Before plastic pumpkins, elaborate decorations and store-bought costumes, there was the pillowcase.
It carried more candy than any child reasonably needed and, if the night was particularly successful, could be emptied at home before its owner headed out for another round.
The pillowcase appears repeatedly in Lanark County Halloween: Remembering Our Treats & Tricks, a new book by local historian and genealogist Arlene Stafford-Wilson.
Although I grew up next door in the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville, Stafford-Wilson’s stories revived memories of my own Halloween adventures. The names and roads may differ, but the pillowcases, homemade costumes and occasional questionable decisions crossed county lines.
I remember fabulous homemade chocolate fudge that melted in my hands and all over the white sheet serving as my ghost costume. The whole works was then effectively glued together with caramel from a popcorn ball.
Some years, that sheet also provided another layer against the cold over my snowsuit and winter boots. This was Canada, after all, where a Halloween costume was not complete until it had been stretched over enough winter clothing to make the wearer nearly unrecognizable.
There were certainly tricks … many of them. One involved an outhouse, a bale of hay and a match. Soaping windows? Tossing eggs or tomatoes? Possibly.
Until I confirm the applicable statutes of limitation, that is all I’m prepared to admit.
Stafford-Wilson’s 163-page collection contains more than 50 stories recalling Halloween across Lanark County from the 1940s through the 1980s.
The memories come from Perth, Smiths Falls, Almonte, Lanark, Merrickville, Innisville, Fallbrook, Flower Station, Clyde Forks, Stanleyville, Christie Lake and the many concession roads and rural communities between them.
Together, they preserve much more than treats and tricks.
Through the names of neighbours, country stores, one-room schools, farms and roads, contributors reconstruct the communities in which they grew up. Children travelled freely in groups, neighbours recognized one another beneath homemade disguises and a visit to the right house could produce fudge, popcorn balls, molasses kisses, candy apples or a coveted full-sized chocolate bar.
Costumes rarely came from stores. Old shirts, dresses, hats and overalls were pulled from trunks and closets. A cardboard box became a clock, while an old white sheet offered instant ghosthood.
One Perth contributor remembers attending a school Halloween party dressed as a duck hunter, complete with a toy shotgun and real ducks supplied by her father. Halloween was apparently a different operation in the 1950s.
The stories also show how rural geography shaped the night.
In Flower Station, Julia (Crosbie) James recalls children walking about five miles and sometimes needing two nights to visit everyone. Her description of Halloween as an evening of friendship, adventure and “a long walk under the moon” captures the spirit running throughout the collection.
In Smiths Falls, Lorna Johnson began making candy apples in 1957. Over the next 61 years, she gave out approximately 12,000 of them, eventually involving her children and grandchildren. Her final Halloween as the town’s candy-apple queen came in 2018.
Her story, accompanied by the family recipe, illustrates what makes this book special. Behind every homemade treat was someone’s time, work and affection.
Then there were the tricks.
Gates disappeared. Wagons and buggies appeared on roof tops. Windows were soaped, eggs were thrown and outhouses were moved, tipped and occasionally met more dramatic fates.
An archival photograph from the Nov. 6, 1975, edition of The Perth Courier shows a human-shaped figure hanging from the town’s water tower, a prank that startled residents the morning after Halloween. The culprit’s identity remains a mystery.
Other stories involve retaliatory egg fights, boys falling into the holes left by outhouses they intended to move and one unfortunate prankster receiving a backside full of salt fired from a .410.
True to Stafford-Wilson’s work as a historian and genealogist, the book includes recipes and an index of the people mentioned. The index makes it a valuable resource for readers researching local families and communities.
Stafford-Wilson grew up on a small Lanark County farm and is a former newsletter editor and honorary life member of the Lanark County Genealogical Society. Her honours include the Lanark County Pioneer Families Humanitarian Award, the Francois Bregha Storyteller Award and the Heritage Perth Architectural Conservation Award.
In Lanark County Halloween, she has preserved a world in which children walked dark concession roads with flashlights, neighbours opened their doors with homemade treats and a costume depended more on imagination than money.
Readers may recognize a family name, a former store or a familiar stretch of road. They may also find themselves remembering a long-forgotten Halloween of their own.
Stafford-Wilson will launch Lanark County Halloween: Remembering Our Treats & Tricks Saturday, Sept. 26, from noon to 3 p.m. at The Book Nook & Other Treasures, 60 Gore St. E., Perth. Copies may be reserved by calling 613-267-2350.
Keep connected to your community—Read the latest Lanark County news.
