# Is Halloween dying?



## prach138 (Oct 19, 2008)

It seems as if Halloween is dying here in the Bay Area in CA. No one is even selling pumpkins out here for gods sake! How are things in the rest of the country? Where is all the spirit at?


----------



## victor-eyd (Aug 13, 2007)

Where in Bay Area are you? My local Home Depot in Hayward got's em for $2.99 each!


----------



## Spookzilla (Nov 4, 2007)

It's California what did you expect? LOL! Maybe Pumpkins along with Halloween are not politically correct where you live? You need to lobby and put a proposition on your ballot! Just kidding!!! Fear not fight the system and start a new trend! I promise you that if you start your own haunt you'll be the hit of your neighborhood because as much as things may change they stay the same. Halloween will never die!


----------



## aznraverkid (Oct 8, 2006)

Eastbay here !!! Holla! haha you can always substitute pumpkins for canned pumpkin or funkins!


----------



## RRguy (Jul 14, 2007)

Sorry to hear about the California Bay Area. There's a lot of good Halloween shopping in my area here in the Midwest.


----------



## Dark lord (Jan 8, 2007)

I'm here in SSF & there are plenty of pumpkins at the grocery stores,parking lot type, & of course our Half Moon Bay pumpkin fest !!
So were are you ?? Must be your local area........ sorry to hear,but there seems to be enough bay Area haunters here on this forum 
(nice to see), that there will no dying of Halloween around these parts.. !! LOL unless its dead corpses in our haunt.....


----------



## Halloween Princess (Sep 23, 2008)

I hope not! This year it seems like there's more spirit than usual in my area. Maybe it's because it's the first year I've decorated so I've been paying more attention.


----------



## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Not on the Texas Gulf coast either... I've counted at least a dozen houses in my neighborhood alone that have done more decoration than the typical JoL. That's lots more than the last couple of years.

More halloween stores popped up this year too. 

And I just got back from a pumpkin farm that was PACKED with people.


----------



## CanadaDan (Oct 7, 2008)

i dont think halloween is dying but in my little corner of Canada we have less and less TOTers each year ... the house we operate out of draws the most on the street ... but it seems lots of people would rather keep the kids indoors ... a ton of my neighbors have some kind of halloween thing going on (pumpkins to lights) ... so hopefully this year will be a very busy one for the TOTers considering it falls on a Friday ...


----------



## stev1955 (Sep 26, 2008)

Halloween's a big deal up in our neck o' the woods. Parades, lots of TOTers and plenty of folks decorate. Don't let it stop you.


----------



## bethene (Feb 12, 2007)

well, I just got back from Halloween USA, and the parking lot was full, couldn't hardly find a parking spot, so it appears that it is alive around here, some areas here have alot of TOTers, and some not so many, depending on the neighborhood, I don't get many, I am hoping that it being on a Friday brings out more to my area


----------



## JesseJames (Nov 1, 2008)

It is dying here in Florida. People are acting like zombies and doing nothing. Halloween is becoming a thing of the past. They try to scare people away with rapists, west nile virus, and stupid ****. You can try to get things out there and parade in the street, but it would be like running through a ghost town.


----------



## Jumpin Pumpkin (Aug 18, 2008)

I've noticed Halloween is less fun as it was back in the 80's, here at least. Less houses decorated and haunts are almost non-existant. People seem to be gravitating toward the "trick or trunk" It's sad


----------



## jfiffick (Sep 26, 2005)

Halloween is doing great here in Sacramento, Ca. We had many new halloween stores open for the month of September and October. Most stores sell halloween items and the costume areas are always busy. Only thing that put a dent in this years halloween was the rainy weather.


----------



## slightlymad (May 8, 2006)

We were down this year but simply because the neighborhood is in transition. Younger kids growing up and new kids starting. Plus the teens got the hint no costume no candy they just keep walking


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

It may seem like it for some retail stores but, that's the economy this year.
Here in MN, it's alive & well! I looked at a online map of all the haunts & Halloween events in the Twin Cities metro area, & it's huge!!!! Think it would be hard to visit each & every one in the short time that they are open.


----------



## CROGLINVAMPIRE (Sep 21, 2006)

Alive and well here in North Dakota! Sorry Bay Area, Fla and MS... I hate to hear things are down a bit..


----------



## midnite (Sep 30, 2008)

keep in mind the economy hit a low this year too


----------



## adam (Aug 1, 2008)

I hate to bring up an old post. I am also in northern california. But I was thinking back to when I was an early teen and a child. I remember more houses used to decorate for Halloween! What happened? Its sort of strange how one could say "well people don't decorate because the kids are grown up now." But I know alot of adults have parities, Halloween is the 2nd holiday behind Xmas in sales. So money is being spent on Halloween. People in my town decorate like mad around Christmas.

But what I am saying is starting to ring true. Over the previous years, its the same little kids that get older each year. I think last year I got about 20 trick or treators with hours and hours of work on the yard haunt. Its rather disappointing in the sense of when I ask myself, "who am I doing this for?" I am doing it for myself, but I would also like Halloween to be a bigger deal in the community. I think the only way to really make that happen is to live near elementry schools or start some sort of local thing. But moving is out of the picture at the moment as my parents are not moving anywhere. The only other thing I could think of is to pass out flyers around the neighborhoods to promote my yard haunt. This isn't a dangerous area or anything, in fact there is a "christmas house," in this area that gets THOUSANDS of visitors each year. He decorates like crazy and the street is often backed up with cars and people in that neighborhood. I want this same thing only for Halloween, I have no idea how he got so many people. Flyers, word of mouth ...I think he was on the news once. 

I just remember being a freshman in high school, and the streets were lined with kids, teens and decorations! So I guess all the kids grew up in my neighborhood and all the little kids just go around the elementry school areas..there is only two elementry schools here. 

I just have to do something this year to get more people to come see my little haunt. The last several years have been really disappointing with the amount of people that see it. I just feel like at this point in my life, I should probably start going to Halloween events like Haunt Con or something. Someone also once told me I should live in Salem MA, because its Halloween central there. However I have read that its nuts in October there. You cant even drive around because there is so many people there in October.

Anyway, the main point is that I understand for those of you who get limited trick or treators. Hopefully this year I can do something about it. I was thinking of doing the flyers in late September or very early October. I was thinking of not putting my address, but putting directions on how to get to the street and there is no way people could miss the house. I don't think there would be any vandalism, but if there was ..we have a security camera that would catch it.

In response to Midnight, the economy was starting to get bad but I had more TOTs last year than the year before.


----------



## Son-of-Thing (Dec 7, 2007)

_Yes...!_ Yes..., Halloween is _DYING..._ Slowly..., _painfullly_..., its weak, pathetic, keening moans unheard, or un_heeded_... _Dying...,_ in silence, and misery..., _alone_ and without the hope of aid... _Dying_ in a lonely place, where the quiet hurts your ears, and the only company it has are the _foul things_ of the dank soil, near, and getting _nearer_... Dying... Dying... _Dying........ _ _ Heh-heh... _

But _NOT DEAD...!_ Ah_Ha_...! Never _dead_, Dear Fiends! 

Oh no, Halloween is _much older_ than the _Rotten Pumpkins_ in our neighborhoods who lurk with shameful cowardice behind their curtains with their lights out, when the busy, breathless little ToTers come... Halloween _sings in chorus_ as the leaves fall, and lives, _lives!_ every late Autumn eve, when some Merry Soul cuts the eyes from a sheet and billows a pillowcase to seize all the candy swag they can in the falling night... And Halloween lives _again_ in the Hearts Of Those who remember doing so when _they_ were young, and so set the light dancing in a _freshly-carved pumpkin_... 

Halloween_ lives!_ everywhere that jolly whimsy and good-natured prankishness flourish in the eerie lights of homemade decorations on the Last Night of October... Where the pounding beat of sneakers-on-pavement, and laughter in the dark, and rayon capes in the moonlight, and the swampy closeness of a terrifying latex mask, yet _thrive_... Halloween lives where the Autumn wreaths are wrought with quiet contentment..., and the Sleepy-Hollow-scent of _toasted gourd_ escapes into the evening breeze... 

Halloween is _much more_ than curmudgeonly neighbors, who've lost their way in the dark of their lives, can _ever_ squelch. And, so long as any of _us_ carve a jack-o-lantern, Halloween will _always _live. 

So let us put up our decor, and laugh, and perhaps in doing so, _persistently_, we'll win the stick-in-the-muds over in the long run, be we homeowners or apartment dwellers...; whether we simply tape a witch's paper silhouette to the window, or turn our homes into full-on, certifiable Haunted Mansions... And although Frankenstein's Monster may not be too happy to hear it this -- _it all depends on how many of us carry the torch!_ (and the _pitchforks, heh-heh_...) 

So_ shine on_ into that fading Autumn light, Brothers and Sisters! Whether you're amongst a bonfire, or sole embers rising swiftly into the moonlight..., shine _on!_ And you will _always_ be a part of the _Halloween Spirit_. 

(And as to those who just don't _get_ it..., well, pity them for the _mirth_ they're missing out on. They'll get it _in the end_, and that's for sure... And think it _too bad they didn't know how to laugh on their way out... Heh-heh..._)

Halloween is dead. _LONG LIVE HALLOWEEN...!_ 

_Most_ Sanguine Cheers!
SOT


----------



## haverghast asylum (May 28, 2007)

I'm glad I can say Halloween in this part of the bay area has not been to bad. WE got arount 800 + ( THought we would get more being a friday) TOT's. I did notice that the stores had a slim selection of decorations. Even the local sprirt store was not up too par.
Other then that I'd say Halloween is still going strong here.


----------



## TK421 (Mar 27, 2009)

midnite said:


> keep in mind the economy hit a low this year too


I would think the slow economy would actually help Halloween. I aplaud this "back to basics" idea and hope more people can appreciate the simple joy of Halloween. I know for us, we are getting more ToTs each year. A lot of that is simply due to word of mouth.


----------



## JohnnyAppleseed (Sep 17, 2008)

I had a good load last year at our new place and we expect a larger draw this year with the Saturday celebration and no conflict with Friday night HS football! Kids and adults stop by everytime I have the garage door open to see what I'm breathing life into for the upcoming holiday!


----------



## adam (Aug 1, 2008)

Son-of-thing, that was BEYOND beautiful what you wrote. I couldn't have explained it any better and I MORE than appreciated your approach to the situation.  

Haverghast - What part of Northern CA are you from? I am from Rohnert Park (near Santa Rosa). Anyone I can get around me who loves Halloween would be wonderful. I know there was a northern california haunters assocation type of thing. Don't know if it still exists or what their website is anymore, I lost it. 

Johnny- I too had the same issue last year. There was a high school football game on Halloween until around 11pm.


----------



## haverghast asylum (May 28, 2007)

adam said:


> Haverghast - What part of Northern CA are you from?.


I'm Located about 85 miles from Rohnert Park, in the Tri-Valley.


----------



## The King of Halloween (Apr 16, 2009)

It's alive and well in my neighborhood in New Rochelle, NY


----------



## davy2 (Sep 10, 2008)

yes, is there a No California haunters group or something? I'm in East Bay


----------



## Palladino (Aug 29, 2013)

Halloween went almost 100% indoors last year - community centres, malls, school gyms....and that was before Covid-19 hit. Our province is not as bad as some but cases are slowly climbing. I suspect that it will stay indoors with strict protocols in place this year if it survives at all.


----------



## The Joker (Sep 8, 2008)

So much of this dead thread revival going on lately. This one is over 11 years old?? If Halloween isn't dead 11 years after the OP posted this thread, don't think it's gonna die this year.


----------



## MichaelMyersSickHead (Mar 13, 2017)

Growing in my neighborhood and happy to report I have breathed life into this community. Never saw any Halloween outside decor before we moved in, and now I see a lot of people contributing. Sometimes you just have to give people permission to be evil.


----------



## kuroneko (Mar 31, 2011)

Everything moves in cycles and that's true of Halloween too. There will be times when it's _the_ holiday to celebrate (still behind Christmas) and years when things die back a bit. The fact that it's not a closure holiday (like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc) is probably the main reason for this on top of the fact that neighborhoods go through aging cycles (children, teens, adults, empty nesters, repeat). I don't think Halloween will ever truly die. It will just keep evolving like it always has. Think back to your own childhoods and you can already see major differences over the span of your own lifetime.
When I first moved into the neighborhood I'm currently living in there were only a few young families. My own block was primarily older people that were well into retirement age and we got only a small handful of trick-or-treaters. Fast forward about 8 years and the elders have moved on (to assisted living or passed away) and young families are moving in. I've seen an uptick in trick-or-treaters and decorating. I'm excited to see what Halloween will look like this year as a few houses have changed hands since last year. Granted, the pandemic will have some kind of impact, but it will still be interesting to see what everyone does.


----------



## deadhouseplant (Aug 10, 2011)

The Joker said:


> So much of this dead thread revival going on lately. This one is over 11 years old?? If Halloween isn't dead 11 years after the OP posted this thread, don't think it's gonna die this year.
> View attachment 734262


I think it is because of the recommend reading section popping up at the bottom of the forum. Right now it is recommending threads to me from 2003. I think maybe if a thread has been dead for a certain amount of time it should alert you to it more boldy when opened.


----------



## Malicious (Sep 8, 2014)

it's kind of nice to see though that 11 years later were still having this conversation and Halloween is still alive and well!


----------



## Yodlei (Jul 13, 2019)

The Joker said:


> So much of this dead thread revival going on lately. This one is over 11 years old?? If Halloween isn't dead 11 years after the OP posted this thread, don't think it's gonna die this year.
> View attachment 734262


I'm with you. Was seeing a lot of that last night & thought...WTH. I can see activating an old thread if you are adding info that is helpful but replying to the OP's original question that far back is just plain aggravating to me. Just my opinion.


----------



## Jerseyscare (Oct 2, 2012)

Well, I'm sorry to tell you ALL, but yes Halloween died in 2009. This is Halloween Limbo, it is a movie plot for M Night Shyamalan and you have all been casted, into it. BEWARE of what you type! I see dead threads!
Jerseyscare

To, "The Joker" and "Yodlei" - I agree, I hate getting sucked into an old threads, but it is interesting when I find a response I made and had forgotten. Most of the time I still agree with myself!! LOL
The for sale threads prove very interesting.


----------

