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Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving

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Happy anniversary, Enterprise!

ALT ALT Happy anniversary, Enterprise! On this day in 2001, Enterprise debuted. Happy 22nd anniversary to a chapter of Star Trek that has a lot to say and deserves greater attention. This year I was thrilled to put my essay on Enterprise out into the universe! Cue “Faith of the Heart”… ? ?
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!                                                           Today’s text is “It’s Halloween” from The Philadelphia Inquirer on 10/31/1898. Read the article here. Quote: “Goblins and fairies, good and evil, will be running amuck to-night, if the old Halloween traditions do not fail…. Every one may be both superstitious and sentimental to-night.” ALT It’s Halloween headline: “Goblins and Fairies Will Be Roaming Abroad Tonight”
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 9

Another dark and dreadful novel that women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts reported enjoying was Alonzo and Melissa (aka The Asylum) by Isaac Mitchell (1804/1811).          Read here the later version attributed to Daniel Jackson, Jr. Quote: The person in her room then uttered a horrible groan, and gliding along by her bed, took his stand behind the curtains, near the foot. The noises below, the cry of murder, the firing of the second pistol, and the running up stairs, were all corresponding scenes to impress terror on her imagination. The pretended ghost then advanced in front of her bed, while lights were slowly introduced, which first shone faintly, until they were ushered into the room by the private door, exhibiting the person before her in all his horrific appearances. On her shrieking, and shrinking into the bed, the lights were suddenly extinguished, and the person, after commanding her to be gone in a hoarse voice, passed again to the foot of the bed, shook it violently, and made a seeming attempt to get upon it, when, perceiving her to be springing up, he fled out of the room by the secret door, cautiously shut it, and joined his companions. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 8

Another Gothic novel that was a favorite with women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Three Spaniards (1801) by George Walker. Read it here. Quote: “That unhappy phantom will ever pursue Fernando, till he shall be pacified. He ever attends him invisible, and at this moment sits at the foot of the corpse of Almira.” The Inquisitors and the prisoners shuddered, and turned their eyes towards the spot; but they could see nothing, except the pale body of the murdered maid. “… I will command this unhappy spirit to become visible, and say what are his particular desires, and how he shall be tranquilized in the grave; then shall Fernando enjoy that uninterrupted repose he so well merits.” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 7

Another Gothic title very popular with women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Children of the Abbey (1796) by Regina Maria Roche. Read it here. Quote: The horrors of my mind I cannot describe; I seemed to stand alone in the world, without one friendly hand to prevent my sinking into the grave, which contained the dearest objects of my love. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 6

A second Ann Radcliffe novel read and savored by women working in the 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Mysteries of Udolpho (1994). Read it here. Quote: “… I am not so much afraid of faeries, as of ghosts, and they say there are a plentiful many of them about the castle; now I should be frightened to death, if I should chance to see any of them. But hush! ma’amselle, walk softly! I have thought, several times, something passed by me.” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 5

Another title very popular with women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Romance of the Forest (1791) by the mother of the Gothic, Ann Radcliffe. Read it here. Quote: “She saw herself surrounded by the darkness and stillness of night, in a strange place, far distant from any friends, going she scarcely knew whither, under the guidance of strangers, and pursued, perhaps, by an inveterate enemy.” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 4

Because we mentioned The Castle of Otranto yesterday, let’s show some love for the dark reimagining of Walpole’s novel by Clara Reeve, The Old English Baron (1778). Reeve called it Otranto’s “literary offspring.” Read it here. Quote: …he thought he saw a glimmering light upon a staircase before him. “If,” said he, “this apartment is haunted, I will use my endeavours to discover the cause of it; and if the spirit appears visibly, I will speak to it.” He was preparing to descend the staircase, when he heard several knocks at the door by which he first entered the room; and, stepping backward, the door was clapped to with great violence. Again fear attacked him, but he resisted it, and boldly cried out, “Who is there?” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 30

Today’s text is “The Goblins" from Asbury Park Press on 10/31/1913. Read the article here. Quote: Who said that elves were banished? That goblins were no more? That sprites and fays had vanished From all their haunts of yore? Not so. They surely flourish As in their golden prime, And Hallowe’en they cherish As their most joyous time. ALT The Goblins artwork depicting trick-or-treaters on Halloween
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 3

We have even more evidence of which Gothic novels the women who worked in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts read and enjoyed. The next few posts will highlight these titles. ALT One of the most popular titles was The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764). Read it here. Quote:  …and then the figure, turning slowly round, discovered to Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a skeleton, wrapt in a hermit’s cowl. “Angels of peace protect me!” cried Frederic, recoiling. “Deserve their protection!” said the spectre.
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 29

Today’s text is “Hallowe’en – A Holiday of Traditions” from The Stoughton Courier on 11/1/1907. Read the article here. Quote: “From time out of mind this has been heralded as a night when witches, devils and other mischief-making beings go abroad on their baneful midnight errands…. The traditions of Hallowe’en also teach that on no other night in the twelve-month do such supernatural influences prevail as after dark on the final day of October.” ALT Hallowe'en - A Holiday of Traditions
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 28

Today’s text is “Halloween Lore Told” from The Butte Daily Post on 10/31/1931. Read the article here. Quote: “Halloween, the night of black hours, ‘when churchyards yawn and graves give up their dead.’ will be celebrated in traditional style when the sun goes down… legend has it, the lake of hades freezes, and friends skate across to stalk the world unchallenged. Evil will possess the shadows until cock-crow.” ALT Halloween Lore Told
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 27

Today’s text is “Spook and Goblin Atmosphere of Halloween Today Tame Compared with Horror Motif Expressed in Gothic Tales” from Indianapolis Star on 10/31/1937. Read the article here. Quote: “… the Halloween tradition in its various aspects runs through a surprising amount of highly respectable adult literature. Shakespeare’s frequent ghosts, the so-called Gothic novels or novels of terror which came to a climax in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein,’ Irving’s ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ and Poe’s ‘Ligeia’ are certainly all in line with the Halloween tradition…”  ALT Goblin Atmosphere at Halloween
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 26

Today’s text is “Hallowe’en Activities” from The News-Pilot on 10/29/1928. Read the article here. Quote: Goblins gobble and werewolves howl; Banshees shriek and cry and scream Ululations, while the mournful owl Makes many fitful mortals dream. Hallowe'en Activities (With an Owl and Witch)
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 25

Today’s text is “Twinkling Feet’s Hallowe’en” from The Topaz Story Book: Stories and Legends of Autumn, Hallowe’en, and Thanksgiving (5th ed. 1928) compiled by Ada M. and Eleanor L. Skinner. Read it here. Quote: The pixie looked at her for a moment. Then he asked, “Do the children laugh a good deal on Hallowe’en?” “Why, my little man, it’s the time in all the year when they laugh most. To-night there is to be a witch’s party. I shall secretly join the children, and play all sorts of tricks for their amusement.“  ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 24

Today’s text is Helps and Hints for Hallowe’en (1920) by Laura Rountree Smith. Read it here. Quote: Hist! be still! ’tis Hallowe’en, When fairies troop across the green! On Hallowe’en when elves and witches are abroad, we find it the custom over all the world to build bonfires, to keep off evil spirits; and this is the night of all nights to entertain friends with stunts similar to those performed two hundred years ago. On this night fortunes are told, games are played, and if it so happens that your birthday falls on this night, you may even be able to hold converse with fairies—so goes the ancient superstition! ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 23

Today’s text is The Book of Hallowe’en (1919) by Ruth Edna Kelley. Read it here. Quote: All superstitions, everyday ones, and those pertaining to Christmas and New Year’s, have special value on Hallowe'en. It is a night of ghostly and merry revelry. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 22

Today’s text is Games for Hallow-e’en (1912) by Mary F. Blain. Read it here. Quote: The dining-room should also be in total darkness, except for the light given by the Jack-o’-lanterns, until the guests are seated, when they should unmask. The supper could be served in this dim light or the lights turned up and the room made brilliant. After the supper is over and while the guests are still seated a splendid idea would be to extinguish all the lights and to have one or more of the party tell ghost stories…. Another suggestion is to have the hall totally dark with the door ajar and no one in sight to welcome the guests. As they step in they are surprised to be greeted by some one dressed as a ghost who extends his hand which is covered with wet salt. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 21

Today’s text is Myra’s Well: A Tale of All-Hallow-E’en (1883) by George Francis Dawson. Read it here. Quote: It is the night of all nights of the year, When ghosts and warlocks haunt the troubled earth, And disembodied spirits visit us— Spirits of good and evil from the dead, Fresh from the angel hosts and from the damned, And from the vast profound betwixt the two… ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 20

Today we begin the final part of our countdown this year with texts (that are available online) about Halloween itself! Today’s work is Halloween, A Romaunt, with Lays, Meditative and Devotional (1845) by H.S. Parsons. Read it here. Quote: If souls, once more, to these their haunts on earth, Can come, dear Lady, from the Spirit-land, I ask’d thee,—would it spoil thine hour of mirth, To see some sudden shape before thee stand! And a cold shudder told me, and thine hand Press’d dearer to mine own. But then said I, Oh! if thy friend were dead, and could command Some midnight hour to visit thee; reply, Say, would it grieve thee, Love, if love could never die! ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 2

Another Gothic title very popular with women working in 19th-century factories in Manchester and Lancashire, UK, was The String of Pearls; or The Barber of Fleet Street (aka Sweeney Todd)  (1846-1847) by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest. Read it here. Quote: “How still everything was in those vaults of old St. Dunstan’s. Were there no spirits from another world—spirits of the murdered, to flit in horrible palpability before the eyes of that man who had cut short their thread of life? Surely if ever a visitant from another world could have been expected, it would have been to appear to Todd to convince him that there was more beyond the grave than a forgotten name and a mouldering skeleton.” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 19

Let’s wrap up the Gothic portion of this year’s countdown with a classic that was published the same year as the now-better-known Dracula: The Beetle (1897) by Richard Marsh. Read it here. Quote: So far, in the room itself there had not been a sound. When the clock had struck ten, as it seemed to me, years ago, there came a rustling noise, from the direction of the bed. Feet stepped upon the floor,— moving towards where I was lying. It was, of course, now broad day, and I, presently, perceived that a figure, clad in some queer coloured garment, was standing at my side, looking down at me. It stooped, then knelt. My only covering was unceremoniously thrown from off me, so that I lay there in my nakedness. Fingers prodded me then and there, as if I had been some beast ready for the butcher’s stall. A face looked into mine, and, in front of me, were those dreadful eyes. Then, whether I was dead or living, I said to myself that this could be nothing human,— nothing fashioned in God’s image could wear such a shape as that. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 18

Today’s text is “A Night in Monk-Hall,” an excerpt from The Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall (1845) by George Lippard. Read it here. Quote: I was sitting upright in bed, chilled to the very heart, afraid to move an inch, almost afraid to breathe, when, far, far down through the chambers of the old mansion, I heard a faint hushed sound, like a man endeavouring to cry out when attacked by night mare, and then great God how distinct! I heard the cry of `Murder, murder, murder!’ far, far, far below me. ALT
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