# How has halloween gone from scary to horror? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433 "2023-09-20T19:47:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/21 "2023-09-23T10:45:49Z")
We have a good friend who dresses conservatively every day of the year except for Halloween. Each year she is a sexy something (nurse, cop, maid, etc). It is so extremely not her, but she really pulls it off. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/22 "2023-09-23T10:47:11Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > she really pulls it off That’s what he said. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/23 "2023-09-23T10:47:48Z")
I totally missed that. ---
**Author:** ![Xocomil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xocomil/32/14927_2.png) [@Xocomil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xocomil)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/24 "2023-09-23T23:20:20Z")
Yeah, the joke was based on a real phenomenon. Most of the joke costumes are probably commercially available now. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/25 "2023-09-24T00:27:34Z")
You know what’s scary (maybe even horrible)? - The Halloween store was open with a huge, fluorescent banner in **August**. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/26 "2023-10-22T17:21:06Z")
The horror film _Halloween_ did come out in 1978 after all. I always seem to recall there being a strong link between Halloween the holiday and horror films being constantly shown on TV all through the month of October. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/27 "2023-10-22T17:49:06Z")
In a real getoffmylawn promotion, I wish that instead of the celebration of sugar, costumes, and horror, some people remembered that the original holiday (holy day) was All Saints Day (aka All Hallows) and the day before All Saints was All Souls Day. Still is, in fact. All Souls is commemorated by honoring your ancestors and other beloved dead. Some cultures have a tradition of spending the night partying in the graveyard, feasting dead relatives and friends while of course doing the same among yourselves. It is the first day of the month of November which is, in some churches, dedicated to the remembrance of the dead. In the college town I once lived in, Halloween is the biggest public celebration of the year (although New Year’s Eve rivaled it). It’s the annual excuse for straight men to dress up in drag and prance around in high heels in the middle of the street at night. Many adults put a staggering amount of creative effort into their costumes, for which there is a contest at the largest bar in town. A mild children’s holiday tradition on a quiet autumnal holy day has become an unrecognizable event in my lifetime. You’d never guess what it originated from. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/28 "2023-10-22T18:07:14Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > feasting dead relatives Hmm. I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/29 "2023-10-22T18:08:56Z")
I didn’t feasting ON dead relatives. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/30 "2023-10-22T18:10:04Z")
Lol. I know. It sounds like a cool tradition though. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/31 "2023-10-22T18:11:03Z")
> [@knavette57](#): > > I was a child who trick or treated from about 1963 onwards. Halloween was a child’s event. When I hit about 12 or 13, it was still considered just for kids. You might take out younger sibs on that night (as I did), but you didn’t costume up. The scariest thing I recall seeing was maybe a skeleton hanging outside on the front porch. Jack O Lanterns were also a thing. I only ever wore a mask bc they were cheap and my parents did not spend money on stuff like that. Many kids did likewise. Ours was a working class neighborhood, so people were thrifty, but maybe in more affluent places, it was different. I think once adults began to enjoy Halloween (about 1990??), that is when the more horror themes emerged. Elvira might have spearheaded this movement, she was often on TV in the 80s. Quoting your post to generally second your experience as closely matching my own, except starting about 12-15 years later (late-70s to early-80s). Addressing the OP, and touched on by many others upthread: Halloween has been shifting gradually for at least 35-40 years from mostly a “kids-only” holiday to an “all ages” holiday. Accordingly, the various customs and decoration trends have multiplied and splintered off from one another. Halloween had become a much broader tent than it once was. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/32 "2023-10-22T18:13:45Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Halloween has been shifting gradually for at least 35-40 years from mostly a “kids-only” holiday to an “all ages” holiday. Yep. People wanna continue doing what they grew up doing. And thus, thousand-year-old traditions are born. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/33 "2023-10-22T19:23:05Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Yep. People wanna continue doing what they grew up doing. I think it is more that adults want to be children. You can date the morphing of Halloween from that period when young adults decided they would never grow up and become their parents. And then leaving the second part of the sentence off. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/34 "2023-10-22T20:52:34Z")
I recently passed a house on a corner lot. From each fence post, they had something hanging. The one that caught my eye was a life-sized pretty realistic head, hanging from a chain with a hook plunged into its forehead. I don’t know if it matters that this was a pretty new $1 mill+ house, down the street from a church/school. It is hard to fathom the sort of person who thinks that is a good decoration. Today we walked the dog past a house with a “Jason-ish” figure standing on the front lawn, with one upraised hand holding 3 or so bloody heads. Again - WTF? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/35 "2023-10-22T21:30:24Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Today we walked the dog past a house with a “Jason-ish” figure standing on the front lawn, with one upraised hand holding 3 or so bloody heads. Again - WTF? Thank you. Exactly what I was talking about. Sure, skeletons, ghosts, bats etc- fine. Scary. But not horror. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/36 "2023-10-23T17:32:09Z")
In my neighborhood we’ve got Freddy Krueger and some other horror figures hanging out together during a cookout. Though it is left to the imagination what it is they might be cooking. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > I think it is more that adults want to be children. I don’t understand why there are certain interests designated as kids only. If we’re talking about otherwise fully functional adults, let them have their fun. Me, I’m having a lot of fun doing Halloween for my young son, more than I expected, turns out I’d been missing a lot for the holidays. My husband has been adding a random spider to the house every day and we are keeping my son stocked with plastic eyeballs (he loves eyeballs, which, fair, I like them too.) I do think the horror stuff should not be done around little kids, though. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/37 "2023-10-23T17:38:40Z")
I kinda feel like the little kids are actually into horror, because their parents are into it. If you’re into horror and gore you’re going to teach your kids at an early age that it’s not scary, it’s fun, and let’s have some gross fun together every fall! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/38 "2023-10-23T17:42:27Z")
Sure, that’s assuming all kids are developmentally ready for horror. But there’s a difference I think between doing it in your own home and putting it on display outside your house. I don’t think the average four year old needs to see a meat hook through the head. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/39 "2023-10-23T17:52:44Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > A mild children’s holiday tradition on a quiet autumnal holy day has become an unrecognizable event in my lifetime. You’d never guess what it originated from. I was born in 1976, and Halloween looks pretty much the same to me even if some of the aesthetics have changed. Before your childhood, Halloween used to be a time when kids went out and played some pretty meanspirited pranks. Imagine the Purge except with fewer deaths and it was such a big social program Congress sometimes spoke about it. But things changed and morphed into the Halloween we’re all familiar with today, but omeone who experienced the holiday as a kid in 1930 would have seen it radically changed by they time they were a parent in 1955. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433/40 "2023-10-23T18:12:58Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > In a real getoffmylawn promotion, I wish that instead of the celebration of sugar, costumes, and horror, some people remembered that the original holiday (holy day) was All Saints Day (aka All Hallows) and the day before All Saints was All Souls Day. Still is, in fact. All Souls is commemorated by honoring your ancestors and other beloved dead. Some cultures have a tradition of spending the night partying in the graveyard, feasting dead relatives and friends while of course doing the same among yourselves. It is the first day of the month of November which is, in some churches, dedicated to the remembrance of the dead. In my families’ traditions, All Saints Day was the holiday to honor your ancestors and others who’d died and gone to heaven. The day before was for propitiating those who didn’t make it there. Hence the depictions of evil people and monstrous creatures. The trick-or-treating was adolescents pretending to naughty so we’d get our cut of the propitiations. In my home area, Halloween has been made completely kid-friendly. Trick-or-treating has an official time in each town, typically before nightfall. And on different day of the week, so kids can do it more than once. Some towns don’t even allow door-to-door, but do a “trunk-or-treat” at the local high school, where kids go from car to car in their costumes. I’m in California now, and trick-or-treating is unregulated. Which means Halloween itself, not other nights. And not during the day. Some neighborhoods are cool and get a thousand or more kids, while others are quiet and get only a few dozen. Much more similar to how it was when I was a kid, unlike how I grew up is now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-halloween-gone-from-scary-to-horror/990433.md?page=3)