Comments on: Ghoulish

By: Evelyn Herwitz

Evelyn Herwitz — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 13:37:27 +0000

Thanks, Lil and Pat. Glad to know I’m not alone on this one. I’m fine with playful and fun for Halloween, just not grotesque, for all the reasons I wrote about here.

By: Lil Brown

Lil Brown — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 04:58:53 +0000

I too, feel the same way as both of you. I guess its my age too, because I was born in 1953 and Halloween wasn’t that scary then. My Mom used to make my costumes, an Indian woman, a bunny, can’t remember any more. But it was fun then, go to a few doors down the street with my older siblings, and go home! There wasn’t all this REAL scary, decorations that have really happened somewhere in the world, like you said Pat about that poor little girl from Israel dying in a terrorist bombing. It has just got way out of hand!!! Too many decorations and too many scary costumes give me the creeps. I wish it could be just tamed down to the way it was in the 50’s and 60’s. But I guess that won’t happen! That’s my 2cents worth anyways, Lil

By: Pat Bizzell

Pat Bizzell — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:16:08 +0000

I share your distaste for overly ghoulish Halloween decorations, especially as the trend to go ghoulish seems to be supported by increasing commercialization of the holiday. Once upon a time, decorations–and costumes–were home made, and in my view, a lot more fun. Possibly my view is also tainted by my knowledge that on many college campuses, Halloween has morphed into just one more drunken party, spiced by the license to wear salacious costumes.

In Judith Frank’s novel All I Love and Know, we get to see ghoulish Halloween decorations through the eyes of a child who has just emigrated from Israel after losing her parents in a terrorist bombing. She’s never heard of Halloween and can only see the decorations as horrifying trauma triggers. Yes, Ev, as you say, let us reflect!