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    Home » Holidays

    I Was Lied To

    Published by Pam Kessler | 398 words. · About 2 minutes to read this article. - 20 Comments

    Tonight my son is going Trick-Or-Treating.

    Don't even get me started on why towns schedule Trick-Or-Treat on October 28th rather than oh, let's say Halloween.

    Vintage Trick-Or-Treat costumes

    Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

    Anyway, you would think I would have all sorts of awesome stories of my Trick-Or-Treating as a child. Doesn't everyone?

    Well, no. As a matter of fact, I don't have very many memories of Trick-Or-Treating because I grew up in a small town in Ohio.

    Vintage Trick-Or-Treat costumes

    Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

    Back in the 1960's some kids somewhere in this country had been given apples with razor blades and needles in them for Halloween and our small town in Ohio and a lot of other towns in the area stopped having Trick-Or-Treat.

    Yes, they outlawed a long standing tradition because the world was a big bad scary place back then. Cue scary music.

    Vintage Trick-Or-Treat costumes

    Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

    No more full size candy bars. Yep, they didn't even make snack size candy bars back then, you got the full sized ones when you went out on Halloween.

    OK, you also got homemade popcorn balls and pennies, so it wasn't all Halloween nirvana.

    This whole thing happened when I was around 6 or 7, so I really only have a few years of Halloween fun that I can remember.

    Vintage Trick-Or-Treat costumes

    Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

    When I decided to do a post on this subject I started Googling it trying to find out when the razor blade and needle incidents occurred, what town it was in, did they find the culprits, etc. Thought it would be an interesting story.

    Vintage Trick-Or-Treat costumes

    Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

    Well, you know what I found?

    The majority of these needle and razor blade stories in the 1960's were hoaxes. They cancelled my Halloween memories because of a hoax!!!

    Are you kidding me! I want my childhood back!

    Vintage Trick-Or-Treat costumes

    Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

    Who would steal Halloween from this sweet child?

    Photo courtesy of Pam's Mommy

    Guess I can gain some comfort in the fact that my parents didn't have to waste money on silly Halloween costumes, jack-o-lanterns or candy bars. Yeah, that was one benefit of the whole thing (insert sarcasm)!

    BTW, I didn't need Photoshop or PicMonkey to add sepia tone to my photo, it was already there. It was popular at the time. Along with the pixie haircut.

    Vintage-Halloween-Costume-1

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    Comments

    1. Sue

      October 29, 2010 at 11:57 pm

      In the olden days, there were no set hours to trick or treat- you stayed out until house lights were turned off. And even then, you'd stand and yell out for a treat! (very few people even had doorbells back then in our little ol' town) It was such fun. We ate people's candied apples and hot dogs without worry. Full sized candy bars and boxes of Cracker Jacks were what everyone hoped to find in the bottom of the pillowcase. Back then, the actual prize inside the CJ box was worth hunting for! Aaahh- memories....

      Reply
    2. Vicki

      October 29, 2010 at 3:46 pm

      Love the pixie! I totally remember those stories too. My parents inspected all our candy and nothing homemade! Can still smell those horrible plastic masks. lol Have a great weekend!

      Vicki at Rusty Rooster Vintage

      Reply
    3. Daphne Nicole & Lynda Cade

      October 29, 2010 at 8:07 am

      Hi Pam, so sorry that you missed out on the Halloween fun... but I also remember those stories, we lived in a small town and pretty much new every one, so we continued to go Trick or Treating! I wanted to thank you for stopping by and visiting and for your sweet comments... I love reading them. Blessings~~ Daphne

      Reply
    4. Daphne Nicole & Lynda Cade

      October 29, 2010 at 8:07 am

      Hi Pam, so sorry that you missed out on the Halloween fun... but I also remember those stories, we lived in a small town and pretty much new every one, so we continued to go Trick or Treating! I wanted to thank you for stopping by and visiting and for your sweet comments... I love reading them. Blessings~~ Daphne

      Reply
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