Tag Archives: Halloween

Today in Halloween: Creepy trick-or-treaters, outstanding in their field

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It’s time for another vintage Halloween photo, a snapshot of trick-or-treating and masquerading long gone.

And good riddance.

This photo, undated but probably from sometime in the 1950s or earlier, has a weird vibe to it. Looks like a rural setting, maybe a Halloween photo of a bunch of classmates outside a school.

The paper bags that a couple of the kids are wearing are … interesting. Maybe they were from families too poor to afford masks. Or didn’t believe in Halloween.

It’s “Children of the Corn: The Early Years.”

The masks we do see are just unsettling, though. The little boy to the left, wearing overalls and a bow tie? That mask is freaky.

And what the hell is the teacher/parent/adult guardian wearing? That outfit must have given those kids nightmares for weeks afterward.

And that house, or church, in the background? What’s that in the upstairs window?

Just kidding.

 

Today in Halloween: A witch and … a what?

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It’s time for another dip into the misty days of Halloween long gone. It’s another snapshot of creepy trick-or-treaters!

I’ve been trying to run some of these masks through Google image search, hoping I can identify them.

The little kid on the left is, obviously, a witch. It’s a pretty classic mask, hat and outfit.

But the guy on the right? A Google image search mostly produced photos of bald old men from Russian websites. True story.

So, based on the bumpy skin, the big pointy teeth and the outfit that looks like it might be some kind of medieval armor, I’m gonna say this kid was ahead of his time and decades ahead of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” costume designers.

Looks like an orc to me.

Today in Halloween: Scaring trick-or-treaters

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Because I lived in the country when I was growing up, I’d venture into the city and go trick-or-treating every Halloween with my cousins and some friends, who lived in a densely-populated part of town with what seemed like a bazillion trick-or-treaters.

Seriously, you almost couldn’t make your way down the sidewalk without tripping over some other pint-size goblin or superhero.

We did it every year, but one year in particular stands out in my memory.

My cousin, friends and I made our way from house-to-house, like we always did. I was at a disadvantage, as always, because of my mask. I’m pretty sure this year it was a cheap rubber monster mask of some kind, but the disadvantage came in because I had to wear it over my glasses.

As a kid who got glasses in the middle of first grade, I had grown accustomed to all the drawbacks of being a four eyes. But one of the worst was how anything that covered your nose and face – winter weather knit ski masks, for example, but especially Halloween masks – would make my glasses fog up.

So I was flying blind. Or walking blind.

My group walked up the sidewalk to a house much like every other house we had visited that night. But this one was different.

Inside lived someone who loved Halloween very much. That or a sadist who hated kids.

As we drew near the door, someone on the front porch pulled a rope and a dummy fell out of a tree in front of us. It was obviously a stuffed figure but freaked us out anyway. We turned to run.

But they weren’t done with us yet. The homeowner had stationed friends or, most likely, teenage offspring, behind bushes and trees in the front yard. As we beat a hasty retreat they popped out at us, yelling and growling.

We all ran like crazy. Some of us missed the sidewalk and burst out into the nearby street. Luckily cars were moving along at a crawl because of all the kids who were out.

I’ve never forgotten that night. I still think of it when I’m walking my son through our neighborhood and somebody has obviously replaced a stuffed figure in a porch chair with a living, breathing person, ready to jump at us.

It’s fun to be scared on Halloween. A little bit.

Today in Halloween: Spooky farm boy trick-or-treaters

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I grew up on a farm out in the country, so I know that there’s not always time to run into town and shop for Halloween costumes. Especially back 40 or 50 years ago, when Halloween costumes were in short supply.

So you get yourself a mask and some of dad or grandpa’s clothes and you make do, dagnabbit!

So while there’s familiarity to today’s installment of unsettling – even creepy – vintage trick-or-treaters, there’s also a little chill.

Maybe it’s the rosy red cheeks and hair bow (I think?) on the kid on the right.

Maybe it’s the authentic, backwoods-feeling addition of the cap on lefty.

I did a Google image search of the mask on the right and it gave me dozens of Facebook photos of women with blonde hair and heavily made-up faces.

Personally, I’d be insulted if I were them.

Today in Halloween: More creepy trick-or-treaters

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No, nothing creepy about that picture at all.

As part of our continuing series of snapshots – many of them vintage – of old Halloween costumes and trick-or-treaters, we present this picture, undated but certainly from the mid 1900s or earlier.

Maybe it’s the lack of costumes other than the masks.

Maybe it’s the pose, the body language that says, “Please, father, would you finish taking the picture?”

That or, “When you wake up in the middle of the night we’re going to be standing by your bed wearing these masks.”

Or maybe it’s just the ears on the little boy.

 

Today in Halloween: Good candy and bad candy

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During the Halloween season, I’m looking at some of the things that make Halloween … Halloween.

There’s a pecking order in the world of Halloween candy. At least there is in my household.

Hard, relatively flavorless candy like Tootsie Rolls and Bit-O-Honey rank very low on the list, just above the kind of generic candy that people can buy in bulk at discount stores.

Really, has any kid in the past 30 years been excited by the prospect of getting a Tootsie Roll tossed in their bag?

The middle-ground is held by a variety of treats, including some that don’t really get distributed much anymore. when I was a kid, people made popcorn balls and handed them out to trick-or-treaters. But many parents discourage consumption of homemade treats these days, so popcorn balls have faded in popularity. A few years ago I discovered that some company actually made and wrapped popcorn balls for Halloween distribution.

The best case scenario – realistically speaking – for trick-or-treaters is probably the “fun size” versions of popular candy like Twix and Snickers. They’re recognizable candies and actually welcome in a treat bag – and on the kitchen table back at home.

The top of the line, given out only by only some households in some neighborhood, is the stuff of legend: Full-size candy bars.

Each year I tease my wife that we’re going to take any trick-or-treaters we’re responsible for to the ritziest neighborhood around, where legend has it they give out the full-size bars. I’m not sure that such a practice actually exists because she always pooh-poohs the idea.

But a lifelong appreciator of trick-or-treating can dream, can’t he?

iPhoneography: Halloween at the dollar store

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It’s hard to believe we’re about a month out from our favorite holiday. So it’s a good time to take a look at some iPhone photos of Halloween stuff.

This time: Halloween at the dollar store. Because of the “everything for a dollar” pricing of dollar stores, Halloween masks, costumes, accessories and decor are decidedly more limited. But what these items lack in scope they more than make up for in creativity.

Take the product above for example. Body parts! And they’re artificially flavored. Uh … thank you?

Halloween and superheroes go together. And now you can buy candy cigarettes just like Superman and Batman smoke. Although I believe the candy cigarettes like Shaggy smokes are only available from specially licensed sellers.

How about these Boogers? They’re tangy!

And the box tells us the flavors! Mmmm … Snottermelon!

Okay, if you’ve had enough candy, how about some decor? I really rather like these little perched figures.

Last but not least, a staple of Halloween items at the dollar store, the bloody cloth. Although if you spend enough time digging for Halloween boogers, you can probably produce your own bloody cloth.

‘Til next time!

iPhoneography: Fall is here

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Yes, yes, I know that fall officially arrived more than a month ago, and we’ve had enough cool temperatures in Indiana to warrant switching on the furnace.

But there’s something about November that really reinforces the idea: It’s fall.

With Halloween over and the holiday season rushing toward us like an oncoming train, maybe there’s time to take a breath and contemplate the change of seasons.

These photos were taken with my iPhone in my neighborhood in recent days.

This green leaf — hanging precariously on a gate above a pile of leaves waiting to be raked — sums up how I feel about fall sometimes. I see it coming but I hate to give in because of what follows.

Most have given in already.

Fall’s colors are beautiful.

Just a few months ago, this little ditch was teaming with wildlife. This morning it’s frosty.

A nice spot for watching the change of seasons.

Enjoy fall!

Halloween horror: ‘Walking Dead’ rocks, ‘Simpsons’ sucks

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Here we are, on the eve of Halloween, and various movie channels are having marathons, ranging from the classics on TCM to later, lesser “Halloween” movies on AMC.

Into the mix comes the latest episode of “The Walking Dead” on AMC and the latest installment of “Treehouse of Horror” on “The Simpsons” on Fox.

First, let’s make short work of “The Simpsons.”

After being a zealous fan of the show for its first 10 seasons or so — we just re-watched “Mr. Plow” on DVD the other week — I fell out of love with “The Simpsons.” A dozen years ago, the show seemed to lose most of its creative edge. Maybe you really can’t do 500 episodes of a TV series and expect it to continue to be good. Duh.

Tonight’s “Treehouse of Horror,” the show’s annual Halloween special, had a couple of funny moments but overall was pretty lame. Judging by tonight’s episode, the show has traded pointed, harsh humor and wonderful characters for cheap and crude laughs. When a joke revolves around the similarity of the words tentacles and testicles, you know the show is spinning its wheels.

On the other hand, “The Walking Dead” continues to feature some of the most gripping — as in gripping the arms of my chair — suspense on TV.

As the survivors of a zombie apocalypse take refuge on a remote farm, where their injured are treated by the kindly resident veterinarian, tensions external and internal build. Watching Shane, the conflicted deputy, make a stomach-rolling choice tonight made me wonder where the producers are going with the character.

The show is, of course, all about characters and choices. Tonight’s episode saw some discussion of a point that I’ve been expecting for a while now: What if your reaction to the end of the world was not to fight to survive, but to opt out?

If characters are considering putting themselves out of their misery on “The Walking Dead,” might it be too much to hope that Fox would consider euthanasia for “The Simpsons?”

Again, duh. After wrangling over salaries, the talented vocal actors on the show recently signed for two more seasons. There’s simply too much money to be made for Fox to consider leaving any on the table.

Trick-or-treating, Charlie Brown style

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“I got a rock.”

Charlie Brown’s lament — from the classic 1966 TV show “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” — has, for the past 40-some years, echoed in my head every Oct. 31.

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, although it gets short shrift some years when such grown-up concerns as work prompts my family to push jack-o-lantern carving back to the night itself.

Then there was the year of my ill-advised suggestion that the family travel to a neighborhood on the other side of town to see what was reported to be an especially elaborate Halloween yard display. Of course, everyone else in town had that same idea and the resulting traffic jam on neighborhood streets meant that we almost — almost — didn’t get back to our own neighborhood in time for trick-or-treating.

But stressful Halloween memories are, thankfully, few for me.

I’ve enjoyed two great periods of Halloween in my life. In recent years, the chance to take my son trick-or-treating marks one of the highlights of the fall for me. Him too, I hope.

And of course, there’s the good old days. Halloween classic.

Growing up on a farm in a rural area, I never got to go trick-or-treating in my own neighborhood. Houses were few and far between and neighbors were so unaccustomed to having trick-or-treaters that you’d be better off expecting to find treats in our chicken coop.

But because my cousin Mary lived in the city, my family usually went to her house on Halloween and from there the kids went trick-or-treating.

Back then, in the 1960s, we went trick-or-treating for more than one night. Some people don’t believe me when I tell them this. Some people think we were deluding ourselves and were actually “shaking down” my cousin’s neighbors for candy several days in a row.

I’m sure that’s not true. Pretty sure.

Ahem.

Anyway. My cousin and I and several friends would set out at dark, costumes on and bags in hand, and it seemed like we ranged all over the south side of Muncie. I’ve previously noted in this blog the problems with wearing a mask over glasses. The glasses tended to fog up and reduce visibility. Being out at night, roaming over city blocks illuminated only by porch lights, made it even harder to see. My costume one particular year consisted of a painted-on beard, goofy hat and paint-spattered shirt. It was pretty low-rent but at least I could see.

As gratifying as the treats were, the tricks were just as good. One year, as our group approached a front porch, the resident of the house pulled a rope and caused a dummy to fall from a tree near us. As we shrieked and ran away from the house, other people, wearing masks and lying in wait, chased us.

We ran wildly into the street, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a passing car.

Good times.

Now when I go along as my son trick-or-treats, I get to enjoy the gruesome costumes on the older kids and the awfully cute ones on the little folks. I remind my son to say “trick or treat” and “thank you.” I carry a flashlight to help motorists see us.

It all seems pretty tame compared to my youth, when it seemed as if we roamed and pillaged across a wide swath of the city for the better part of the week.

But, you know, it’s still trick or treating and there’s not much better than that.