When I was little Halloween was different that it is today. It seemed safer then and parents did not always go. You could plan to goo with a group of friends and just take off in a mob. That was fun. Costumes were not as commercial as today either. Mostly mine and my brothers were home made...what we could throw together. The few times that mom and dad dressed up, they had home made costumes too.
When I was in middle school was the first time we ever heard of anything really scary happening on Halloween. We first heard of people putting razor blades in apples. Fruit was still being given out then. For the first time parents had to worry about candy. We simply threw away any fruit we got. Back then people also used to give money. I remember many times getting lots of change in our bags instead of candy.
Even later still came things being put in candy so the first things we noticed was that hospitals were offering free xrays of Halloween candy. By this time our trick or treating habits began to change. We would still go with friends but mom and dad would inspect any candy we had for tampering. Took some of the fun out but we kids became aware that there was not just "play" evil in the world on Halloween night. There was real evil in the world.
As you can imagine times since then have gotten worst. Kids no longer go alone. Parents fo with them. Candy still has to be inspected before eaten. Parents no longer give fruit or homemade candy or treats. Everything is wrapped. No one gives out money anymore. Parents check the most recent pedophile lists to be sure they do not drive them to the wrong homes.
Halloween. Times they are a'changing!
