Un-Haunted House
now inhabited by the not quite a believer David L Lewis
Halloween has been around for more than a thousand years in various forms. Originally it was a Christian (Catholic) observance, All-Saints Day, celebrated on first day of November. It became increasingly secular over the centuries until its religious trappings all but disappeared. Today Halloween is considered a ‘holiday’ for dress-up and fun, especially for children, and is best time of year for candy sales.
Growing up in St Louis during 1950’s All-Saints Eve was a big deal. Bigger in part because our Catholic friends got the next day off school, and we were in a really Catholic town. There were goblins and ghosts running around everywhere. When we were ‘little’ our big brother went with us Trick-or-Treating across the whole ‘neighborhood’. Our neighborhood being half way up and half way down the street we lived on. Terry knew our neighborhood and the people, how far we could travel and get back “in time”. He knew who gave best and worst treats, and didn’t bother with the few houses with no porch light on.
When we first came to Indiana in 1996 our home was next to Clearview Cemetery, about 100 yards up a private drive off State Road 340W. In the 10 years we lived out there we might possibly have seen more ghosts than Trick-or-Treaters. Would not have seen anyone on Halloween if we hadn’t had grandkids still young enough to be dragged out to grandma’s house to show off their costumes. Unless, of course, some recently departed “late” neighbor came over unseen from Clearview.
In 2006 we moved into town, on a major through street. If you’re keeping score at home, that would be seventeen All-Saints eves. In the early years we had a lot of visitors in all kinds of costumes. And, although a bit older, the grandkids had less distance to be dragged (Kay always had a special bag of sugar-high junk for them),
Time, as it is inclined to do, gradually reduced the numbers of neighbor children who were still, well, children. And, with all the fear aroused about not knowing your neighbors, and alternate activities created, year-by-year the number of visitors declined. Last year I think we might have had two, if that. Just don’t think the ghosts and gremlins seen today even remember the 1950s. Kay, as always, bought a lot of candy. It took us until Christmas to force-feed it to our grandkids.
Plan for this coming All-Saints Eve is three-fold: (1) Don’t expect any ghosts to visit our house, (2) hope Kay buys just enough candy I like so I can eat it all myself, (3) go out to Clearview and see what comes up!
Anyhow, do watch out for any goblins who may come your way,
theUnHauntedDaddy!
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