Interesting haloween vintage story

[reetpleat]

Heard on the radio that in the middle of the depression, haloween was getting a little out of hand wiht pranks, tricks and vandalism. there was a large public service campaign, one of the most successful it is reported, to encourage kids to forego the tricks and instead, go house to house asking for candy. The previous tradition had been more of an old custom collecting some kind of food stuff, but not loads of candy.

And childhood obesity was born.

 

[Twitch]

In the 50s our only tricks were to mark up windows with wax, usually the big windows on stores and parked cars. Not too naughty[huh]

 

[Feraud]

It is interesting to note pranks and vandalism have always been with us.
Pranks and such are not the exclusive property of today's youth.
We might not have the obesity problem noted in studies if children gorged themselves only on Halloween.

 

[Big Man]

Vintage Halloween pranks ...

I was talking with my Dad (83 years old) about Halloween pranks of the past. He said that when he was a boy, the Constable of the little township of Nebo, NC was Mr. Sigman. Every Halloween, the local boys would pull up the board sidewalks and stack them in Mr. Sigman's front yard. After the sidewalks were replaced with cement walks, they moved on to shooting at his rooster with their slingshots and overturning his outhouse.

Of course when I was a kid, I never did anything bad on Halloween.

 

[Feraud]

A great story Big Man!

 

[Big Man]

A great story Big Man!

I imagine it's hard for some to visualize wooden sidewalks and outhouses, but they are both a part of the "golden era" more than one would think (and not too far in the past in some places for that matter).

 

[Feraud]

Wooden sidewalks and outhouses are a wonderful visual in the context of your story.
I can imagine how upset folks must have been after a night of pranks. It is not very different from waking up and seeing cars and homes covered with eggs and shaving cream.

 

[LocktownDog]

Well, it really sounds bad now, but my brother and I used to collect roadkill and close them up in mailboxes. One family had just left for vacation for two weeks and came back to raccoon/maggot pulp.

I remember one warm Halloween season where he and I climbed into the trees hanging above a road. We dropped eggs into the convertibles driven by the foliage-seeking tourists coming in from the city. The Chief of Police caught us red-handed with that one. Unfortunately he was best friends with our dad at the time. It took a long time to look the old man in the eyes again.

Richard

 

[Big Man]

... Unfortunately he was best friends with our dad at the time. It took a long time to look the old man in the eyes again.

Richard

How many of you remember when the words "do you want me to tell your parents" was a great deterrent to crime?

 

[Feraud]

How many of you remember when the words "do you want me to tell your parents" was a great deterrent to crime?

Not only a deterrent to crime. I got busted smoking a cigarette in a schoolyard as a youngster and was hit with that line!

 

[Big Man]

Heck, I'm 52 years old and that line still works on me.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I was such a good kid, I just went trick-or-treating with my older brother, no pranks.

Our family had a little summer cabin near a logging town up in northern California, not far from where The Captain lives, and the town had wooden sidewalks and the "main street" was dirt. This was in the '60s and '70s.

We didn't have a TV in the cabin but we did have a radio, and it really was like living in an earlier era. I remember those days with great fondness.

 

[Big Man]

I was such a good kid, I just went trick-or-treating with my older brother, no pranks ...

Yeah, like we're supposed to believe that. With that devilish grin and sparkle in your eyes, I bet you were one of those kids who did a lot (but never was caught).

 

[jamespowers]

I bet you were one of those kids who did a lot (but never was caught).

Isn't that the whole idea?
I never did anything untoward either---except there was that blinking road sign.........

 

[Lincsong]

Isn't that the whole idea?
I never did anything untoward either---except there was that blinking road sign.........

ahem, what about Mr. Bronstein??????

 

[Lincsong]

Heck, I'm 52 years old and that line still works on me.

I saw one of my freinds from school and he has a tattoo on each arm. He told me; "and don't mention it to my Dad the next time you see him"lol

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Yeah, like we're supposed to believe that. With that devilish grin and sparkle in your eyes, I bet you were one of those kids who did a lot (but never was caught).

Nope, total L7 here. I didn't even TP the house of the old couple who handed out little baggies of Cheerios every year. lol

 

[jamespowers]

ahem, what about Mr. Bronstein??????

Who is that? [huh]

 

[Michaelson]

My favorite Halloween prank story was told to me by an old work partner who grew up in the early 40's in a small rural Ohio town.

One of the favorite 'tricks' was to stack a corn 'fodder shock' (you've seen them. Stacks of corn stalks on ends, tied at the top) in the middle of the road, make traffic stop when they came to the corn, then jump OUT of the shock and yell 'BOO!!".

This particular Halloween, they had placed their shock of corn in the middle of the road, and the 'mean old codger' of the town came roaring down the road in his old Model A. Instead of stopping his car, he just plowed through the corn and kept going.

Needless to say this infuriated the boys, and justifying their next action with the fact that sometimes a boy would hide IN the shock and jump out at a stopped driver, then figured this guy COULD have killed one of them by driving through the way he did.....SO.......

They restacked the corn and waited for him to return from town. He did, and seeing the shock replaced on the road, put his car in second gear and plowed through the stack yet again.....but with a different result. This time they hid an old cast iron pot belly stove in the shock of corn. Needless to say what happened to the Model A!!!!

It was one of those 'pranks' that no one was caught, no one told, and the old codger was told by the cops 'next time stop and check before you drive through something you can't see through!"lol

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Big Man]

Isn't that the whole idea?
I never did anything untoward either---except there was that blinking road sign.........

"Blinking road sign" ? Do I know you? You wouldn't happen to have been riding around on the back roads of Burke County about 1971 would you? There was a very interesting "blinking road sign" story from my misspent youth.