Why Halloween is scary.

[ThirdEye]

Good read.

Forget all the guys in Bernie Madoff masks and tutus. If you want to see something really scary on Halloween, come to my apartment around 9 p.m.I'm letting my kids eat unwrapped candy.

They can eat any homemade goodies they get, too, and that unholy of unholies: candy where the wrapper is slightly torn. And on the very off chance they get an apple, they can gnaw it to the core, so long as there's not a razor-sized, dripping gash on the side.

Which always seemed like it would be a kind of give-away that something was amiss.

It's not that I'm cavalier about safety. I'm just a sucker -- so to speak -- for the facts. And the fact is: No child has been poisoned by a stranger's goodies on Halloween, ever, as far as we can determine. Joel Best, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware, studied November newspapers from 1958 to the present, scouring them for any accounts of kids felled by felonious candy. And...he didn't find any. He did find one account of a boy poisoned by a Pixie Stix his father gave him. Dad did it for the insurance money and, Best says, he probably figured that so many kids are poisoned on Halloween, no one would notice one more.

Well, they did and dad was executed. That's Texas for you. Another boy died after he got into his uncle's heroin stash and relatives tried to make it look like he'd been killed by candy. And that's it.

Now look at how the fear that our nice, normal-seeming neighbors might actually be moppet-murdering psychopaths has turned the one kiddie independence day of the year into yet another excuse to micromanage childhood.

It's not just the fact that churches and community centers are throwing parties so that kids don't go out on their own. It's not just the fact that Bobtown, Pennsylvania has gone so far as to "cancel" Halloween altogether -- for the sake of "safety." (The authorities there were surprised to find this decision unpopular.) It's not even that those of us who'd like to hand out homemade cookies know they'll be instantly tossed in the trash.

No, the truly spooky thing is that Halloween has become a riot of warnings that are way scarier than the holiday itself. The website Halloween-Safety.com recommends that if your child is carrying a fake butcher knife, make sure the tip is "smooth and flexible enough to not cause injury if fallen upon."

Excuse me? Has anyone ever seen a knife land blade-side up? And then fallen on it? Meantime, schools around the country are sending this note home to parents: "Please, no scary costumes." In England last year a man was ordered by his landlord to take down his lawn decorations because the zombies were too "realistic."

In other words: They looked too much like...real zombies?

Our fears are so overblown they'd be laughable if they didn't sound so much like the fears that are haunting us the rest of the year. Fears that have lead to parents to wait with their kids at the school bus stop, and keep them inside on sunny afternoons. Fears that make parents forbid their kids from skipping down the street to invite a friend out to play. That's the everyday version of Halloween fear: The fear that we cannot trust our children amongst our neighbors for one single second because, who knows, they might be pedophiles just waiting to pounce.

If you want to see what childhood is becoming, look how at what Halloween has already become: A parent-planned, climate-controlled, child-coddled, corporate-sponsored "event," where kids are considered too delicate to even survive the sight of a scary costume.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lenore..._b_340163.html

[CoolNitro]

Good read indeed and so very true.

[VW_Factor]

100% truth. Fear mongering by silly people has lead us to this. I for one, hate it.

[wabbitslayer]

No Candy Here

Actually, that's really scary, perhaps in an unintended way. If you were a kid out going down the street, and you knew why the sign was up, would YOU go there?

I might post one in front of our house, just for laughs.....with a "Welcome, please come in boys and girls" sign below it.

[Auric]

Gotta park the "FREE CANDY" van out of sight in the garage too.

[javiermq]

I always thought halloween was another stupid pathetic excuse to drive up sales invented by the american-invented industry of holidays. Dont see the need to have a day in the year for "frights".

[FrAg Of FuRy]

Originally Posted by javiermq

I always thought halloween was another stupid pathetic excuse to drive up sales invented by the american-invented industry of holidays. Dont see the need to have a day in the year for "frights".

Like Valentine's Day? Sweetest Day? Halloween is with em! The economy thrives off these pointless days of spending and the stupidity of the consumption-ridden American.

[shrike126]

Originally Posted by FrAg Of FuRy

Like Valentine's Day? Sweetest Day? Halloween is with em! The economy thrives off these pointless days of spending and the stupidity of the consumption-ridden American.

Are we saying the Americans created those holidays?

[javiermq]

Originally Posted by shrike126

Are we saying the Americans created those holidays?

No, they re-invented them as yearly cash-in calendar franchises.

[Auric]

Don't be daft. It's an ancient holy day which celebrates pirates and robots with the mass consumption of HFCS.

[lumpyhed]

Originally Posted by Auric

Don't be daft. It's an ancient holy day which celebrates pirates and robots with the mass consumption of HFCS.

You forgot the frickin ninjas!

[Cordl3ssPen]

Originally Posted by wabbitslayer

No Candy Here

Actually, that's really scary, perhaps in an unintended way. If you were a kid out going down the street, and you knew why the sign was up, would YOU go there?

I might post one in front of our house, just for laughs.....with a "Welcome, please come in boys and girls" sign below it.

[shrike126]

Originally Posted by Auric

Don't be daft. It's an ancient holy day which celebrates pirates and robots with the mass consumption of HFCS.

I completely agree with this.

[shockwave]

Originally Posted by javiermq

I always thought halloween was another stupid pathetic excuse to drive up sales invented by the american-invented industry of holidays. Dont see the need to have a day in the year for "frights".

How about fun? Seriously, how boring is your life that you can't stand the thought of people spending a little extra money to have some spooky fun one day of the year? Prude.

[XSBagage]

Originally Posted by shockwave

How about fun? Seriously, how boring is your life that you can't stand the thought of people spending a little extra money to have some spooky fun one day of the year? Prude.

Can one really opt out of Halloween while the rest of the neighborhood is in?

[Perky McGiggles]

Only holiday I have problems with is Valentines day, and maybe to a lesser extent mothers/fathers day. Those are corporate cash grabs pure and simple. It's not wrong to lavish your loved one with gifts, or show appreciation for your parents if they deserve it, but when it becomes obligatory on that day to do something that's when it bothers me.

You could buy your girlfriend flowers the week before, but because of this sense of obligation in our society, if you don't do it on Valentines day you're a horrible person (I'm generalizing, but hopefully you see my point). And it just creates a bunch of sheep all staring at cards the day before wondering what the hell they should get. Seriously, if you're in the store and a holiday is approaching look at all the people standing in the card or candy isles "looking" for something to get through the holiday with. I've always hated that.

Halloween obligations aren't that bad, it's just a fun event and no one really cares whether you do anything on it or not, just an excuse to have fun. But don't get me started on Christmas... November and even October is Christmas preparation month(s). That holiday is so bastardized now it's become entirely a corporate cash cow. Though people still have the choice to be part of it or not.

Uh, I guess that was an OT rant but oh well. I agree with the kids childhoods being taken away from them slowly but surely. Not just on Halloween but with everything. I'm not against safety, but it seems to be going too far now a days.

[shockwave]

Originally Posted by XSBagage

Can one really opt out of Halloween while the rest of the neighborhood is in?

Yeah. Turn your lights off and go sit in a coffee shop if little kids wanting candy is such a huge deal to you.

[Alientank]

Halloween has become a shadow of its former self, at least in my city. I'm only 25 but I remember as a kid there were droves of children going around. There were line-ups at doors to get candy because there were so many kids, and we'd be out from 7-9:30 some years. My parents would load up on candy and be out of it by 7:30 pm (and the little kids started coming around 6:30).

There were years we would fill our pillow sacks, go home and empty them, then go back out and get more. In the last 5 years my parents have been getting 10 kids a year coming to the door. My buddy Chris who I went around with as kids, has lived in the same house for years and seen numbers dwindle. When I picked him up last night to go to a buddys for our Halloween party he only had 8 kids so far (and it was 7:30 by then).

It's really sad what has happened. I just want to go to a PTA meeting and step to the mic and ask "why?"

[Cartigan]

Originally Posted by Alientank

Halloween has become a shadow of its former self, at least in my city. I'm only 25 but I remember as a kid there were droves of children going around. There were line-ups at doors to get candy because there were so many kids, and we'd be out from 7-9:30 some years. My parents would load up on candy and be out of it by 7:30 pm (and the little kids started coming around 6:30).

There were years we would fill our pillow sacks, go home and empty them, then go back out and get more. In the last 5 years my parents have been getting 10 kids a year coming to the door. My buddy Chris who I went around with as kids, has lived in the same house for years and seen numbers dwindle. When I picked him up last night to go to a buddys for our Halloween party he only had 8 kids so far (and it was 7:30 by then).

It's really sad what has happened. I just want to go to a PTA meeting and step to the mic and ask "why?"

Because of all the sudden influx of child rapists that prowl the streets on halloween and hand out poisoned candy and apples with razor blades in them. So all the parents take their kids to Church events where they "trunk or treat" (whatever the **** THAT is).

[Quickstrike]

Originally Posted by Alientank

Halloween has become a shadow of its former self, at least in my city. I'm only 25 but I remember as a kid there were droves of children going around. There were line-ups at doors to get candy because there were so many kids, and we'd be out from 7-9:30 some years. My parents would load up on candy and be out of it by 7:30 pm (and the little kids started coming around 6:30).

Yeah, I remember those days. When I was a kid, the door bell would be ringing all night. This year, only 5 different groups showed up.

Oh well. More candy left over for myself .

[DewFuel]

Originally Posted by Alientank

Halloween has become a shadow of its former self, at least in my city. I'm only 25 but I remember as a kid there were droves of children going around. There were line-ups at doors to get candy because there were so many kids, and we'd be out from 7-9:30 some years. My parents would load up on candy and be out of it by 7:30 pm (and the little kids started coming around 6:30).

There were years we would fill our pillow sacks, go home and empty them, then go back out and get more. In the last 5 years my parents have been getting 10 kids a year coming to the door. My buddy Chris who I went around with as kids, has lived in the same house for years and seen numbers dwindle. When I picked him up last night to go to a buddys for our Halloween party he only had 8 kids so far (and it was 7:30 by then).

It's really sad what has happened. I just want to go to a PTA meeting and step to the mic and ask "why?"

25 in January here, too. I remember back in middle school (about 12 years ago) if Halloween was on a weekend we would be out of the door in the morning / afternoon and not back in until 12am. Kids knew the best houses that constantly delivered amazing candy (king sized butterfingers!). While there weren't lines, you could see hundreds of kids outside. It was one day in the year where the kids could run amok. Decorations everywhere, smoke machines, lights and all kinds of creepy decorations. That was the one holiday I used to look forward to. One year my brother came home with a yard bag full of candy (50 gallon yard bag). I used to haul in 2-3 pillowcases. People used to run out of candy by the evening, but we still continued trick or treating.

The past few years I don't even see decorations outside. We had a grand total of 5 trick or treaters this year, all under 10 years old. We stopped stocking up on candy because no one comes anymore. It's a shame, cause I used to enjoy the holiday so much. I feel like the youth is missing out on a great experience