What will you do with Halloween?

[Pagan and Proud]

Norseceltic wrote:

<quoted text>True...I miss those days. The way I see it is people who don't celebrate it and hand out those christian candies are the weirdos!!

Yeah the only thing we didn't "eat" were the popcorn balls an old lady down the way made as she had numerous cats and the running joke was she served popcorn and furballs.... We didn't eat the apples, the old razorblade urban legend was real strong back then and we didn't like unwrapped candy as it got the rest of the stuff sticky(it's always humid in the south)...

[DaBroad]

When I was about 9, my cousin and I went trick'r'treating around one of our aunt's neighborhood. My aunt had one of the oldest houses in my home town (it was built by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence), and the house and property had plenty of spirits. One of them was a child who had fallen in the well that had once been in the back; after she died, the well was dismantled and covered over, but there was still a mound where it had been.

Anyway, we'd been hitting all the houses in the neighborhood, and got to the last one, sort of tucked out of the way near the railroad bridge. We went up to the door, knocked, the door flew open and there was a guy standing there with a gun pointed at us. He yelled "Trick or Treat!", dropped a foil-wrapped something in each of our bags, and then slammed the door in our stunned faces. We headed back to our aunt's house, to see what we had gotten.

The foil packets each contained a couple of home-made brownies, which were immediately confiscated and disposed of by our mothers. This would have been about 1972, so who knows what was in them brownies.

[jxn]

DaBroad wrote:

When I was about 9, my cousin and I went trick'r'treating around one of our aunt's neighborhood. My aunt had one of the oldest houses in my home town (it was built by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence), and the house and property had plenty of spirits. One of them was a child who had fallen in the well that had once been in the back; after she died, the well was dismantled and covered over, but there was still a mound where it had been.
Anyway, we'd been hitting all the houses in the neighborhood, and got to the last one, sort of tucked out of the way near the railroad bridge. We went up to the door, knocked, the door flew open and there was a guy standing there with a gun pointed at us. He yelled "Trick or Treat!", dropped a foil-wrapped something in each of our bags, and then slammed the door in our stunned faces. We headed back to our aunt's house, to see what we had gotten.
The foil packets each contained a couple of home-made brownies, which were immediately confiscated and disposed of by our mothers. This would have been about 1972, so who knows what was in them brownies.

1972, hmm? How did your moms "dispose" of those brownies? LOL! Just kidding.:)

Love the story. I wouldn't know what it's like to trick-or-treat unsupervised. I'm a child of the 80's. That seems about the time that "Satanic-Panic" was getting huge responses. As well as the start of urban legends such as razor blade containing apples, abductions of blond haired and blue eyed children, poison candy, and all things evil. We were only allowed to trick-or-treat in the "good neighborhoods" and at the "good houses". How our parents could tell the difference between the "good locations" and the "bad locations" is beyond me, all the houses looked the same through the eyes of a child. But apparently, all the ax murderers, kidnappers, etc. lived in the "bad neighborhoods" and at the "bad houses". We also weren't allowed to touch our treats until everything had been thoroughly inspected by the parental units. Closer to my teenage years (early 90's) parents were taken their children's goodies to the hospital for x-raying. This was a free service and parents would wait in line for hours to have the candy x-rayed. Can you imagine the torture these children experienced?! Having to wait hours before they could get their sugar buzz on. Oh, the horror! ;)

[DaBroad]

When I worked at a children's hospital in the late 80's and early 90's, we offered free candy xrays on halloween. Not too many parents took us up on it. I think most of them were more afraid of irradiated candy than of pins or razor blades.

I grew up in New Jersey - sometimes I think Jersey was the source of half the urban legends out there. Check out Weird NJ:
http://www.weirdnj.com/

[Norseceltic]

jxn wrote:

<quoted text>
1972, hmm? How did your moms "dispose" of those brownies? LOL! Just kidding.:)
Love the story. I wouldn't know what it's like to trick-or-treat unsupervised. I'm a child of the 80's. That seems about the time that "Satanic-Panic" was getting huge responses. As well as the start of urban legends such as razor blade containing apples, abductions of blond haired and blue eyed children, poison candy, and all things evil. We were only allowed to trick-or-treat in the "good neighborhoods" and at the "good houses". How our parents could tell the difference between the "good locations" and the "bad locations" is beyond me, all the houses looked the same through the eyes of a child. But apparently, all the ax murderers, kidnappers, etc. lived in the "bad neighborhoods" and at the "bad houses". We also weren't allowed to touch our treats until everything had been thoroughly inspected by the parental units. Closer to my teenage years (early 90's) parents were taken their children's goodies to the hospital for x-raying. This was a free service and parents would wait in line for hours to have the candy x-rayed. Can you imagine the torture these children experienced?! Having to wait hours before they could get their sugar buzz on. Oh, the horror! ;)

Hash Brownies...it's been nearly 18 years since I've had one of those. LOL I guess I am counting.
I grew up in a town called Massapequa NY. My parents would load the cars with neighborhood kids and take us to the Amityville Horror. There was also another house not far from us called the Devil House on Daniels Rd in North Massapequa. 20/20 did a special on them. I didn't see it, but they drove an old hearst and dressed in black cloaks. The fire department was there often because of violations...they truly slept in coffins. You would hear chanting in front of the house.
My parents would scare the heck out of us, but we all had fun. Then they had a neighborhood costume party. We would pick up after them the next day. My dad was hungover one morning and missed the steps...fell down the whole rest of the stairway....he yelled...I'm late for work. My sister and I looked down at him and said, "dad it's Sunday"...LOL...they weren't big drinkers but enjoyed their Halloween party. We had a player piano and dad dressed up a skeleton to sit on the bench. The house was always done up real good by my mother.
I'm surprised the other parents let all the kids come to my house, but then again their parents were at my house as well. I think the parents in my neighborhood were just as mischievous. I guess my block would have been considered the "bad part of town"...LOL
I miss really do miss those days.

[jxn]

I'm so jealous of you guys with all your Halloween memories of years passed. I grew up in a small town in the Bootheel of Missouri. My parents idea of decorating for Halloween was carving a couple pumpkins for the front porch. While I've always regarded Halloween as my favorite Holiday, it just wasn't a big thing in my family.

Now that I'm grown with a family of my own, we go all out for the occasion. My husband (Agnostic) grew up Christian and was very limited on Halloween activities as a youngster, also. We decorate both inside and out, dress in costume to take our daughter trick-or-treating and to pass out candy, and we've been wanting to host a huge Halloween party for years but our current home isn't big enough.

Admittedly, this year we've been forced to minimize our decorations and we're still not able to host that party. We were supposed to be in our new home this week but it's not finished yet.:( Looks like it's gonna be close to 2 more weeks before we can move <Sigh and Sniffle>... but there's always next year. ;)

Hopefully, our children will have great memories, stories, and traditions to share with their children.

[jxn]

Norseceltic wrote:

<quoted text>Hash Brownies...it's been nearly 18 years since I've had one of those. LOL I guess I am counting.
I grew up in a town called Massapequa NY. My parents would load the cars with neighborhood kids and take us to the Amityville Horror. There was also another house not far from us called the Devil House on Daniels Rd in North Massapequa. 20/20 did a special on them. I didn't see it, but they drove an old hearst and dressed in black cloaks. The fire department was there often because of violations...they truly slept in coffins. You would hear chanting in front of the house.
My parents would scare the heck out of us, but we all had fun. Then they had a neighborhood costume party. We would pick up after them the next day. My dad was hungover one morning and missed the steps...fell down the whole rest of the stairway....he yelled...I'm late for work. My sister and I looked down at him and said, "dad it's Sunday"...LOL...they weren't big drinkers but enjoyed their Halloween party. We had a player piano and dad dressed up a skeleton to sit on the bench. The house was always done up real good by my mother.
I'm surprised the other parents let all the kids come to my house, but then again their parents were at my house as well. I think the parents in my neighborhood were just as mischievous. I guess my block would have been considered the "bad part of town"...LOL
I miss really do miss those days.

Honestly, I have never had hash brownies but my dad tells great stories about his experience with them. LOL! Child of the 60's and all, he has lots of cool stories. Never ate but smoked plenty of it in my teens. Small town, nothing to do... you know the story. ;)

And you're right, my parents would have definitely kept us from your house. LMAO! Me, on the other hand, your house would've been the first stop for my kids. Sounds like a blast!!

I'm going to have to look into that 20/20 special. Very... um... interesting.

[Norseceltic]

DaBroad wrote:

When I worked at a children's hospital in the late 80's and early 90's, we offered free candy xrays on halloween. Not too many parents took us up on it. I think most of them were more afraid of irradiated candy than of pins or razor blades.
I grew up in New Jersey - sometimes I think Jersey was the source of half the urban legends out there. Check out Weird NJ:
http://www.weirdnj.com/

cool web site.

[Norseceltic]

jxn wrote:

I'm so jealous of you guys with all your Halloween memories of years passed. I grew up in a small town in the Bootheel of Missouri. My parents idea of decorating for Halloween was carving a couple pumpkins for the front porch. While I've always regarded Halloween as my favorite Holiday, it just wasn't a big thing in my family.
Now that I'm grown with a family of my own, we go all out for the occasion. My husband (Agnostic) grew up Christian and was very limited on Halloween activities as a youngster, also. We decorate both inside and out, dress in costume to take our daughter trick-or-treating and to pass out candy, and we've been wanting to host a huge Halloween party for years but our current home isn't big enough.
Admittedly, this year we've been forced to minimize our decorations and we're still not able to host that party. We were supposed to be in our new home this week but it's not finished yet.:( Looks like it's gonna be close to 2 more weeks before we can move <Sigh and Sniffle>... but there's always next year. ;)
Hopefully, our children will have great memories, stories, and traditions to share with their children.

I'm sure they will!!

[Norseceltic]

jxn wrote:

<quoted text>
Honestly, I have never had hash brownies but my dad tells great stories about his experience with them. LOL! Child of the 60's and all, he has lots of cool stories. Never ate but smoked plenty of it in my teens. Small town, nothing to do... you know the story. ;)
And you're right, my parents would have definitely kept us from your house. LMAO! Me, on the other hand, your house would've been the first stop for my kids. Sounds like a blast!!
I'm going to have to look into that 20/20 special. Very... um... interesting.

The adults were always worse than the kids. We had so much fun though. It was years since 20/20 aired that, but I'm sure there is info on the internet about it. Has to be. The house is still there. About being agnostic..it's funny how organized religious folk react when they hear that. Wasn't one of the reasons we all came to America..to escape religious persecution? People are so crazy! That's what happens when they shut down all the state psychiatric centers...LOL.