CAMP SHERMAN LOOKBACK: Halloween used to be more trick, than treat

On Halloween 1917, despite warnings that the normally understaffed civilian police force would be supplemented by a military police force of 36 men from Camp Sherman, large groups of boys stalked the spooky streets of Chillicothe, creating general chaos and leaving behind a path of unhinged gates, destroyed porch steps, and strewn garbage. 

Halloween “pranking” used to be much more tolerated as long as it did not go too far. The idea was that mischievous spirits supposedly played tricks and then disappeared. One popular prank was tick-tacking, throwing hard kernels of corn at house windows to simulate ghost noises. It was also very common for Chillicothe boys to haul stolen wagons through the streets until they were finally dumped overnight into the park lake or canal bed. 

In Bainbridge, residents woke one Halloween morning to find a wagon resting on top of the barbershop. In Frankfort, pranksters corralled cattle in the city square in the dark of night, which left quite a mess for businessmen to clean up the next morning. The next day, the Scioto Gazette reported that Frankfort citizens were “tickled beyond description and are still talking about it.”

Frequently, however, Halloween pranking was nothing more than an excuse to engage in vandalism. In 1906, for example, boys dumped a farm wagon off the Bridge Street bridge into the river where it sank out of sight. Another wagon was taken to Honey Creek and nearly destroyed when it was dropped over the creek bed. Before the night was over, the Scioto Gazette reported, 21 boys were arrested for “violence to property and for going to extremes in the Halloween rites.”

Although the destruction of property on Halloween was a very real problem in Chillicothe’s past, most citizens celebrated peacefully with masquerade parties held in churches, school gymnasiums, Boy Scout gatherings and private homes. Believe it or not, candy was not a prominent part of these celebrations. Instead, fresh apples, pumpkin pie, costumes, games and scary stories dominated. The evening was topped off with a “grand masque” parade held on Paint and Main streets and attended by hundreds.

And our modern day ritual of children dressing up in costumes and going door to door begging for candy did not appear in America until the late 1930’s, and only became a widespread national tradition after World War II. 

Chillicothe’s property owners might have wished “trick or treat” had started years before. Indeed, in 1956 the Scioto Gazette printed a letter from a citizen who wrote: “it beats the custom of our day of overturning privies and kindred bits of depredation that used to make Halloween a purgatory for the property owners of our fair city.”

So, when you are handing out treats this Halloween, remember that it might be the main reason you are not dreading the tricks of years past. 

Tim Vollet is a Pickaway-Ross employee with an interest in Camp Sherman and writes these lookback columns each month in honor of the famed camp's centennial.