A few memories and vignettes from past Halloweens in my life:
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...When I was ten, my younger sister and I were walking back home through the wooded area between our home, a townhouse in Arundel Estates, the Navy officer housing across the street from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and the officer's apartment housing in nearby Perry Circle. It
was late afternoon on Halloween with dusk and the time for trick-or-treats rapidly approaching, with an orange glow from the setting sun brightening the sky, and the air was full of anticipation for the activities to come that night. The residents in Perry Circle used to deck out each apartment foyer with fun, spooky regalia, and we could already hear the recorded "scary" sounds of cackling witches and moaning ghosts floating through the air as we stomped through the leaves, eager to get home so we could get our costumes on. As we walked, I turned to my sister and said, "Hey Syd - guess what?"
"What?", she answered.
"It's HALLOWEEN!!!", I screamed joyously, and we laughed and screamed together as we ran down the hill.
While innocuous as that passing remark was at the time, we always remembered it... and every Halloween since then over the past fifty years, the holiday hasn't passed where one of us, either in person, over the phone or via text, will greet the day by contacting each other and repeating that phrase - "It's HALLOWEEN!!!" It's a silly "tradition" between us, I know - but we've never forgotten it. It's a reminder to us of just how great and thrilling this date was when we were kids.
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...When I first moved to New Zealand in the early '90s, Halloween was still an all-but unknown holiday, celebrated chiefly by American expats and their families. At that time, it was almost unthinkable for Kiwi kids to go door-to-door that night, looking for treats. But I held out hope and kept with the ritual, buying candy my first year there and having it ready by the door in case someone came knocking (like every other American military family in Christchurch, I lived out in town like a local, renting a place in Casebrook). But my first Halloween there, I had no visitors. It was somewhat disappointing, but I hoped that the activity would eventually catch on.
During my second October 31st there, I once again purchased candy, and again had it ready to pass out, should someone stop by. A hour or some passed by that night, and again I had no nighttime visitors. However, at around 6:30 pm, just as I was about to give up, there was a ringing at my door. I opened it to find a little Kiwi boy and girl, no more than seven or eight years old, standing shyly and somewhat shame-facedly on my stoop. Neither of them were wearing any sort of costume; they stood there in street clothes.
"Hello, sir," the boy began. "We're awfully sorry to bother you... but, you see, in America, they have a thing on this night called -"
I cut him off instantly, happily shouting "TRICK-OR-TREATERS! FINALLY! WOO-HOO!!!" I'm sure my yelling initially scared the living bejesus out of them... but they quickly recovered, glad that they had come to the house of someone who knew why they were there! We all laughed together, and I piled candy into their waiting sacks and sent them merrily on their way. Thus ended my first real Halloween in New Zealand... Nowadays, the holiday is well-established in the country, and on this night the crowds of kids roaming neighborhoods seeking candy in many ways resembles the same activity back in the States... thank goodness.
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...Halloweens in my early/middle teens in Massachusetts were always interesting times. After the candy was gathered and deposited safely at home, the later evenings of October 31st were unofficially the times when scores got settled, power struggles culminated and lines and alliances were redrawn between the kids in our suburban neighborhoods on the South Shore. In many ways, it was open adolescent "warfare", a toned-down version of the Castellammarese War, but without casualties and between youngsters.
Guys would prepare for Halloween weeks in advance, burying cartons of eggs in the woods to rot and use as projectiles... hoarding firecrackers and cherry bombs... and filling old Christmas tree lights with paint to throw at opposing parties. During that post-trick-or-treat period, the sequence of events was that your respective group/gang would meet up, load up with these things, then start roaming the area, seeking out opposing groups to battle in the streets and in the woods. I know that, in some ways, it sounds sort of mean-spirited, street thuggy and semi-deliquent-y... but believe me when I say it was all done for fun, by suburban teens/pre-teens with time on their hands. I distinctly recall standing on a low hill overlooking the town near the end of one of those nights, and in all directions hearing the bang/pop and occasional flash of fireworks in every direction, and the distant roars of gangs of kids "battling" all over the place. For me at that time, that was the definitive sound of Halloween.
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I don't have any long-winded story in relation to these album offerings. I dug both of these up a few years ago while searching for Halloween-related music and sound effects. Disney released these records under the exact same name fifteen years apart. The first half of the 1964 release is clearly geared to a younger audience (ages three through eight), with the tracks presented in a Disneyesque storybook manner by a narrator, Ms. Laura Olsher (whose other claim to fame was participating in voice work for Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, one of the first animated holiday specials, playing Mrs. Cratchit). The second half dispenses with that story-time tone, and just provides the expected "spooky" holiday sounds (thunder, explosions, space alien sounds, etc.). The original liner notes and insert for this release (initially issued on vinyl) included notes and suggestions on how to host a "scary" holiday party; it was all very wholesome and of-its-time.
The 1979 version of this record is simply straight-ahead 'haunted house" sound effects - shrieks, groans, wind and torture devices. Here's the reverse side of the album with track details:
So, here you are - two superb holiday releases, both on Disneyland Records put out in their respective years, that I hope will set the tone for your Halloween festivities tonight and in the future, and help you and yours create the sort of lasting memories of this date that I still cherish and hold.
Have a happy and delightfully frightening Halloween!
- Various Artists - Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House (1964): Send Email
- Various Artists - Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House (1979): Send Email
