One of my favorite holidays as a youngster in the 1960s was Halloween. We all looked forward to trick-or-treat night.

We were not allowed out after dark so it was one of the few nights we could roam the neighborhood on a cool autumn evening.

Leading up to Halloween, we always got a large pumpkin and Dad would cut out a jack-o’-lantern to put on the front porch. We set it up on the banister. I can recall reaching in and pulling out the guts, the inside of the orange pumpkin, and the hundreds of seeds. The smell was nice and something I can recall to this day. You couldn’t put it out too early because a real pumpkin would start to rot and dry up.

My neighbor used to grow some in his garden and sometimes my sister and I got a couple out of his garden. Sometimes we saved up the 50 cents and bought one from a roadside farmer between Nolan and Williamson.

It was always fun trying to decide what kind of costume you were going to purchase or what homemade get-up you or your friends might come up with. During that era, costumes were not as extravagant as they are these days. Many were homemade and kids had to use their imaginations.

I was lucky to get to buy a couple of costumes complete with a plastic mask to wear with a cheap elastic band to hold it on your head. I loved the early U.S. NASA space program as a kid. I used to watch the rocket launches. So one year my mom bought me an astronaut mask and slip-on costume at the old G.C. Murphy’s department store.

For some reason I can also remember a Frankenstein mask from one particular Halloween. (Why I recall these trivial things is sometimes puzzling to me.)

Another year I got a glow-in-the-dark skeleton mask. I think I used that one for two years. It was pretty cool.

I recall many of my friends dressing up like pirates, ghouls or just cutting two holes for eyes in an old sheet and going out as a ghost.

The temperatures were usually cooler as Fall had taken its early grip on the area. But we just hoped it would not rain on the day designated for trick or treat.

It was always a big deal to get a bag of candy. Of course some homes gave out better treats than others. The word usually got around which houses had the best candy and goodies. Those who gave out some kind of candy bar were the most popular. Others just gave out hard candy or bubble gum. Some even gave out apples! Even though we knew that it was a good healthy treat, as kids we were only interested in the candy and goodies.

I guess it could have been worse. We could have gotten rocks like poor old Charlie Brown on the popular comic book cartoon special that is still shown today. How many of you baby boomers remember the “Great Pumpkin.”

I recall one trick-or-treat night my sister and I, with a couple of other kids, went to one particular house. The old man who lived there did not want to be bothered. He came to the door upset and threw a cup of coffee or some kind of beverage at us. I remember running and not even opening the gate on the fence, but my adrenaline somehow allowed me to jump over the fence, and I was only about 10 years old that year.

Mom used to escort us when we were young, but as I got a little older I was allowed to head out with my friends by myself. That was one of my first feelings of independence.

Of course, during this era, things were a little more mischievous at Halloween by many. People would soap windows by bringing dry soap and putting it on the windows of people they didn’t like or at those homes that didn’t give out candy or treats.

I’ve heard of pranks for years before where boys would tip over wooden outhouses. Some did even more dangerous things, like putting up roadblocks with logs or old tires. Law enforcement was definitely busy on Halloween nights. Certain parts of the area were more prone to these dangerous pranksters.

Once you got home you were allowed to indulge in some of the huge bags of candy you had collected. But Mom and Dad knew too much sugar at that time of the evening, along with the adrenaline we had felt, was enough. But we had enough candy to last a few days, probably more than we needed. We still had to calm down and relax. It was soon time to get ready for bed.

The next day it was fun to listen to the stories at school from your classmates and friends on their adventures of trick or treat.

The times were simpler, but these were some wonderful memories from that era. I’m sure some of you have your own memories from Halloweens of the past. Until next time.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)