Halloween 1949

On Oct. 27, 1949, a Shelton-Mason County Journal feature story began, "Imaginations of children run rampant on Hallowe'en night, Oct. 31. The evening is a combination of symbolic knick-knacks drawn from ancient beliefs, and warm parlors where the youngsters bob for apples, pin tails on horses, and eat donuts from a string. Hallowe'en, or properly All Hallows' Eve, is the eve before All Hallows, the festival of All Saints, which is Nov. 1. The holiday antedates Christ, the traditions going back to ancient pagans in Scotland and Ireland. The ancients believed that this was the one night in the year that ghosts and witches prowled about. The pagans built outdoor fires and cracked nuts to keep busy while directing keen eyes into dark bushes to watch for supernatural apparitions.

"School children this week are preparing for the event of Hallowe'en by creating masks, pictures, spooky costumes, and practicing skits and songs. The children at Bordeaux and Airport schools will have parties in individual classrooms, while those at Lincoln School are going to stage an all-school Hallowe'en assembly in the gymnasium, with individual room parties later in the day. In every class in all the schools, students are being urged to have fun but refrain from destructive tricks that may mar property or threaten physical abuse to innocent persons.

"Junior and senior high school students are not organizing special school parties for the day, although the observance will be marked by pleas that all confine their activities to nondestructive home and community affairs.

"In looking around Shelton during the week leading to Hallowe'en, your Journal scribe wonders who is having the most fun - the children with awesome hopes of frolic, the teachers with responsibilities, the merchants with livid displays, the parents with pending party arrangements, or the varied hobgoblins and pumpkin heads that are the center of attention."

In the Nov. 3rd Journal, Lilliwaup correspondent Francis Hill wrote that more than 60 people gathered on the evening of Friday, Oct. 28 to enjoy Halloween festivities at the Lilliwaup community hall, which local teenagers had decorated to create a spooky atmosphere. The evening began with a potluck supper, which was followed by games and contests for the younger generation, with the adults "hugely enjoying watching it all." Games included a pumpkin weight-guessing contest, bobbing for apples, tug-of-war and musical chairs. They were followed by the Simpson Clowns, who departed from their usual style of clowning by putting on a burlesque play. Finally, guests had a good time dancing to records, and some live accordion music, and enjoyed late-evening refreshments of doughnuts, coffee and cider.

Unfortunately, on Nov. 3, the Journal reported that "Two-legged hobgoblins did considerable and widespread damage in the Shelton districts on Halloween Monday. Most of the damage consisted of taking down street and directional signs, breaking of small pieces of outdoor property and ripping down mailboxes. Many car accessories disappeared or were damaged on vehicles parked on the streets, and some of those roaming about poured cans of paint over the tops of cars. A small Crosley parked on a downtown street had its roof ripped, and three times members of the police department were called to remove it from the sidewalk."

Police Chief Hinton said it was one of the most severe Halloweens he'd ever seen. "Most of the damage seemed to be done by persons over the age of 18 who traveled around town in cars. The school children seem to have stayed within the bounds of trick-or-treat traditions."

Many groups of the younger generation were seen soaping and waxing windows in the business area. Journal printer Del Cole, returning to the office about 7 p.m., rubbed his fingers on the front windowpane glass to see whether the staff had put on protective glycerin. Someone a block down the street saw him and let out a roar, "Hey, you piker - stop marking up the windows. Let the kids do it!"

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."