Many Christians are careful not to put too much emphasis on “celebrating” this particular season of the year. The evening before All Hollow’s Day, which traditionally commemorates the lives of the saints, has long been taken over by darker forces.
The outlook of some parents this season of the year can be summed up in a whimsical way with this Babylon Bee article:
Yes, Halloween has gone off the rails with gore down through the decades since I was a child. But there are still ways to enjoy the “scary stuff” without giving into darker, pagan alliances.
Besides church services that still commemorate the lives of the saints, there are alternative ways to enjoy fall activities in late October that do not align with anything demonic.
I can offer some from my own experience.
A Nod to More Innocent Times
Growing up, my siblings and I were very fortunate enough to be involved with Sarah Heinz House. Heinz House is a philanthropic arm of the H.J. Heinz company, whose manufacturing and distribution plant was located on the North Side of Pittsburgh from 1869 through early 2000s when the entire complex was turned into apartment loft space.
Heinz House remains a club for children of all ages similar to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the YMCA. Heinz House provides all sorts of fun activities during the week and even camp outings throughout the summer in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, along the Slippery Rock Creek.
One year when I was around ten, at a Halloween party where children dressed in all sorts of amusing or playful costumes (back in the mid-1960s when demonic apparel was still very much frowned upon, if not outright verboten), I decided to cut holes in the bottom of a huge 13-gallon black garbage bag, slip that over my head and arms, and don a traditional Chinese rice-harvesting bamboo hat.
I went to the party as a “Chinese Garbage Bag” and ended up winning a prize for Most Original Costume. (And, no, the prize wasn’t a bottle of Heinz ketchup.) Of course, these days my inventive apparel would have been labeled “cultural appropriation” and nixed before I got to the door of the party.
Nowadays, you can still find clever original costumes on adults and children masquerading throughout October, but much of the month’s festive gatherings have been overwhelmed with demented and demonic, slasher-movie-type characters.
Some families avoid the Halloween scene altogether, keeping their children sheltered from as much of it as possible — for example, they hand out treats with their children at the door but, beyond that, the “holiday” slides by with little more than a yawn.
New York’s Halloween Town
In my current neck of the woods I can hardly miss all the hoopla encompassing Halloween, an event bigger than Christmas, actually, in Tarrytown, New York. America’s first internationally recognized literary giant, Washington Irving, is buried behind the Old Dutch Church in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The church is prominently featured in the closing scenes of one of Irving’s iconic short stories, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and I provide a rather fun stroll through the historic cemetery at this YouTube link.
At the end of the Tarrytown parade, the Headless Horseman carrying his “pumpkin head” rides in on an impressive steed, majestically capping the night’s festivities.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is this area’s claim to fame and provides a rather mild spin to those wishing to avoid a season dedicated traditionally to “demonic forces” (the area is not “witchy,” for example, a la Salem, New York). For a complete list of activities in the River Towns, you might want to check out their official website. However, be advised that the walk or ride through the part of the Rockefeller Preserve near the cemetery has gone overboard with gore-soaked scenes — which were in particularly poor taste back in 2023 during the weeks following the October 7th terrorist attacks in Israel.
Movies that Make Scary Silly
The 1949 Walt Disney cartoon reenactment of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an enjoyable way for the whole family to jump into Irving’s time-tested fable. You can’t go wrong with what otherwise could be a frightening tale when the soothing voice and dulcet tones of Bing Crosby provides the narration.
My all-time favorite movie anytime of the year is from 1966, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. This 1966 Universal Picture stars Don Knotts and fills the bill of the “scary stuff” in a fun way.
“Atta boy, Luther!”
Another suggestion, from 1992, that younger children might find delightful is my amateur film, The Chartreuse Goose, recently posted on YouTube in two parts. Part one can be found HERE, followed by Part Two HERE.
My homage to Don Knotts
from The Chartreuse Goose
Appropriate Reads for the Season
When it comes to “themes” for the month, for those who want to take a serious, “peek behind the curtain” of what may well be transpiring in the spiritual world, the new book from Jonathan Cahn fits perfectly into the “season of disguises.” The Avatar keys in on the persona of a prominent standard-bearer of the Democrat Party in the 2024 election. This book, which continues the train of thought in Cahn’s previous revelations from The Return of the Gods, is a real eye-opener and must-read for anyone who desires to look behind the veil of history to learn what the future may hold.
And, finally, for little children who might need encouragement to face fears that may come with the night and bedtime, my Hamster Holmes: Afraid of the Dark? could be a good sleepy-time sedative.
Hopefully, these suggestions will help concerned families navigate the next week or so. And soon enough, we arrive in November, the Halloween decorations come down, and we begin in earnest those seasons to joyfully celebrate: Thanksgiving and Christmas.
A version of this article appeared originally at American Thinker.
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Albin Sadar is author of Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It, as well as the children’s book collection, Hamster Holmes: Box of Mysteries.
