[kno2skull_8887]

I jusr finished reading The Halloween Tree young adult novel by Ray Bradbury. I would say that it falls under the 'cute' Halloween genre. It's very good and explains some of the ancient traditions where we get some of our Halloween activities. With the bright-colored decorations, I wonder if that is a derivative of the Day of the Dead celebrations. It's definitely a colorful holiday, and some influence on Halloween

I love the 'cute' Halloween as well as the 'scary' Halloween. One thing Halloween is about is helping children deal with irrational fears. We always watch the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin special, and it's often accompanied by Romero's Night of the Living Dead, which I still think is one of the most terrifying films ever made.
I think Halloween has evolved, which is natural. Change reflects the culture around it. I don't think the message of don't be afraid of things that can't hurt you is a good one, and at the bottom of the celebration.

 

[The Saw Is Family]

I believe neighborhoods go in cycles, with little kids to older kids to no kids and back again. After years of no kids, and then only littles, I'm starting to see more middle schoolers. My decorations have changed with the audience. I'm getting scarier, but I still have the "fun" decorations when the neighborhood ages out again.

 

[crashbig]

We do the yard spooky/scary and have a canopy set up in the driveway for trick or treat that is set up cutesy and unimposing so the little ones aren't scared to come up. The yard display has actually been steadily leaning more and more towards scary over the years. There are ways to do both and for a home haunter doing trick or treat you should probably go easy on the little ones so they enjoy Halloween instead of being fearful of it. Once they get older they are fair game though.

We do this as well at our Halloween party, a more small kid friendly area, with jack o lanterns and happier decorations, and simple games, but as my kids have gotten older the main haunt has definitely gotten scarier, gorier, and now with them contributing ideas on what we should make and helping make it and then scaring their friends with it.

 

[jpferraccio]

I jusr finished reading The Halloween Tree young adult novel by Ray Bradbury. I would say that it falls under the 'cute' Halloween genre. It's very good and explains some of the ancient traditions where we get some of our Halloween activities. With the bright-colored decorations, I wonder if that is a derivative of the Day of the Dead celebrations. It's definitely a colorful holiday, and some influence on Halloween

I love the 'cute' Halloween as well as the 'scary' Halloween. One thing Halloween is about is helping children deal with irrational fears. We always watch the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin special, and it's often accompanied by Romero's Night of the Living Dead, which I still think is one of the most terrifying films ever made.
I think Halloween has evolved, which is natural. Change reflects the culture around it. I don't think the message of don't be afraid of things that can't hurt you is a good one, and at the bottom of the celebration.

THE HALLOWEEN TREE has a fascinating history: it started as a screen play for an animation, because Bradbury didn't like the overly-sweet GREAT PUMPKIN. However, it didn't get made. So he adapted it into the short novel form people read today. When they came back around to make it, Bradbury rewrote it because he had learned about all the mistakes he made in the Medieval section of the book, and to include a girl (thankfully: Jenny is a much better character than the boys she replaced). I think the animated version we have is excellent, considering its age and budget (I listen to the music all the time).

Dia de los muertos, however, has no influence on Halloween. Although, of course, we are getting some crossover inspiration today in our wonderful, multicultural world. The thing both holidays share is the Catholic influence of All Soul's and its observation rituals. For inspiration for Halloween, we have to look at Scotland and Ireland.

 

[SLCGirl]

THE HALLOWEEN TREE has a fascinating history: it started as a screen play for an animation, because Bradbury didn't like the overly-sweet GREAT PUMPKIN. However, it didn't get made. So he adapted it into the short novel form people read today. When they came back around to make it, Bradbury rewrote it because he had learned about all the mistakes he made in the Medieval section of the book, and to include a girl (thankfully: Jenny is a much better character than the boys she replaced). I think the animated version we have is excellent, considering its age and budget (I listen to the music all the time).

Dia de los muertos, however, has no influence on Halloween. Although, of course, we are getting some crossover inspiration today in our wonderful, multicultural world. The thing both holidays share is the Catholic influence of All Soul's and its observation rituals. For inspiration for Halloween, we have to look at Scotland and Ireland.

I started looking into the history of The Halloween Tree when I saw the 'actual' tree at Disneyland. Now I always make sure to visit it when I'm there.

 

[Frau Doctor]

This is just my humble opinion but, Halloween is what you want it to be. If you want it to be about Goblins and ghouls, witches and ghost, black cats and Jack O'lantern's and such, then do your best and have all the fun the holiday allows! If you want it to be dress up and make believe, Princes and Princesses, Heroes and Villains, dressing as your mom or a pirate or a damsel in distress, or that dress, go for it! Halloween is what you make of it. Its the night to be what you aren't. The night when you can put on a costume and say, I don't care what you think, i dig it. Me personally, I've been a monster, a pirate, a ghost, a ghoul, a zombie, a scarecrow, the boogieman, a voodoo priest, a punk rocker, and a various assortment of things that my warped imagination could dream up. I go in for the scary, most of all. but i do get a kick out of the little ones when they come in costume to my door and I will not turn away anyone as long as they utter those three words, "Trick or Treat!" No one gets turned away from my door without candy, as long as you mention the proper words...Its all about following the proper protocol. Somethings may change but some stay the same. I've only turned away one kid, and that was because he rudely said, "Give me some candy!" I told him, you can't say it better than that? he said no, so I told him, when he learns how , he can come back...and I closed the door. I heard him talking smack, but his friend said, If you said it right, you would have gotten candy...Point is, Halloween is yours, its ours, and if we want it Scary, then make it scary, if not, oh well...but don't complain when you come to my door...Cause I'm going to scare the bejesus out of you!
Happy Halloween ;-)

This is exactly what I love about Halloween. Are you a twenty-something who wants to dress up as a sexy kitten for a college party? Go for it. Are you a kindergartener who loves Spiderman and wants everyone to ooh and aah over your inner superhero? Halloween is your chance. Are you a sophisticated homeowner itching to throw a grown-up cocktail party with theme drinks and a classic haunted house vibe? Have fun! You can decorate for little kids with happy jack o'lanterns and Casper-style cartoon ghosts, or for adults with scary music and animatronic skeletons. There are so few limits to Halloween, and there's so much thrilling fun to be had in shedding everyday predictability and venturing out after dark, I can't understand why it isn't everyone's favorite holiday.

 

[The Gill-Man]

The actual razor blade in a candy bar thing started in the early 80's. Was a total myth and never really happened. Some say it all started because of this.

View attachment 775115

Halloween 2 from 1981.

It was included in the film because the previous few years it had been reported so widely, even though there was NO actual cases of it. Most of the stories that were reported were either false, or were discovered to have been done by kids to upset their parents. It definitely didn't originate with Halloween 2. The tales first started circulating in the late 70's.

It's likely that all the stories of "widespread" candy tampering can be traced to 1974, when Ronald Clark O'Bryan put cyanide in his children's Pixie Sticks. He claimed the children had received them when Trick Or Treating, but authorities quickly realized he had done it himself to collect life insurance money on his children. While this was an isolated case, and the person responsible wasn't just some random maniac trying to kill kids he didn't know, it caused widespread hysteria. It fired up people's imaginations, and urban legends of razor blades in apples, needles in candy bars, and other horrific tales began circulating. Many of these wound up being spread by law enforcement, and by media outlets who reported them as factual. It wasn't until several decades later that various journalists decided to research the cases that it was discovered there were no actual cases that could be verified of anonymous killers tampering with Halloween candy. Every few years, a new version of it pops up, with the 2022 spin being that these faceless killers were contaminating candy with Fentanyl. Many "news" outlets like Fox, OAN, and Newsmax reported this prior to Halloween, and yet there were no verifiable cases.

 

[MR. Macabre 13]

It was included in the film because the previous few years it had been reported so widely, even though there was NO actual cases of it. Most of the stories that were reported were either false, or were discovered to have been done by kids to upset their parents. It definitely didn't originate with Halloween 2. The tales first started circulating in the late 70's.

It's likely that all the stories of "widespread" candy tampering can be traced to 1974, when Ronald Clark O'Bryan put cyanide in his children's Pixie Sticks. He claimed the children had received them when Trick Or Treating, but authorities quickly realized he had done it himself to collect life insurance money on his children. While this was an isolated case, and the person responsible wasn't just some random maniac trying to kill kids he didn't know, it caused widespread hysteria. It fired up people's imaginations, and urban legends of razor blades in apples, needles in candy bars, and other horrific tales began circulating. Many of these wound up being spread by law enforcement, and by media outlets who reported them as factual. It wasn't until several decades later that various journalists decided to research the cases that it was discovered there were no actual cases that could be verified of anonymous killers tampering with Halloween candy. Every few years, a new version of it pops up, with the 2022 spin being that these faceless killers were contaminating candy with Fentanyl. Many "news" outlets like Fox, OAN, and Newsmax reported this prior to Halloween, and yet there were no verifiable cases.

What kind of sick piece of crap would poison their own kids?

 

[The Gill-Man]

Here in the Houston area, he was known as "The Candy Man" (oddly enough, he was the second murderer in the Houston area known by this moniker, as serial killer Dean Corll was referred to the same by the press, shortly before this incident occurred). He was also referred by many as "The Man Who Killed Halloween", since he caused such widespread panic that Trick Or Treating declined in the Houston area for several years. He murdered his own son, and intended to murder his daughter, to collect insurance money. He also gave the contaminated candy to some neighbor kids to deflect attention away from himself. The neighbor children, and his daughter, escaped by not eating the candy. He was, indeed, a piece of crap.

I moved to the Houston suburb of Deer Park in 1985, which is where O'Bryan and his family had lived, and this case was still talked about. Trick or Treating was starting to come back, but there were still many parents who were paranoid about it.

 

[jpferraccio]

It was included in the film because the previous few years it had been reported so widely, even though there was NO actual cases of it. Most of the stories that were reported were either false, or were discovered to have been done by kids to upset their parents. It definitely didn't originate with Halloween 2. The tales first started circulating in the late 70's.

It's likely that all the stories of "widespread" candy tampering can be traced to 1974, when Ronald Clark O'Bryan put cyanide in his children's Pixie Sticks. He claimed the children had received them when Trick Or Treating, but authorities quickly realized he had done it himself to collect life insurance money on his children. While this was an isolated case, and the person responsible wasn't just some random maniac trying to kill kids he didn't know, it caused widespread hysteria. It fired up people's imaginations, and urban legends of razor blades in apples, needles in candy bars, and other horrific tales began circulating. Many of these wound up being spread by law enforcement, and by media outlets who reported them as factual. It wasn't until several decades later that various journalists decided to research the cases that it was discovered there were no actual cases that could be verified of anonymous killers tampering with Halloween candy. Every few years, a new version of it pops up, with the 2022 spin being that these faceless killers were contaminating candy with Fentanyl. Many "news" outlets like Fox, OAN, and Newsmax reported this prior to Halloween, and yet there were no verifiable cases.

Great podcast about this:

The Halloween Poisoner - Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Candy laced with cyanide and needles in marshmallows, we've long been warned to be suspicious of the sweet treats handed out by strangers at Halloween. But it seems that most stories of "Halloween sadism" are just that, stories. No child seems to have been killed by adulterated Halloween...

omny.fm

 

[djjerme]

It was included in the film because the previous few years it had been reported so widely, even though there was NO actual cases of it. Most of the stories that were reported were either false, or were discovered to have been done by kids to upset their parents. It definitely didn't originate with Halloween 2. The tales first started circulating in the late 70's.

It's likely that all the stories of "widespread" candy tampering can be traced to 1974, when Ronald Clark O'Bryan put cyanide in his children's Pixie Sticks. He claimed the children had received them when Trick Or Treating, but authorities quickly realized he had done it himself to collect life insurance money on his children. While this was an isolated case, and the person responsible wasn't just some random maniac trying to kill kids he didn't know, it caused widespread hysteria. It fired up people's imaginations, and urban legends of razor blades in apples, needles in candy bars, and other horrific tales began circulating. Many of these wound up being spread by law enforcement, and by media outlets who reported them as factual. It wasn't until several decades later that various journalists decided to research the cases that it was discovered there were no actual cases that could be verified of anonymous killers tampering with Halloween candy. Every few years, a new version of it pops up, with the 2022 spin being that these faceless killers were contaminating candy with Fentanyl. Many "news" outlets like Fox, OAN, and Newsmax reported this prior to Halloween, and yet there were no verifiable cases.

Officials warn about candy-lookalike 'rainbow' fentanyl ahead of Halloween

The Drug Enforcement Agency has also issued a warning on so-called rainbow fentanyl.

abcnews.go.com

Good morning America I remember jumping on that band wagon too.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[dpeterson]

Everyone is terrified to offend anyone these days.

Not me... I remember being terrified as a kid. It made me the Halloweenie I am today. Let them be afraid (in a safe space). It's all part of growing up.

 

[Sblanck]

Great podcast about this:

The Halloween Poisoner - Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Candy laced with cyanide and needles in marshmallows, we've long been warned to be suspicious of the sweet treats handed out by strangers at Halloween. But it seems that most stories of "Halloween sadism" are just that, stories. No child seems to have been killed by adulterated Halloween...

omny.fm

Thanks for this. I enjoyed this podcast. As a kid, I remember the local hospitals' x raying candy. I have a parent who worked for the state police for forty years. They never once prevented me from going tot'ing and only told me to make sure all my candy had sealed wrappers. The abductions and candy poisonings weren't mentioned to me.

 

[Cephus404]

Not me... I remember being terrified as a kid. It made me the Halloweenie I am today. Let them be afraid (in a safe space). It's all part of growing up.

That's kind of the problem. They don't grow up. They remain immature little children forever, but now, they think they have the right to tell everyone else what they're allowed to do because they never matured into adulthood.

 

[Happy Masked Guy]

When parents get mixed up between Fox News and reality.

Thanks for this. I enjoyed this podcast. As a kid, I remember the local hospitals' x raying candy. I have a parent who worked for the state police for forty years. They never once prevented me from going tot'ing and only told me to make sure all my candy had sealed wrappers. The abductions and candy poisonings weren't mentioned to me.

 

[Happy Masked Guy]

Edit

 

[Happy Masked Guy]

Everyone is terrified to offend anyone these days. Most of the popular costumes from when I was a kid, they would never fly these days. You can't be a hobo, that's "offensive" to the homeless and if you do anything that could be interpreted as blackface, you're going to get attacked. Dress up like a witch? That's offensive to Wiccans! It's really stupid. Plus, the fact that if you wanted to wear anything but a cheap plastic mask with an elastic cord, you had to be creative and creativity these days seems a thing of the past. That's especially the case if you're decorating. Most people just buy overpriced crap from Home Depot or Spirit. Back in the day, you had to make it yourself. Plus, if you wanted to make a haunted house back in the day, you just did it. No insurance requirements. No government walkthroughs. Nobody got hurt. People had fun. Today, it's all absurdly expensive and covered in government oversight.

Screw that.

This has such ‘old person yells at cloud’ energy I can’t even.

I don’t think anyone is ‘terrified’ of offending anyone, just more conscious of the implications of their actions. Nor is anyone saying you CAN’T dress up in blackface. Rather that society has sufficiently matured to recognise that an adult dressing up in blackface is an idiot and/ or potential bigot who deserves to be called out as such. And yeah, equivocating objection to dressing up in blackface with dressing up as a witch is nonsense. About 5 people in the world would think that was offensive to Wiccans. Classic nutpicking.

*I also didn’t realise that there was such a strong desire out there to dress up as a hobo at Halloween. Waw.

I don’t know about insurance requirements in America for a home haunted house, and I agree that Halloween has changed over the years (like literally everything). But in terms of props, technology, communities, online tutorials etc, it has, for the most part, improved. Less people doing it, possibly. But the quality of home haunts is significantly better than 20 years ago.

Or whenever you last wore blackface 😝