Vintage Halloween Postcard

Mrs. Crouch, known as Sarah to her family and close friends, arrived in Oysterville in the fall of 1892 — probably in October.  She accompanied her husband, the Reverend Josiah Crouch, whose salary (according to notations in the Record of Accounts of the Oysterville Baptist Church) began on November 1st of that year.  So, it is probable that the family spent Halloween of 1892 in this house which, beginning with their stay and for the next ten years, was the Baptist Parsonage.

Whether or not Halloween was celebrated in Oysterville in those years or by the Crouch family, in particular, is unknown.  Family members included Josiah and Sarah, their infant daughter Grace, Grandma Crouch and Josiah’s fourteen-year-old brother,  Charley.  If any “celebrating” was done it was probably by Charley — if we are to believe reports of what was going on in Ilwaco around the same time.

Vintage Halloween Postcard

John G. Williams, Sr. (known in our family as “Old Jack”) was born in 1897.  Granted, that was a few years later than the Crouch Family’s stay in Oysterville, but this is what he recalled about Halloween in his boyhood:

(from Johnny Stories: Scenes from My Boyhood in Old Ilwaco, by John G . Williams, Sr., as told to Joan Frances Mann, published by Rosemary Folklore, December 1987):
Halloween was kind of a bad night in Ilwaco. I wasn’t permitted to go out much, but the bigger boys roamed around most of the night doing devilment of various kinds. Everybody had boats, and they would pack a boat up the hill – maybe a 10 or 12 foot skiff – and put it in the schoolhouse in a room on the desks. Or they were great for coming up to my father’s barn. We had a nice carriage to ride around in on Sunday and they’d let it roll down the hill. And everybody had an old outhouse, a privy.  They tipped them over.  That was real good.  Or they’d hoist things up on the telephone poles. Just mischievous . I wasn’t allowed to get in on any of that. But we got up early next morning to go round the town and see what devilment had been done. Those were big fellows 18, 19, 20 years old…. 

Vintage Halloween Postcard

So, Mrs. Crouch… if you missed out on the Halloween experience here or elsewhere due (in part) to your untimely death on July 15, 1893 — this year is your golden opportunity.  Or should I say, “your Blue Moon opportunity”?   Yes!  It’s the second full moon of the month — which won’t happen again on Halloween until 2077!.  Also, it’s the end of Daylight Savings Time (which you never heard of in your lifetime). And, it’s also Halloween during a world-wide Pandemic (which is like the Influenza Epidemic 1889-1893 that you might remember).  It’s bound to be quiet in Oysterville which is already seriously children-deprived, anyway.

So, come on out, Mrs. C., and have a cup of tea and a good, long visit!  But let’s promise… no tricks, please!