Category: Vintage Halloween Insanity

Vintage Thanksgiving Insanity

As I noted last year, several Halloween traditions were once associated with Thanksgiving in America. I first noticed this when I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn back in high school and was completely mystified by the part where children were clearly trick or treating in November. When I noticed how several old magazine articles …

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No More Vintage Halloween Insanity?

Since when do ghosts have ear?

Last year, I had high hopes for the 2011 installment of my “Vintage Halloween Insanity” series. Not only had I found a walk-through description of a 1915 haunted attraction, but it was quite possibly the most ludicrously dangerous of the old Halloween articles I had ever found after it seeming like I had run out …

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Modern Halloween…Sanity?

I might goof on Halloween articles from old issues of Popular Science in the last few Halloween countdowns, but I should be fair and show some modern examples of their material. After all, things are certainly much safer (and saner) nowadays, right? Sadly, Halloween articles seem to be few and far between these days and …

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Still More Vintage Halloween Insanity

For the last two years that I’ve do this, I always think I’ve found the most dangerous and foolhardy Halloween how-to and will never find anything that will top it…only to then find something that does so. This year was no exception. When I first read the “Mechanical Halloween Pranks” article from an October 1918 …

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More Vintage Halloween Insanity

Before I begin, I want to give some credit where it’s due. This post (and several of my other recent entries) would not have been possible if I hadn’t learned the joys of Google Books from Atomic Mystery Monster’s link-filled JREF posts. Long-time readers will likely remember an entry from the first GdL Halloween countdown …

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Vintage Halloween Insanity

Here’s a scanned article from a 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix called “Thrills and Chills for your Hallowe’en Party.” Emphasis on “chills,” because there’s no way you could get away with 99% percent of those ideas without getting roped into a personal injury lawsuit.

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