Halloween costumes before walmart and Fright,inc.....
These are my great-aunts (way back long before they became my great-aunts, and definitely way before I was anything at all).
That's Onie on the left, and Lucy on the right. When Onie (it's short for Leona) gave me this picture, she wrote on the back that she was a pumpkin, and Lucy was a gentleman farmer, apparently a gay gentleman farmer, cause of the big bow in her hair.
Freddie Krueger wasn't even a distant dream at this time (probably around 1905 maybe?). The original Dracula novel was published, but Lon Chaney was still an extra. The Mummy had yet to frighten me to death, crawling out of the tomb with the help of tannis leaves, looking for Princess Akenaten.
Handmade costumes ruled the day, and the more creative the better. Paper mache masks were considered exotic. And mom sewed the costumes.
Sometimes, this approach went horribly wrong. Sometimes it was much weirder and much scarier than anything Hollywood can create today.....
Our ancestors were some strange people.
Pumpkins in pointed hats and gentleman farmers in hairbows almost look normal.
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