The Death of Halloween

[CannibalsOnCannabis]

Trick or treating is dead, pretty much, but Halloween is still polled as the most popular holiday in America outside of Christmas. Where I live, there aren't many kids out at night (due to good ol' fashioned parental paranoia, mainly), but the decorations are legion.

[jadewik]

I keep seeing threads claiming Halloween is Dead... but I don't really buy it. Sure, there's some turnover in neighborhoods when the kids grow up and move on... but the holiday is far from "Dead".

Trick-or-treating always goes in cycles.... parents get paranoid and take their kids to "safer" places... then a couple years down the road the ToT'ers start coming out again.

The only way Halloween is going to DIE is if people give up on it. Frankly, I don't care if I'm the last house in the world that passes out candy on October 31st-- Halloween will never DIE so long as I'm alive.

[CannibalsOnCannabis]

haha. EPIC.

[ilovemichaelmyers]

Halloween isn't dead here! I think alot of parents don't let their kids go tot'ing is because they are afraid something bad will happen. I have kids and I always go with them but I'm not afraid and I always check the candy.

[Morticia]

It isn't dead in our neighborhood. Most of them come in big groups though so it's not a constant flow. Expecting more this year being a saturday and all.

[Samhain]

In terms of consumerism, Halloween is second only to Christmas in money spent. That's pretty good evidence that our favorite holiday is alive and well. I mean, there are already Halloween decorations in a lot of stores even though where still in mid August. I don't think we'd be seeing Halloween items on shelves nearly three months before Oct 31 if the holiday was dying.

[iHaunt]

I know that I did start my thread here before, "Is Halloween Dying?" and I don't think so it will die! Halloween remains Forever!

[spinergy2002]

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[Pumpkin_Man]

Folks, Halloween is ANYTHING BUT dead. I can relate to what TheHallow1 is saying about living in a bore hole. I lived in a place just like it for 9 years. New Leonx, Ill. It was the worst place I ever lived. They did have a Halloween parade, but the ToTing was even more restricted then in my present town, and no matter how you slice it, a newly build house with an attached garage in a modern subdivision just does NOT lend itself to the Halloween spirit. We had jack o'lanterns and observed Halloween tradition, but it just was not the same as when we celebrated Halloween in that old huge brick house on Drake Street.

To boot, all the activities in that town were geared for little kids, and my sister and I were both high school teenagers at that time. I also had tons of homework to do, and while I had All Saints Day off, it usualy kept me busy for at least two hours.

On our first Halloween in the New Lenox house, we were right in the middle of unpacking boxes and organizing our rooms and the like. The day consisted of ONE tiny pumpkin on top of a card board box, an "Adams Family" tv special on a tiny black & white tv because our color tv was still in the creat and not ready to use, and it was a total and complete bore fest.

Moving out of New Lenox was the best thing I ever did.

Mike

[Alan Wake]

It's quite the opposite here, actually. I actually ran out of candy last year from a line of roughly 30 trick or treaters strong, which has never happened. While the era of the always-paranoid soccer mom is beginning to strengthen once more, Halloween has doubled in popularity due to the coming of age for the new generations of Trick or Treaters. It seems you live in a boring town, my friend. My condolences.

[Wicked Witch]

Not too many houses decorate where I live and our first couple of years here not too many people showed up - but we have been getting more each year and I am really looking forward to this year - I have a good feeling about it!

[adrian]

Same thing here my friend.... this old town i live in is full of history and character that would be PERFECT for a fun loving town he would have EVERYONE on board to celebrate the great holiday..... the problem is is that they just simply DON'T.. West Point is a town with a classy ghost story which is quickly being forgotten as the town seems to be dying along side its residents..

every one on this site needs to get together, we all move to one town, buy houses, and all be neighbors lol that way around this time of year we could all create the PERFECT little town

[Alan Wake]

Same thing here my friend.... this old town i live in is full of history and character that would be PERFECT for a fun loving town he would have EVERYONE on board to celebrate the great holiday..... the problem is is that they just simply DON'T.. West Point is a town with a classy ghost story which is quickly being forgotten as the town seems to be dying along side its residents..

every one on this site needs to get together, we all move to one town, buy houses, and all be neighbors lol that way around this time of year we could all create the PERFECT little town

THE West Point?

[shanda]

I have been so busy starting school. I am teaching in a new school this year, but it is still in the county where I live. Today, when I was playing an icebreaker game with my 6th graders, I shared that I LOVE Halloween. I had a little boy ask me, " Is that your house with all the spiders?" IT IS!!!! I was so excited to know that several kids in my classes make an annual drive by my house!!! Not even knowing who lived there!!! It excites me to know that my house has become a holiday tradition!!! WoW!!!!

Halloween is only dead if people forget the fun of it!! It is up to us Creepy, Freaky, Fun loving Halloweenists to keep reminding people of it.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Adrien, Dwight Illinois was founded in 1785. We have houses that are truely old and creepy looking. That woudl be a great place for all of us Halloween lovers. It's also located right on old Route 66, so there are plenty of great ghost stories both local and about the road.

First off, we have my house that's supposedly haunted. Some of the neighbors reported seeing "orbs." Then there's the Ghost Train. According to legend some people have spotted or heard Abraham Lincoln's Funeral Train passing through town, which it actualy did back in 1865 when he was assissinated. The town looks pretty ordinary, but there's a lot of history, both real and imagined.

ARthas, you are quite correct about Halloween doubling in popularity, and I don't ever see it dieing, but I no longer live in New Lenox. I live in Dwight Illinois, which is ANYTHING BUT boring. We have a "Harvest Days" festival every September, and they have all kinds of great Halloween fun. Even the town itself put's up Halloween decorations in public areas.

Mike