Halloween 2020
Halloween traditions run deep in the Pfister household. (Pictured: Dr. Pfister’s wife, Terri, and son, Trent)
As you are now well aware, I love Fall and yes, I also love Halloween.
The memories that I have as a child growing up… carving pumpkins, decorating the house, and deciding on a costume for a given year… I truly hold dear. As a boy growing up in Hinckley, there was no sweeter holiday ‘cause I loved candy (and the wall-to-wall fillings in my mouth are proof, along with the fact we had well water with no fluoride).
Dressing up and becoming whatever my inner id or ego wanted to be that year - be it a super hero, fireman, cowboy or whatever was popular on TV - was always a joy. My mom would begin sewing and crafting costumes in August, and she would finally have my brother, sister, and I fitted into some sort of reality escape by Halloween night! Living on what we kids felt was the dull side of Center road, we would have mom drive us down Center to the development by Skyland golf course. Since this was our bus route, my brother and I had already scouted out ahead of time which end of the development held the treasure trove of chocolate. This was scientifically determined by which houses had the most kids getting on the bus and who had the best decorations. It was great fun trying to outdo your friends and siblings… pillowcases were definitely a step up from paper bags. In those days, parents dropped you off and came back in a couple hours to take you home. To my knowledge, no one ever came up missing or found things planted in their candy. Come on… it was Hinckley in the 60’s, the home of buzzards and TV personality Big Chuck Schodowski!
Once back home, we sat in a circle and traded and bartered for hours, then stashed our loot, usually under the bed. We would sacrificially eat small daily amounts, trying to stretch the ’goods’ out ‘til the next sucrose extravaganza… Easter! It never lasted. But it was our first lesson in self-discipline and planning.
These same fond memories my wife and I have tried to create for our own children. Our boys are now in their 20s and not even mildly interested in going out Trick or Treating, much to my wife’s disappointment! But boy it was fun while it lasted. Our youngest son has kept the Spirit of Halloween going by decorating our house and, up ‘til this year, touring all the haunted offerings of Northern Ohio. He and I would pack up our SUV full of friends and tour the Haunted Laboratory and Schoolhouse in Akron, Blossom’s Carnival of Horrors, and end with Seven Floors of Hell at the Berea fairgrounds.
We haven’t made it to spend a night in the Mansfield Reformatory, but it is high on the list for next year. When our son graduated from college, I asked him where he would like to go for a graduation trip… yep… Salem, Massachusetts! If you haven’t gone there, you must put it on your list. But not the week of Halloween (some 40-60 thousand ghost-seeking souls make their pilgrimage there during that week). We went 3 weeks before and stayed at a haunted (supposedly) B and B just down the street from where Hokus Pokus was filmed. This is my son’s favorite non-killing Halloween movie and it was pretty cool going to all the film sites and doing midnight tours of cemeteries. We didn’t find or see any spectre apparitions, ghosts, or wayward spirits… much to my son’s dismay. But you knew they could be there, for this is Salem, famous for witches, spirits, and a House of Seven Gables!
My concern for this Covid Fall is that the only memories will be of quarantines and closures…
This October, we have a special treat - two full moons in one month. The first being the Harvest moon on the 1st and 2nd of October and the second the Hunter’s moon on October 31st. But since both fall in the same calendar month, it is called a Blue moon. The moon is not actually blue in color, but is called that according to folklore. So if you’ve always wanted to say, “Once in a Blue moon it will happen,” now you have your chance.
And to the wise guy who said we would only get a pandemic once in a Blue moon… thanks a lot!
This Covid Halloween, be sure to keep your family safe, but I encourage you to get creative and figure out new ways to make this Halloween your best yet!
Have a spooktacular weekend.
- Dr. Pfister