entertainment as they have shows and we have two professional sports teams in town. The boardwalk is a treat, but other than that not much is happening. We live close to New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, and Baltimore if you want to do something city like.

[AndyC]

Seems to be the problem with urban areas these days. There is so much everyday stuff to do, the special stuff seems to get lost.

Amazing how many of our Halloween memories are similar. The box of costume bits sounds just like the old steamer trunk in our basement, full of old costumes and old clothing. It was the first place I went when putting together a costume, and it got fuller every year, as new bits of costume were added. In Canada, we all grew up on a kids' show called Mr. Dressup, and the similarity to his "Tickle Trunk" of costumes was not lost on me.

As the youngest in my family, I got a lot of inspiration from my older siblings, who were dressing up for teen parties and later bar contests. My sister once did a Hare Krishna, complete with bald cap, robes and tambourine. My brother, who was about 6' 4" and not skinny, did a great mummy costume, ripping apart a couple of old bedsheets and meticulously wrapping himself in little strips.

As for my costumes, the ones I remember best are:
- Alien
- Hobo (who didn't do this easy one?)
- Soldier
- Robot (cardboard box covered in tinfoil)
- Superhero (track suit, rubber boots, lady's housecoat cape and an emblem made of masking tape)
- Ghostbuster
- Jason
- Radiation Suit (even made a Geiger counter with an electronic metronome)
and others I can't remember at the moment.

I'd love to go into more detail about the creative use of materials in putting these together, and I'm sure they'd all seem really lame in reality, but I thought they were so cool at the time. I'd start thinking about a costume in September, and spend about a week in October putting it together.

I'm getting inspired by all this. I think I'll make a trip to the hardware store this weekend, and start getting the house ready. I just put a porch on in the summer, and it has real possibilities.



Post Edited (10-23-03 04:53)

[JohnL]

>Cap guns, ahh memories! I wonder if those are still sold in dollar stores
>anywhere or if some organization banned them.

You can still buy cap guns. Of course they all have big orange plugs glued on the end of the barrels so they won't be mistaken for real guns...

>I was SO impressed one year when a man pretended to be a stuffed dummy
>holding a bowl of candy lept up as the kids reached for it

I've been thinking of doing something like that this year. I figured I could dress up as a scarecrow and sit on the outside steps, then after the kids get their candy, I'd come up behind them.

As for decorating, we usually put just put up cardboard decorations in the windows and the doors. Stuff like plastic skulls, severed limbs etc, are all too expensive. :(

[Deej]

Halloween 1978, my dad was in the army, we were stationed in Karlsruhe, Germany, I was 3. My mom was an administrative assistant with the post MP's and they put on a haunted house at the station that year using off-duty MP's and civilian employees. I remember this almost vividly, I was dressed as a British "Bobby"(portent of things to come). My Pop, took us through the haunted house, which featured hanged corpses(one of which was dear old Ma,), dismemberment, much blood and gore, hands grabbing from the darkness, scared hell out me so much that I still remember it 25 years later! Good times.

Great post Susan, many shared memories there, and you as well Scott, good list.