Noah Webster identifies Halloween as “October 31: observed especially with dressing up in disguise, trick-or-treating, and displaying jack o'lanterns during the evening.” Concise and correct, but it really is so much more than just an evening. It is really a state of mind and an excuse for merrymaking, revelry and masquerade by both children as well as adults.

In Halloween Traditions in Boston, Anthony Sammarco discusses the history of the Salem Witchcraft Trials which caused such tremendous anxiety and fear and the deaths of many innocent people in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692 to the decorating of Beacon Hill as a veritable neighborhood of whimsy, decorated with macabre skulls, bones and cobwebs to pumpkins and lighted Jack O'Lanterns, as well as costumes, parties and treats are discussed. 

Generously sponsored by the Friends of the Thomas Crane Public Library.