If you don’t look too closely when you’re passing a house on Fulton Street, you might think people are sitting out in lawn chairs just having a good time, some even waving as you pass – until you notice that nearly all of them happen to be skeletons, wife and husband, kids, cats, dogs, even a few rodents.
This is one of the wilder examples of how far some people will go to celebrate the most ghastly holiday of the year.
Even the usually well-to-do upscale homes on Boulevard East have gotten into the act this year, putting up a variety of scary and not-so scary displays on balconies, porches, and front lawns.
Trees along Highwood Avenue are strewn with green webs and spiders, while in one case a trash can without a lid shows the bloody bones of some unnamed horror just in time for the annual event.
Some houses are simply terrifying, such as the one around the curve on Hamilton Avenue where the entire front is filled with eerie shaped objects and spirit that may or may not be that of Alexander Hamilton, who died in a duel less than a block away.
The traditions of Halloween vary. Some claim it as a Celtic and serious post-harvest festival before the onset of winter. Early Americans actually saw Halloween as a holiday more akin to Thanksgiving, a time when Native Americans and colonists shared the bounty of a new land. Christians claim it is the day when the spirits of the dead roam free. And early on, Halloween was a day of mischief and blackmail for treats. Over time, as Halloween became more mainstream, a new mischief night emerged on the night before.
Halloween has become much more popular for decorating than in the past, and now competes with Christmas with its elaborate displays and multicolored lights.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
