Oct 9, 2013 2 min read

There is no date on a calendar to point to that shows when Halloween ceased being a minor observance at best – and quite often an annoying one at that for property owners – and made the move into something bordering on the obsessive.

It used to be that Halloween was for little children whose mothers dressed then in cute little costumes and who went around the neighborhood mooching candy treats from neighbors whose own children were doing likewise.

The kiddos would mumble “trick or treat” and the neighbors would feign fright or delight at the originality of the costumed figures who had no idea what the significance of the “trick” part was because what they wanted were treats.

A few things happened, I’m sure, to spoil the fun for the gleeful little kids. Bad kids took it upon themselves to put the trick back into trick or treat by applying bar soap scribbles to house and car windows, draping bushes and trees with trails of toilet paper, ringing doorbells and then running away, and throwing shelled field corn at houses just to hear it clatter against the siding and roofs.

Retailers found a ready market for teeny-weeny candy bars and big bags of candy corn and individually wrapped hard candies, and while they were at it, they produced all manner of flimsy costumes and ugly rubber masks.

Then the adults got into the act, holding theme parties that called for elaborate costumes, the more competitive the better. And food and beverages were served, so much of the latter that kiddies walking in their own neighborhoods were at risk from speeding and/or drunken drivers. It is all now becoming a horror show, ugly masks or not.

Oh, and did I mention decorating houses with orange twinkle lights, blow-up witches and monsters with purple faces, or lighted, plastic, air-filled pumpkins?

What happened to the fun, the little kids saying “boo” and giggling and counting the pieces of candy that the neighbors put in their pillowcases? Where are the homemade candy apples and little waxed paper bags of peanut brittle?

What’s scary is that it’s all gone now.