Halloween used to start the second the streetlights came on.
I was a witch more often than not, but also fondly remember a homemade mouse costume in honor of my favorite toy, Mousey Grey.
It was usually a pillowcase, not a plastic pumpkin for collecting, because a pillowcase held more, and homemade popcorn balls took up a lot of room. My grandma always made those and hand-packaged them in cute Halloween-themed wax bags made by Beistle.
Back then, no one gave out full-size bars because that was insanely extravagant. And when the yuppies moved in and handed out toothbrushes and toothpaste, we chucked those in the bushes.
Nobody planned a route. You just walked until your feet hurt and your bag got heavy, then when you got back to your home base, the parents were sharing hors d’oeuvres and highballs, while we dumped our bounty onto the living room floor and got down to the serious business of trading for favorites.
I didn't expect to find that feeling again as a grown-up because, as it goes, things change and Halloween for many neighborhoods became locked down Trunk-or-Treat locations that finished before sunset. But taking to the road and traveling the Northeast during autumn restored my faith in the Halloween of my youth.
I specifically planned a trip to Salem in October, where we stayed at one of the more interesting RV parks of our entire trip, Winter Island Park, run by the City of Salem. It is basically a parking lot on the water behind a retired Coast Guard Air Station from the 40s, and has a long history all the way back to when it was called Fort Pickering, dating back to 1643!
It's centrally located, and everyone who stays there is ready for a little nostalgic Halloween fun. My trip was the year that Adam Sandler’s movie, Hubie Halloween was released and all the RVs were decorated with pumpkins and ghosties, and you could buy a “Swiss Army thermos” in nearly every Salem store.
My favorite decorated RV sat catty-corner to ours, and was a simple white sheet draped from the camper where dancing skeletons were projected. That’s all it took. It brought me back to age ten. To the feeling when costumes were handmade along with the treats, and sometimes you’d happen upon that weird neighbor who thought tricks were joyously funny—and were an acceptable giveaway instead of a simple Snickers bar.
Not even a stick of Fruit Stripe gum! Come on, buddy!
But, having grown up on Scooby Doo and Murder She Wrote, for me Halloween was never really about the candy. It was about the cozy feeling of mystery. It was about chilly air, hot apple cider, and a real-life treasure hunt. It was being let loose in my own neighborhood after dark, an early taste of independence. It was seeing familiar streets turn a little strange but knowing every adult I knew was there if anyone needed anything. It was about coming home with a story worthy of the opening, “It was a dark and stormy night…”
As I look back, I realize now it's the feeling of pure Americana: Frankenstein on his BMX with a jack-o’-lantern dangling from the handlebars, fairies and princesses sparkling under the street lights, little boys dressed as army soldiers, Draculas, and ghosts hiding behind the bushes trying to scare their older sister and her friends as they rounded the corner toward that last house at the end of the block that only the bravest dared to go.
What traveling through New England reminded me is that those feelings aren't necessarily lost to childhood. Sometimes they're still out there, waiting in a town you've never visited, on a chilly October evening, beneath a string of orange lights.
Maybe that's part of why we travel. Not just to discover somewhere new, but to rediscover something we thought we'd left behind.
So tonight, do it for nostalgia, for Americana, for the way we grew up: leave the porch light on. Hand out the good stuff. And if your neighborhood doesn’t have the traffic, go somewhere that makes you feel ten again.
A Little Halloween Treat from 50x50 Travels
Speaking of rediscovering the things we love, we've created something new for our fellow travelers.
Our new MapApp is now included with every shirt or bag purchase.
We designed it to offer nostalgia and it's our way of giving back to you what we also value: Discovery, appreciation, exploration, and remembrance.
P.S. In case you were wondering, yes, there's a reason I mentioned Beistle earlier. Out of our sincere love for Halloween and all things nostalgic, the Beistle Company also designs and makes our gift boxes. We try to infuse a little pure Americana into everything we do, right down to the packaging.
~Safe Travel-&-Treat 🎃
