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1928 - Alderson High School - 1968 |
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Halloween |
| Halloween has always been a favorite time of year for me. The weather in humid Tidewater is cool and crisp. I enjoy handing out candy to the little kids in their interesting costumes. I like the stories on the SciFi Channel better. But before and while attending Alderson High School Halloween in the country was different from what it is today. There were no cute little kids knocking on your door and saying "twick or tweat!" Instead, the youth (some of them almost young adults) would spend the night pulling tricks, some of them rather beastly, on the farmers. Like pushing their outhouses over the hill (ugh!) Or taking their gates off the hinges and carrying them a mile or two away. Some farmers started staying up Halloween night with loaded shotguns. I don't blame them. I never engaged in such deviltry, but one or two of my siblings did. Luckily, none of them got shot. But one farmer got revenge on the tricksters. (I don't remember his name) As one of his gates was detached and taken quite a ways down the road, he followed closely behind with loaded shotgun (or perhaps rifle) and when the tricksters became too exhausted to carry the gate any farther and started to walk away. the farmer stepped up with pointed weapon and said: "okay boys, let's take it back!" I doubt if they ever played that particular trick again! I don't know how Halloween was practiced in Alderson, but that was the way it was done on Wolf Creek. I prefer today's ordered, tame custom and look forward to it Gotta get me some candies to dispense. I felt too bad last year to stay up late, so I put the candy on my deck with a "help your self" note, turned off the light and went to bed. The next morning I found that very little of the candy was gone. They probably saw my lights were off from a distance and just by-passed me. |
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