A moment in history: Nov. 1, 1930

A moment in history: Nov. 1, 1930

· The Pulse
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On this day in 1930, Edmonton was recovering from a particularly rowdy Halloween.

Halloween has been a popular holiday in Edmonton for pretty much all of the city's history. The spooky holiday has roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. By the 1880s, when Scottish and Irish immigrants brought many of these traditions to Edmonton, Halloween had become largely a children's holiday.

Edmonton's earliest known Halloween party was in 1902, held as a fundraiser for a hospital. It included the kinds of things we would expect at any modern Halloween party — costumes, games, and sweets.

Speaking of treats, Edmonton might hold a claim to one of Halloween's best-known traditions. By the 1920s, what we now refer to as trick-or-treating had become an established part of the holiday's traditions. Back then, kids in costumes would call out for "Halloween apples" when the door opened, as that was a popular treat at the time. The more modern phrase "trick or treat" might have its origins in an Edmonton newspaper (though many other newspapers hold a similar claim, all from around the same period). A 1922 headline from the Edmonton Bulletin uses "Treats or Tricks" in relation to Halloween.

Tricks were a much bigger part of Halloween in the early 20th century. While modern pranksters might still use toilet paper or eggs for their shenanigans, Edmonton revellers in days gone by could get far more extreme with their pranks. They tipped over outhouses. They stole gates. They even blocked roads with stolen items.

Some Edmonton homeowners went to great lengths to defend their turf from Halloween hooligans. Many people would use guard dogs. At least one person, a newspaper reported in 1927, used "trained bees" to ward off pranksters.

Newspapers published after Halloween often had accounts of the holiday damage. The event in 1930 was a particularly wild one. A newspaper report notes that hundreds of street signs were torn down, a street car was derailed, and at least one person was injured.

Eventually, severe pranks and vandalism began to fall out of favour. That, combined with increased police presence, meant Halloween shenanigans began to decline in the later part of the decade.

Pranks might not be as big a part of Edmonton's Halloween as before, but the spooky spirit remains. Today it's expressed in elaborate displays, and haunted houses that are sometimes massive undertakings.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.