October 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Macabre History: Halloween Through the Ages - Series Summary Trace Halloween's extraordinary evolution across two millennia, from ancient Celtic Samhain festival through medieval Christian transformation to modern global phenomenon. Discover how this resilient holiday survived Protestant Reformation, witch-hunting crazes, Depression-era vandalism epidemics, World War II suppression, and moral panics about poisoned candy and Satanic cults. Explore Halloween's reinvention through suburban trick-or-treating, digital age social media revolution, and controversial worldwide expansion. Examine contemporary debates around cultural appropriation, environmental impact, and inclusion. Host Lucien Graves synthesizes centuries of history, revealing how Halloween's core themes—transformation, community, controlled fear, and seasonal acknowledgment—persist despite dramatic changes. This series illuminates why Halloween endures as humanity's most adaptable celebration of darkness, mystery, and mortality.
Click here to browse handpicked Amazon finds inspired by this podcast series!
https://amzn.to/42YoQGI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Click here to browse handpicked Amazon finds inspired by this podcast series!
https://amzn.to/42YoQGI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Halloween night nineteen fifty In a major American city,
store windows shatter, a street car lies derailed across the tracks.
Bonfire's rage out of control in empty lots. Gangs of
teenagers roam the streets, overturning cars, soap bombing pedestrians, throwing eggs,
and worse. Police are overwhelmed. Newspapers will call it black Halloween.
(00:24):
City officials are desperate, parents are frightened, and Halloween, the
beloved autumn holiday, is on the verge of being banned altogether.
This is the story of how America almost lost Halloween,
and how one simple phrase saved it. Trick or treat,
Welcome to Macobb History Halloween through the eighties. I'm your
(00:47):
ai host Lucian Graves. This is Halloween in the twentieth century.
To understand how Halloween nearly died, we first need to
appreciate its golden age. In the early nineteen hundreds, Halloween
was riding high. The Victorian era had established it as
a legitimate American holiday, complete with greeting cards, party supplies,
(01:09):
and standardized traditions. The first two decades of the twentieth
century saw Halloween continue to grow and evolve, becoming more
mainstream and widely celebrated across different social classes and regions.
Halloween postcards because Halloween postcards became a major industry between
nineteen hundred and nineteen fifteen. These weren't simple greeting cards,
(01:32):
but elaborate, often beautifully illegrated postcards that people collected and sent.
The images on these cards tell us what Americans associated
with Halloween during this period. You'd see children and jackolanterns,
black cats and witches, harvest scenes with cord stalks and
full moons, romantic couples engaged in divination, and whimsical supernatural beings,
(01:54):
often more cute than scary. The postcard boom reflected Halloween's
increasing cours immercialization, but also its cultural penetration. Sending Halloween
cards became expected social behavior like sending Christmas cards. The
fact that companies could make money producing Halloween merchandise indicated
the holiday had achieved real cultural significance. Schools began incorporating
(02:18):
Halloween into their calendars during this period, though not without controversy.
Progressive educators saw Halloween as an opportunity to teach about seasons, harvest,
and folklore. They organized school Halloween parties and pageants, helping
to standardize Helloween for the younger generation. However, this also
marked the beginning of Helloween's slow transformation from an adult
(02:40):
social event to a children's holiday. Community Halloween celebrations became
common during this Golden Age. Towns would organize parades, costume contests,
and public parties. These community events were seen as wholesome
entertainment that brought people together. The emphasis was on fun
and festivity rather than jenue and supernatural belief, though fortune
(03:02):
telling games remained popular. Immigration continued to shape Halloween during
this period. By the early nineteen hundreds, America was experiencing
massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, Italians, Polish, Russians,
Jews fleeing persecution. These new immigrant groups encountered Halloween as
an established American tradition and gradually adopted it, even as
(03:26):
they maintained their own cultural celebrations. Halloween was becoming something
truly American, a shared cultural experience that crossed ethnic and
religious lines. World War I temporarily dampened Hellene celebrations. From
nineteen seventeen to nineteen eighteen, Americans focused on the war effort.
Resources were scarce and frivolous celebrations seemed inappropriate while young
(03:51):
men died in European trenches. Halloween didn't disappear during the war,
but it became more subdued. This would prove to be
nearly a poor before Halloween took a much darker turn.
The nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties saw Halloween transform from
community celebration into civic nightmare. The vandalism problem that had
(04:12):
existed in minor form during earlier periods suddenly exploded into
something far more serious and threatening. To understand why, we
need to consider the social context. The nineteen twenties brought
rapid urbanization and significant social upheaval. Young people, particularly young men,
increasingly lived in cities rather than rural areas. Traditional community
(04:34):
structures weakened. The close social supervision that had characterized small
town life became impossible in anomous urban environments. Then came
the Great Depression. By the early nineteen thirties, unemployment was devastating,
particularly among young people. Idle teenagers and young men, frustrated, bored,
and angry about their limited prospects turned Halloween into an
(04:56):
outlet for destructive behavior. What started as pranks escalat into
vadalism and sometimes violence. Hallowing mischief had always been part
of the tradition, soaping windows, moving gates, playing tricks, but
in the nineteen twenties and especially the nineteen thirties, this
spiraled out of control. In cities across America, Halloween became
(05:17):
a night of destruction. Street signs were torn down, windows
were smashed on a massive scale. Cars were overturned. Bonfires
were lit in streets, sometimes blocking traffic for hours. In
some cities, street cars were derailed. Property damage ran into
hundreds of thousands of dollars enormous sums during the depression.
In some neighbourhoods, vandalism crossed into violence. There were reports
(05:41):
of rocks thrown at pedestrians, attacks on people trying to
stop the destruction, and occasional riots when police attempted to intervene.
Halloween had become genuinely dangerous in many American cities. The
media amplified the problem. Though the problem was real enough.
Newspapers ran sensational stories about Halloween dist production, often using
terms like black Halloween or Halloween riots. This coverage created
(06:05):
a feedback loop reading about Halloween vandalism in other cities
sometimes inspired copycat behavior, while also increasing public pressure on
officials to do something about the problem. City governments responded
with various strategies. Some tried increasing police presence on Halloween night,
but police were often overwhelmed by the sheer scale of
(06:26):
simultaneous incidents. Some cities implemented curfews, particularly for young people.
Some threatened serious legal consequences for Halloween vandalism. None of
these punitive measures proved particularly effective. The vandalism continued, and
in some cities, worsened throughout the nineteen thirties. By the
late nineteen thirties, serious discussions were underway in multiple cities
(06:48):
about banning Halloween altogether. The holidays seemed to have become
more trouble than it was worth. If Halloween couldn't be controlled,
perhaps it should be eliminated. This was a genuine crisis
moment for Halloween. The holiday had survived two thousand years,
multiple religious transformations, and countless cultural changes. Now it faced
extinction not from religious opposition, but from its own excesses,
(07:12):
or rather from social problems that had become attached to it.
The response that ultimately saved Halloween was the sane Halloween movement,
civic organizations, parent groups, and community leaders developed a different strategy.
Instead of trying to suppress Halloween, they would redirect it.
They would provide organized, supervised alternatives to street vandalism. The
(07:34):
Boy Scouts, civic clubs, churches, and schools began organizing official
Halloween events. These included costume parades where children could show
off their costumes in a controlled environment, organized parties with
games and treats at community centers and schools, contests for
best costumes or best jack o lanterns with prizes, and
(07:57):
supervised trick or treating, which which was just beginning to
emerge as a practice. The key insight of the Sane
Halloween movement was that young people would celeigate Halloween regardless
of official disapproval. The question was whether that celebration would
be destructive or constructive. By providing attractive alternatives, communities could
(08:17):
channel Halloween energy into acceptable forms. This approach showed some
success in the late nineteen thirties, though World War II
would interrupt before we could see full results. World War
II brought Halloween to another crisis point, though this time
from different causes. From nineteen forty two through nineteen forty five,
Halloween's celebrations were severely curtailed. Shiver rationing eliminated candy, one
(08:42):
of Halloween's increasingly important elements. The war effort demanded resources
and attention that couldn't be spared for holiday celebrations. Many
young men were overseas fighting, and communities focused on war
production and survival rather than festivities. Halloween didn't completely disappeared
during the war, but it became a shadow of its
(09:03):
former self. Schools might have small parties, but the large
community celebrations stopped. Trick or treating, which was just emerging
before the war, largely ceased to sugar rationing. Some communities
organized Halloween events to raise money for war bonds, tying
the holiday to patriotic purposes. By nineteen forty five, Halloween
(09:25):
had experienced fifteen years of crisis, from vandalism in the
thirties to suppression during the war. The holiday had survived barely,
but it needed revival and reinvention. That reinvention would come
from an unexpected source, the American suburbs. The post war
period brought dramatic changes to American life. Returning veterans used
(09:48):
GI Bill benefits to buy houses in newly constructed suburbs.
Young families filled these neighborhoods. The baby boom created millions
of children, and Halloween found its perfect habitat in this
new suburban landscape. The suburbs offered something cities couldn't relative safety,
neighborly trust, and a landscape designed for the activity that
(10:10):
would become synonymous with Halloween. Trick or treating. House to
house begging in costume had ancient roots. We discussed soothing
and guising in earlier episodes. Medieval practices where people went
door to door receiving food in exchange for prayers or performances.
These practices had largely disappeared in America, though they persisted
(10:30):
in some immigrant communities and rural areas. During the nineteen thirties,
as part of the Sane Halloween movement, some communities had
experimented with organized trick or treating as an alternative to vandalism.
The idea was simple, give kids a reason to go
door to door peacefully, and they wouldn't smash windows. But
(10:50):
it wasn't until the post war suburban boom that trick
or treating exploded into the dominant Halloween activity. Suburbs were
ideal for trick or treating. In way cities, work houses
were close enough together to make going door to door practical,
but spread out enough that it felt like an adventure.
Neighborhoods were relatively homogeneous, middle class families who knew each
(11:11):
other and felt safe having their children visit neighbours homes.
Streets were designed for cars and pedestrians, making it easy
for children to travel the neighborhood. Front porches and front
doors faced the street, facilitating easy interaction. The ritual was
simple and appealing. Children dressed in costumes, visited neighbours homes,
(11:31):
said the magic words trick or treat, and received candy
or other treats. The threat implicit in trick or treat,
give us a treat or we'll play a trick was
purely symbolic by this boy. Its unconscious name was condemned
in a kind of high contract and with unnamed modes
in the fly. Parents loved trick or treating because it
kept children supervised and occupied. Kids loved it because they
(11:54):
got massive amounts of candy and got to stay out
after dark. Neighbors could participate without much burden. Buying some
candy cost less than repairing vandalized property. Communities embraced it
because it channeled Halloween energy productively. By nineteen fifty, tricker
treating was becoming widespread in American suburbs, though it hadn't
yet achieved complete dominance. The term itself took time to standardize.
(12:19):
Some regions called it tricker treat, others beggars Night or
Halloween collecting. By the late nineteen fifties, tricker treat had
won the naming contest. The practice spread through multiple mechanisms.
Children who tricker treated talled cousins and friends in other
towns about it. Women's magazines and parenting publications promoted it
as the modern safe way to celebrate Halloween. Television shows
(12:42):
depicted it. Normalising the practice, companies saw commercial opportunity and
promoted it. Candy companies particularly recognized that Halloween could become
a major candy selling holiday. Before tricker treating became universal,
Halloween candy was consumed at parties or given as small treats.
Tricker treating created demand for individually wrapped candies in much
(13:04):
larger quantities. By the late nineteen fifties, candy companies were
actively marketing Halloween candy and promoting trick or treatings in
American tradition. In nineteen fifty, UNICEF, the United Nations children's charity,
introduced trick or treat for UNICEF, encouraging children to collect
coins for international children's causes while trick or treating. This
(13:25):
gave trick or treating additional legitimacy and tied it to
charitable impulses. The nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties were
Halloween's age of innocence. Trick or treating was new enough
to feel exciting, but established enough to feel traditional. Halloween
became primarily a children's holiday during this period, a significant
shift from its Victorian adult party origins. The esthetics of
(13:49):
Halloweene changed to match its new audience. The scary witches
and skeletons of earlier errors were softened and made cuter.
Halloween decorations increasingly featured cartoons style ghosts with friendly smiles,
cute jack O'Lanterns, and colorful rather than genuinely frightening imagery.
Costumes shifted from homemade, often scary disguises, costume dressed as cowboys,
(14:13):
character based costumes, children dressed as cowboys, princesses, cartoon characters, astronauts,
and superheroes, as often as they dressed as ghosts or witches.
Halloween was becoming less about genuine supernatural fear and more
about play, fantasy, and especially candy. Television reinforced these changes.
(14:35):
The nineteen sixties saw the creation of Halloween television specials
aimed at children, most notably It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,
premiered in nineteen sixty six, becoming an instant classic that
has aired every Halloween since. These specials presented Halloween as wholesome,
child friendly and thoroughly American. The nineteen fifties and sixties
(14:58):
also saw Halloween be come big business. Costume manufacturers, decoration companies,
candy corporations, and greeting cut companies all recognized Halloween's commercial potential.
By the mid sixties, Halloween was generating significant revenue, though
nothing compared to what would come later. This suburban, child friendly,
(15:19):
commercialized Halloween seemed unassailable. By the late nineteen sixties, the
vandalism problems of earlier decades were largely forgotten. Halloween had
been successfully domesticated and commercialized, but the holiday was about
to face new challenges. Moral panics that would reshape it
once again. The first major post war Halloween panic centered
(15:41):
on tampered candy, the idea that strangers might put razor blades, needles,
or poison in Halloween treats. This fear emerged in the
late nineteen sixties and exploded in the nineteen seventies. The
genesis of the tampered candy panic is complex. There were occasional,
legitimate incidents of ten tampered food, though virtually always in
(16:02):
specific contexts rather than random stranger danger. More often, reports
of tampered candy turned out to be hoaxes, children making
false reports, or parents discovering harmless objects that they interpreted
as deliberate tabri The media amplified these stories dramatically, treating
isolated incidents as evidence of widespread danger. By the early
(16:26):
nineteen seventies, fear of tempered Halloween candy had become national news,
despite the fact that there was essentially no evidence of
random strangers tampering with Halloween candy on any significant scale. Then,
in nineteen seventy four, a tragedy occurred that seemed to
confirm every parent's worst fears, except the reality was far
more horrible. Timothy O'Brien, an eight year old in Texas,
(16:50):
died after eating Halloween candy laced with cyanide. The story
seemed like the ultimate poisoned Halloween candy nightmare come true,
except the poisoner wasn't stranger. It was Timothy's father, Ronald O'Brien,
who had taken out life insurance policies on his children
and murdered his son for the money, using Halloween as cover.
(17:10):
Rode O'Brien was convicted and eventually executed, but the case
ironically reinforced fears about tempered Helloween candy, even though it
actually demonstrated that the danger wasn't from strangers, that from
someone close to home. The O'Brien case intensified the moral panic.
Newspapers ran stories warning parents to inspect all Halloween candy.
(17:33):
Hospitals offered free X ray services to check treats for
metal objects, a practice that continued in some areas for
decades despite being essentially useless. Parents were worn to only
let children accept commercially wrapped candy, not homemade treats. Trickle
treating to strangers' homes. The very core of the Halloween
(17:53):
experience was now viewed as potentially deadly. The statistical reality
was that random stranger tampering with Hallowequeen candy was extraordinarily rare.
Sociological research later demonstrated that the Halloween sadist was largely
an urban legend. The vast vast majority of reported incidents
were hoaxes or misunderstandings. The few genuine cases typically involved
(18:14):
family members or known acquaintances, not strangers. But facts couldn't
compete with fear. The moral panic took on a life
of its own, fed by media coverage, parental anxiety, and
a broader cultural shift toward viewing the world as more
dangerous for children. The nineteen seventies and especially the nineteen
eighties saw increasing emphasis on stranger danger, the idea that
(18:37):
unknown adults posed significant threats to children. Halloween, which required
children to approach strangers' homes asking for candy, became a
focus of these anxieties. Communities responded with various safety measures.
Trick or treating hours were restricted, no more going out
after dark. Young children were required to be accompanied by adults.
(18:58):
Some communities organized troups or treat events where children collected
candy from car trunks in supervised parking lots instead of
going door to door. More trick or treating became common,
providing a controlled indoor environment. Some religious communities began offering
harvest festivals as explicit alternatives to Halloween, though this was
(19:18):
often driven by religious objections as much as safety concerns.
The Halloween safety panic reflected and reinforced broader social changes.
The free range childhood of the nineteen fifties and sixties,
when children played outside unsupervised and maighbors looked after each
other's kids, was giving way to more protective, suspicious parenting.
(19:39):
Trust in community and strangers was declining. Halloween both suffered
from and symbolized these changes, but Halloween survived the safety panic,
as it had survived so many challenges. Trick or treating
continued orbeit often in modified form. The candy industry weathered
the storm, perhaps even benefiting from the emphasis on commercially
(20:00):
wrapped products. Halloween remained central to American childhood. Then came
an even stranger moral panic, the Satanic Panic of the
nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties. This panic centered on
the belief that organized Satanic cults were operating throughout America,
engaging in ritual abuse of children, performing human sacrifices, and
(20:20):
generally working evil on a vast scale. Halloween, with its
traditional associations with darkness, witchcraft, and the supernatural, became swept
up in this hysteria. The Satanic panic had complex roots
in Evangelical Christian anxieties, sensationalized media coverage, questionable therapeutic practices
(20:42):
that produced false memories, and broader cultural fears about childhood
safety and moral decay. Whatever its origins, by the mid
nineteen eighties, significant numbers of Americans believed in widespread Satanic conspiracy,
despite the complete absence of credible evidence. Halloween became a
target for several reasons. The holiday's historical associations with paganism
(21:05):
made its suspect to some evangelical Christians. The presence of witches, devils,
and demons in Halloween imagery seemed to prove the holiday
satanic nature. The date itself, October thirty first, was believed
by some to be the most important night of the
Satanic calendar, when cults would perform their darkest rituals. Some
religious leaders began preaching against Halloween, calling it a Satanic
(21:28):
holiday that Christians shouldn't celebrate. Churches organized alternative harvest festivals
or even hell houses haunted house experiences designed to scare
people into Christian conversion rather than just for entertainment. These
explicitly rejected Halloween as demonic. Some communities saw attempts to
(21:49):
ban or restrict Halloween based on satanic panic concerns. School
Halloween celebrations were canceled in some districts. PTA meetings featured
heated the baits about whather Halloween parties were appropriate. Parents
groups circulated lists of supposedly satanic symbols to watch for
in Halloween decorations and costumes. The panic extended to Halloween media.
(22:11):
Role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, heavy metal music,
and horror movies all became targets accused of promoting Satanism and,
by extension, making hallary more dangerous and demonic. The satemic
panic regarding Halloween peaud in the late nineteen eighties, then
gradually declined in the nineteen nineties as the larger Satanic
(22:31):
ritual abuse panic collapsed under the weight of investigative journalism
that revealed it was largely unfounded. Multiple investigations, including by
the FBI, found no evidence of organized satanic cult activity
on any significant scale. The recovered memories that had fueled
(22:52):
many satanic abuse accusations were revealed to be often therapeutically
induced rather than genuine. The panic graduate deflated, though it
left lasting impacts. Some communities never brought back school Halloween celebrations,
Some families continued to observe harvest festivals instead of Halloween,
and for some people, Halloween retained an association with genuine
(23:15):
evil rather than playful spookiness. But once again Halloween survived.
The holiday proved more resilient than the moral panic attacking it.
By the mid nineteen nineties, Halloween was not only surviving,
but thriving in new ways. The nineteen nineties saw several
significant shifts in Halloween practice. Adult Halloween made a comeback.
(23:36):
While Halloween had become primarily a children's holiday in the
post war period, adults began reclaiming it. During the nineteen nineties.
College Halloween parties became major events. Urban neighborhoods hosted adult
costume parties, Bars and nightclubs organized Halloween fiend nights that
became some of their busiest events of the year. This
adult Halloween wasn't like Victorian parlor games. It was more
(23:59):
about costume competition, partying, and sometimes transgressive behaviour. The costumes
reflected this often elaborate, expensive, and for some participants, deliberately
provocative or sexy. Halloween decorations exploded during the nineteen nineties,
both in scale and sophistication. What had been simple jackolanterns
(24:21):
and paper decorations became elaborate outdoor displays. Technology enabled this,
improved plastic manufacturing for realistic decorations, outdoor lighting technology, animated
and electronic decorations, and increasingly complex artificial fog machines and
sound effects. Some homeowners began creating elaborate Halloween displays that
(24:44):
rivaled Christmas light displays in ambition and attracted visitors from
across their regions. This competitive decorating turned Halloween into a
month's long hobby for enthusiasts. The haunted house industry also
expanded significantly during this period. What had once been simple
fundraisers in church basements became professional operations with sophisticated effects,
(25:06):
detailed story lines, and significant admission prices. Some haunted attractions
pushed boundaries into extreme territory, promising genuinely frightening experiences rather
than family friendly scares. The economy of Halloween grew dramatically.
By the late nineteen nineties, Americans were spending billions of
dollars annually on Halloween costumes, candy, decorations, and parties. Halloween
(25:30):
had become the second largest commercial holiday in America, behind
only Christmas. This commercialization troubled some observers, who felt Halloween
was losing its soul to capitalism, but commercialization also ensured
Halloween's survival and spread. When major corporations had financial incentives
to promote Halloween, the holiday wasn't going to disappear. The
(25:50):
Internet's rise in the nineteen nineties began to change Halloween
in ways that would become more apparent in the twenty
first century. Online communities formed around Halloween, enthusiasm, DIY, decoration
instructions spread through early websites. The groundwork was being laid
for Halloween's next evolution. Looking back at Halloween's twentieth century journey,
we see a holiday that repeatedly faced existential threats, but
(26:13):
always adapted and survived. The vandalism crisis of the thirties
nearly killed Halloween, but the Sane Halloween movement and Eventually,
trick or treating saved it by redirecting its energy. World
War II s oppressed Halloween, but the post war suburban
boom gave it new life. The tampered candy panic threatened
to end trick or treating, but the practice adapted with
(26:35):
safety measures and continued. The Satanic panic attacked Halloween's legitimacy,
for the holiday outlasted the panic. By centuries end, Halloween
was more popular, more commercial, and more widely celebrated than ever.
The suburbanization of Halloween and the trick or treat revolution
fundamentally transformed the holiday from an adult social event to
(26:57):
a children's activity, and then back to an intergener drational celebration.
The commercialization of Halloween ensured its economic importance and institutional support.
The moral panics, while challenging, ultimately demonstrated Halloweinen's resilience. Halloween
in the twentieth century became thoroughly American in character, while
(27:17):
maintaining threads to its ancient origins. The holiday took on
distinctively American qualities suburban neighborhood focus, commercial scale, child centered activity,
candy emphasis, and pop culture costume integration. This American Halloween
would become the template for Halloween's twenty first century global spread.
But that's a story for our next and final episode.
(27:39):
The twentieth century proved that Halloween could survive almost anything
economic depression, world war, vandalism, epidemics, safety panics, moral crusades,
and dramatic social change. The holiday had demonstrated remarkable adaptive capacity,
changing its form while maintaining core appeal. Why did Halloween survive?
(28:00):
Perhaps because it serves fundamental human needs. The need for
community celebration and social bonding, the appeal of fantasy, transformation
and play, the desire for controlled fear and supernatural thrill,
the marking of seasonal change in times passage, and the
outlet for transgression and mischief. In controlled form, Halloween gives
(28:21):
us permission to be some one else for a night,
to embrace the spooky and supernatural, to build community through
shared celebration, and to mark the transition from autumn abundance
to winter darkness. These needs don't change even as society
transforms around them. As we ended the twentieth century, Halloween
stood triumphant, having survived every challenge thrown at it. The
(28:44):
holiday was poised for its next great transformation. Becoming a
global phenomenon in the twenty first century while facing new
controversies around cultural appropriation, environmental impact, and inclusion. But Halloween
had proven it could evolve and adapt while maintaining its
dential character. The vandalism of black Halloween was a distant memory,
(29:04):
replaced by safe suburban trickle troutin. The tampered candy panic
had been largely debunked, but last lasting safety rituals. The
Satanic panic had collapsed, though some continued to object to
Halloween on religious grounds. Halloween had become too big, too commercial,
too culturally embedded. To fail. It was unkillable. Thank you
(29:24):
for joining me for this exploration of Halloween's turbulent twentieth century.
We've seen how close the holiday came to extinction and
how it not only survived but thrived. In our final episode,
we'll explore Halloween in the twenty first century as it
becomes a global phenomenon, faces new controversies, and continues evolving
in the digital age. Until next time, may your Halloween
(29:47):
be filled with more treats than tricks, and may you
appreciate the complex history behind every piece of candy and costume.
This has been Macarb history, Halloween through the Ages brought
to you by Quiet Clea's podcast network. Thank you for listening.
Quiet please dot A, I hear what matters.
It's Halloween night nineteen fifty In a major American city,
store windows shatter, a street car lies derailed across the tracks.
Bonfire's rage out of control in empty lots. Gangs of
teenagers roam the streets, overturning cars, soap bombing pedestrians, throwing eggs,
and worse. Police are overwhelmed. Newspapers will call it black Halloween.
(00:24):
City officials are desperate, parents are frightened, and Halloween, the
beloved autumn holiday, is on the verge of being banned altogether.
This is the story of how America almost lost Halloween,
and how one simple phrase saved it. Trick or treat,
Welcome to Macobb History Halloween through the eighties. I'm your
(00:47):
ai host Lucian Graves. This is Halloween in the twentieth century.
To understand how Halloween nearly died, we first need to
appreciate its golden age. In the early nineteen hundreds, Halloween
was riding high. The Victorian era had established it as
a legitimate American holiday, complete with greeting cards, party supplies,
(01:09):
and standardized traditions. The first two decades of the twentieth
century saw Halloween continue to grow and evolve, becoming more
mainstream and widely celebrated across different social classes and regions.
Halloween postcards because Halloween postcards became a major industry between
nineteen hundred and nineteen fifteen. These weren't simple greeting cards,
(01:32):
but elaborate, often beautifully illegrated postcards that people collected and sent.
The images on these cards tell us what Americans associated
with Halloween during this period. You'd see children and jackolanterns,
black cats and witches, harvest scenes with cord stalks and
full moons, romantic couples engaged in divination, and whimsical supernatural beings,
(01:54):
often more cute than scary. The postcard boom reflected Halloween's
increasing cours immercialization, but also its cultural penetration. Sending Halloween
cards became expected social behavior like sending Christmas cards. The
fact that companies could make money producing Halloween merchandise indicated
the holiday had achieved real cultural significance. Schools began incorporating
(02:18):
Halloween into their calendars during this period, though not without controversy.
Progressive educators saw Halloween as an opportunity to teach about seasons, harvest,
and folklore. They organized school Halloween parties and pageants, helping
to standardize Helloween for the younger generation. However, this also
marked the beginning of Helloween's slow transformation from an adult
(02:40):
social event to a children's holiday. Community Halloween celebrations became
common during this Golden Age. Towns would organize parades, costume contests,
and public parties. These community events were seen as wholesome
entertainment that brought people together. The emphasis was on fun
and festivity rather than jenue and supernatural belief, though fortune
(03:02):
telling games remained popular. Immigration continued to shape Halloween during
this period. By the early nineteen hundreds, America was experiencing
massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, Italians, Polish, Russians,
Jews fleeing persecution. These new immigrant groups encountered Halloween as
an established American tradition and gradually adopted it, even as
(03:26):
they maintained their own cultural celebrations. Halloween was becoming something
truly American, a shared cultural experience that crossed ethnic and
religious lines. World War I temporarily dampened Hellene celebrations. From
nineteen seventeen to nineteen eighteen, Americans focused on the war effort.
Resources were scarce and frivolous celebrations seemed inappropriate while young
(03:51):
men died in European trenches. Halloween didn't disappear during the war,
but it became more subdued. This would prove to be
nearly a poor before Halloween took a much darker turn.
The nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties saw Halloween transform from
community celebration into civic nightmare. The vandalism problem that had
(04:12):
existed in minor form during earlier periods suddenly exploded into
something far more serious and threatening. To understand why, we
need to consider the social context. The nineteen twenties brought
rapid urbanization and significant social upheaval. Young people, particularly young men,
increasingly lived in cities rather than rural areas. Traditional community
(04:34):
structures weakened. The close social supervision that had characterized small
town life became impossible in anomous urban environments. Then came
the Great Depression. By the early nineteen thirties, unemployment was devastating,
particularly among young people. Idle teenagers and young men, frustrated, bored,
and angry about their limited prospects turned Halloween into an
(04:56):
outlet for destructive behavior. What started as pranks escalat into
vadalism and sometimes violence. Hallowing mischief had always been part
of the tradition, soaping windows, moving gates, playing tricks, but
in the nineteen twenties and especially the nineteen thirties, this
spiraled out of control. In cities across America, Halloween became
(05:17):
a night of destruction. Street signs were torn down, windows
were smashed on a massive scale. Cars were overturned. Bonfires
were lit in streets, sometimes blocking traffic for hours. In
some cities, street cars were derailed. Property damage ran into
hundreds of thousands of dollars enormous sums during the depression.
In some neighbourhoods, vandalism crossed into violence. There were reports
(05:41):
of rocks thrown at pedestrians, attacks on people trying to
stop the destruction, and occasional riots when police attempted to intervene.
Halloween had become genuinely dangerous in many American cities. The
media amplified the problem. Though the problem was real enough.
Newspapers ran sensational stories about Halloween dist production, often using
terms like black Halloween or Halloween riots. This coverage created
(06:05):
a feedback loop reading about Halloween vandalism in other cities
sometimes inspired copycat behavior, while also increasing public pressure on
officials to do something about the problem. City governments responded
with various strategies. Some tried increasing police presence on Halloween night,
but police were often overwhelmed by the sheer scale of
(06:26):
simultaneous incidents. Some cities implemented curfews, particularly for young people.
Some threatened serious legal consequences for Halloween vandalism. None of
these punitive measures proved particularly effective. The vandalism continued, and
in some cities, worsened throughout the nineteen thirties. By the
late nineteen thirties, serious discussions were underway in multiple cities
(06:48):
about banning Halloween altogether. The holidays seemed to have become
more trouble than it was worth. If Halloween couldn't be controlled,
perhaps it should be eliminated. This was a genuine crisis
moment for Halloween. The holiday had survived two thousand years,
multiple religious transformations, and countless cultural changes. Now it faced
extinction not from religious opposition, but from its own excesses,
(07:12):
or rather from social problems that had become attached to it.
The response that ultimately saved Halloween was the sane Halloween movement,
civic organizations, parent groups, and community leaders developed a different strategy.
Instead of trying to suppress Halloween, they would redirect it.
They would provide organized, supervised alternatives to street vandalism. The
(07:34):
Boy Scouts, civic clubs, churches, and schools began organizing official
Halloween events. These included costume parades where children could show
off their costumes in a controlled environment, organized parties with
games and treats at community centers and schools, contests for
best costumes or best jack o lanterns with prizes, and
(07:57):
supervised trick or treating, which which was just beginning to
emerge as a practice. The key insight of the Sane
Halloween movement was that young people would celeigate Halloween regardless
of official disapproval. The question was whether that celebration would
be destructive or constructive. By providing attractive alternatives, communities could
(08:17):
channel Halloween energy into acceptable forms. This approach showed some
success in the late nineteen thirties, though World War II
would interrupt before we could see full results. World War
II brought Halloween to another crisis point, though this time
from different causes. From nineteen forty two through nineteen forty five,
Halloween's celebrations were severely curtailed. Shiver rationing eliminated candy, one
(08:42):
of Halloween's increasingly important elements. The war effort demanded resources
and attention that couldn't be spared for holiday celebrations. Many
young men were overseas fighting, and communities focused on war
production and survival rather than festivities. Halloween didn't completely disappeared
during the war, but it became a shadow of its
(09:03):
former self. Schools might have small parties, but the large
community celebrations stopped. Trick or treating, which was just emerging
before the war, largely ceased to sugar rationing. Some communities
organized Halloween events to raise money for war bonds, tying
the holiday to patriotic purposes. By nineteen forty five, Halloween
(09:25):
had experienced fifteen years of crisis, from vandalism in the
thirties to suppression during the war. The holiday had survived barely,
but it needed revival and reinvention. That reinvention would come
from an unexpected source, the American suburbs. The post war
period brought dramatic changes to American life. Returning veterans used
(09:48):
GI Bill benefits to buy houses in newly constructed suburbs.
Young families filled these neighborhoods. The baby boom created millions
of children, and Halloween found its perfect habitat in this
new suburban landscape. The suburbs offered something cities couldn't relative safety,
neighborly trust, and a landscape designed for the activity that
(10:10):
would become synonymous with Halloween. Trick or treating. House to
house begging in costume had ancient roots. We discussed soothing
and guising in earlier episodes. Medieval practices where people went
door to door receiving food in exchange for prayers or performances.
These practices had largely disappeared in America, though they persisted
(10:30):
in some immigrant communities and rural areas. During the nineteen thirties,
as part of the Sane Halloween movement, some communities had
experimented with organized trick or treating as an alternative to vandalism.
The idea was simple, give kids a reason to go
door to door peacefully, and they wouldn't smash windows. But
(10:50):
it wasn't until the post war suburban boom that trick
or treating exploded into the dominant Halloween activity. Suburbs were
ideal for trick or treating. In way cities, work houses
were close enough together to make going door to door practical,
but spread out enough that it felt like an adventure.
Neighborhoods were relatively homogeneous, middle class families who knew each
(11:11):
other and felt safe having their children visit neighbours homes.
Streets were designed for cars and pedestrians, making it easy
for children to travel the neighborhood. Front porches and front
doors faced the street, facilitating easy interaction. The ritual was
simple and appealing. Children dressed in costumes, visited neighbours homes,
(11:31):
said the magic words trick or treat, and received candy
or other treats. The threat implicit in trick or treat,
give us a treat or we'll play a trick was
purely symbolic by this boy. Its unconscious name was condemned
in a kind of high contract and with unnamed modes
in the fly. Parents loved trick or treating because it
kept children supervised and occupied. Kids loved it because they
(11:54):
got massive amounts of candy and got to stay out
after dark. Neighbors could participate without much burden. Buying some
candy cost less than repairing vandalized property. Communities embraced it
because it channeled Halloween energy productively. By nineteen fifty, tricker
treating was becoming widespread in American suburbs, though it hadn't
yet achieved complete dominance. The term itself took time to standardize.
(12:19):
Some regions called it tricker treat, others beggars Night or
Halloween collecting. By the late nineteen fifties, tricker treat had
won the naming contest. The practice spread through multiple mechanisms.
Children who tricker treated talled cousins and friends in other
towns about it. Women's magazines and parenting publications promoted it
as the modern safe way to celebrate Halloween. Television shows
(12:42):
depicted it. Normalising the practice, companies saw commercial opportunity and
promoted it. Candy companies particularly recognized that Halloween could become
a major candy selling holiday. Before tricker treating became universal,
Halloween candy was consumed at parties or given as small treats.
Tricker treating created demand for individually wrapped candies in much
(13:04):
larger quantities. By the late nineteen fifties, candy companies were
actively marketing Halloween candy and promoting trick or treatings in
American tradition. In nineteen fifty, UNICEF, the United Nations children's charity,
introduced trick or treat for UNICEF, encouraging children to collect
coins for international children's causes while trick or treating. This
(13:25):
gave trick or treating additional legitimacy and tied it to
charitable impulses. The nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties were
Halloween's age of innocence. Trick or treating was new enough
to feel exciting, but established enough to feel traditional. Halloween
became primarily a children's holiday during this period, a significant
shift from its Victorian adult party origins. The esthetics of
(13:49):
Halloweene changed to match its new audience. The scary witches
and skeletons of earlier errors were softened and made cuter.
Halloween decorations increasingly featured cartoons style ghosts with friendly smiles,
cute jack O'Lanterns, and colorful rather than genuinely frightening imagery.
Costumes shifted from homemade, often scary disguises, costume dressed as cowboys,
(14:13):
character based costumes, children dressed as cowboys, princesses, cartoon characters, astronauts,
and superheroes, as often as they dressed as ghosts or witches.
Halloween was becoming less about genuine supernatural fear and more
about play, fantasy, and especially candy. Television reinforced these changes.
(14:35):
The nineteen sixties saw the creation of Halloween television specials
aimed at children, most notably It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,
premiered in nineteen sixty six, becoming an instant classic that
has aired every Halloween since. These specials presented Halloween as wholesome,
child friendly and thoroughly American. The nineteen fifties and sixties
(14:58):
also saw Halloween be come big business. Costume manufacturers, decoration companies,
candy corporations, and greeting cut companies all recognized Halloween's commercial potential.
By the mid sixties, Halloween was generating significant revenue, though
nothing compared to what would come later. This suburban, child friendly,
(15:19):
commercialized Halloween seemed unassailable. By the late nineteen sixties, the
vandalism problems of earlier decades were largely forgotten. Halloween had
been successfully domesticated and commercialized, but the holiday was about
to face new challenges. Moral panics that would reshape it
once again. The first major post war Halloween panic centered
(15:41):
on tampered candy, the idea that strangers might put razor blades, needles,
or poison in Halloween treats. This fear emerged in the
late nineteen sixties and exploded in the nineteen seventies. The
genesis of the tampered candy panic is complex. There were occasional,
legitimate incidents of ten tampered food, though virtually always in
(16:02):
specific contexts rather than random stranger danger. More often, reports
of tampered candy turned out to be hoaxes, children making
false reports, or parents discovering harmless objects that they interpreted
as deliberate tabri The media amplified these stories dramatically, treating
isolated incidents as evidence of widespread danger. By the early
(16:26):
nineteen seventies, fear of tempered Halloween candy had become national news,
despite the fact that there was essentially no evidence of
random strangers tampering with Halloween candy on any significant scale. Then,
in nineteen seventy four, a tragedy occurred that seemed to
confirm every parent's worst fears, except the reality was far
more horrible. Timothy O'Brien, an eight year old in Texas,
(16:50):
died after eating Halloween candy laced with cyanide. The story
seemed like the ultimate poisoned Halloween candy nightmare come true,
except the poisoner wasn't stranger. It was Timothy's father, Ronald O'Brien,
who had taken out life insurance policies on his children
and murdered his son for the money, using Halloween as cover.
(17:10):
Rode O'Brien was convicted and eventually executed, but the case
ironically reinforced fears about tempered Helloween candy, even though it
actually demonstrated that the danger wasn't from strangers, that from
someone close to home. The O'Brien case intensified the moral panic.
Newspapers ran stories warning parents to inspect all Halloween candy.
(17:33):
Hospitals offered free X ray services to check treats for
metal objects, a practice that continued in some areas for
decades despite being essentially useless. Parents were worn to only
let children accept commercially wrapped candy, not homemade treats. Trickle
treating to strangers' homes. The very core of the Halloween
(17:53):
experience was now viewed as potentially deadly. The statistical reality
was that random stranger tampering with Hallowequeen candy was extraordinarily rare.
Sociological research later demonstrated that the Halloween sadist was largely
an urban legend. The vast vast majority of reported incidents
were hoaxes or misunderstandings. The few genuine cases typically involved
(18:14):
family members or known acquaintances, not strangers. But facts couldn't
compete with fear. The moral panic took on a life
of its own, fed by media coverage, parental anxiety, and
a broader cultural shift toward viewing the world as more
dangerous for children. The nineteen seventies and especially the nineteen
eighties saw increasing emphasis on stranger danger, the idea that
(18:37):
unknown adults posed significant threats to children. Halloween, which required
children to approach strangers' homes asking for candy, became a
focus of these anxieties. Communities responded with various safety measures.
Trick or treating hours were restricted, no more going out
after dark. Young children were required to be accompanied by adults.
(18:58):
Some communities organized troups or treat events where children collected
candy from car trunks in supervised parking lots instead of
going door to door. More trick or treating became common,
providing a controlled indoor environment. Some religious communities began offering
harvest festivals as explicit alternatives to Halloween, though this was
(19:18):
often driven by religious objections as much as safety concerns.
The Halloween safety panic reflected and reinforced broader social changes.
The free range childhood of the nineteen fifties and sixties,
when children played outside unsupervised and maighbors looked after each
other's kids, was giving way to more protective, suspicious parenting.
(19:39):
Trust in community and strangers was declining. Halloween both suffered
from and symbolized these changes, but Halloween survived the safety panic,
as it had survived so many challenges. Trick or treating
continued orbeit often in modified form. The candy industry weathered
the storm, perhaps even benefiting from the emphasis on commercially
(20:00):
wrapped products. Halloween remained central to American childhood. Then came
an even stranger moral panic, the Satanic Panic of the
nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties. This panic centered on
the belief that organized Satanic cults were operating throughout America,
engaging in ritual abuse of children, performing human sacrifices, and
(20:20):
generally working evil on a vast scale. Halloween, with its
traditional associations with darkness, witchcraft, and the supernatural, became swept
up in this hysteria. The Satanic panic had complex roots
in Evangelical Christian anxieties, sensationalized media coverage, questionable therapeutic practices
(20:42):
that produced false memories, and broader cultural fears about childhood
safety and moral decay. Whatever its origins, by the mid
nineteen eighties, significant numbers of Americans believed in widespread Satanic conspiracy,
despite the complete absence of credible evidence. Halloween became a
target for several reasons. The holiday's historical associations with paganism
(21:05):
made its suspect to some evangelical Christians. The presence of witches, devils,
and demons in Halloween imagery seemed to prove the holiday
satanic nature. The date itself, October thirty first, was believed
by some to be the most important night of the
Satanic calendar, when cults would perform their darkest rituals. Some
religious leaders began preaching against Halloween, calling it a Satanic
(21:28):
holiday that Christians shouldn't celebrate. Churches organized alternative harvest festivals
or even hell houses haunted house experiences designed to scare
people into Christian conversion rather than just for entertainment. These
explicitly rejected Halloween as demonic. Some communities saw attempts to
(21:49):
ban or restrict Halloween based on satanic panic concerns. School
Halloween celebrations were canceled in some districts. PTA meetings featured
heated the baits about whather Halloween parties were appropriate. Parents
groups circulated lists of supposedly satanic symbols to watch for
in Halloween decorations and costumes. The panic extended to Halloween media.
(22:11):
Role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, heavy metal music,
and horror movies all became targets accused of promoting Satanism and,
by extension, making hallary more dangerous and demonic. The satemic
panic regarding Halloween peaud in the late nineteen eighties, then
gradually declined in the nineteen nineties as the larger Satanic
(22:31):
ritual abuse panic collapsed under the weight of investigative journalism
that revealed it was largely unfounded. Multiple investigations, including by
the FBI, found no evidence of organized satanic cult activity
on any significant scale. The recovered memories that had fueled
(22:52):
many satanic abuse accusations were revealed to be often therapeutically
induced rather than genuine. The panic graduate deflated, though it
left lasting impacts. Some communities never brought back school Halloween celebrations,
Some families continued to observe harvest festivals instead of Halloween,
and for some people, Halloween retained an association with genuine
(23:15):
evil rather than playful spookiness. But once again Halloween survived.
The holiday proved more resilient than the moral panic attacking it.
By the mid nineteen nineties, Halloween was not only surviving,
but thriving in new ways. The nineteen nineties saw several
significant shifts in Halloween practice. Adult Halloween made a comeback.
(23:36):
While Halloween had become primarily a children's holiday in the
post war period, adults began reclaiming it. During the nineteen nineties.
College Halloween parties became major events. Urban neighborhoods hosted adult
costume parties, Bars and nightclubs organized Halloween fiend nights that
became some of their busiest events of the year. This
adult Halloween wasn't like Victorian parlor games. It was more
(23:59):
about costume competition, partying, and sometimes transgressive behaviour. The costumes
reflected this often elaborate, expensive, and for some participants, deliberately
provocative or sexy. Halloween decorations exploded during the nineteen nineties,
both in scale and sophistication. What had been simple jackolanterns
(24:21):
and paper decorations became elaborate outdoor displays. Technology enabled this,
improved plastic manufacturing for realistic decorations, outdoor lighting technology, animated
and electronic decorations, and increasingly complex artificial fog machines and
sound effects. Some homeowners began creating elaborate Halloween displays that
(24:44):
rivaled Christmas light displays in ambition and attracted visitors from
across their regions. This competitive decorating turned Halloween into a
month's long hobby for enthusiasts. The haunted house industry also
expanded significantly during this period. What had once been simple
fundraisers in church basements became professional operations with sophisticated effects,
(25:06):
detailed story lines, and significant admission prices. Some haunted attractions
pushed boundaries into extreme territory, promising genuinely frightening experiences rather
than family friendly scares. The economy of Halloween grew dramatically.
By the late nineteen nineties, Americans were spending billions of
dollars annually on Halloween costumes, candy, decorations, and parties. Halloween
(25:30):
had become the second largest commercial holiday in America, behind
only Christmas. This commercialization troubled some observers, who felt Halloween
was losing its soul to capitalism, but commercialization also ensured
Halloween's survival and spread. When major corporations had financial incentives
to promote Halloween, the holiday wasn't going to disappear. The
(25:50):
Internet's rise in the nineteen nineties began to change Halloween
in ways that would become more apparent in the twenty
first century. Online communities formed around Halloween, enthusiasm, DIY, decoration
instructions spread through early websites. The groundwork was being laid
for Halloween's next evolution. Looking back at Halloween's twentieth century journey,
we see a holiday that repeatedly faced existential threats, but
(26:13):
always adapted and survived. The vandalism crisis of the thirties
nearly killed Halloween, but the Sane Halloween movement and Eventually,
trick or treating saved it by redirecting its energy. World
War II s oppressed Halloween, but the post war suburban
boom gave it new life. The tampered candy panic threatened
to end trick or treating, but the practice adapted with
(26:35):
safety measures and continued. The Satanic panic attacked Halloween's legitimacy,
for the holiday outlasted the panic. By centuries end, Halloween
was more popular, more commercial, and more widely celebrated than ever.
The suburbanization of Halloween and the trick or treat revolution
fundamentally transformed the holiday from an adult social event to
(26:57):
a children's activity, and then back to an intergener drational celebration.
The commercialization of Halloween ensured its economic importance and institutional support.
The moral panics, while challenging, ultimately demonstrated Halloweinen's resilience. Halloween
in the twentieth century became thoroughly American in character, while
(27:17):
maintaining threads to its ancient origins. The holiday took on
distinctively American qualities suburban neighborhood focus, commercial scale, child centered activity,
candy emphasis, and pop culture costume integration. This American Halloween
would become the template for Halloween's twenty first century global spread.
But that's a story for our next and final episode.
(27:39):
The twentieth century proved that Halloween could survive almost anything
economic depression, world war, vandalism, epidemics, safety panics, moral crusades,
and dramatic social change. The holiday had demonstrated remarkable adaptive capacity,
changing its form while maintaining core appeal. Why did Halloween survive?
(28:00):
Perhaps because it serves fundamental human needs. The need for
community celebration and social bonding, the appeal of fantasy, transformation
and play, the desire for controlled fear and supernatural thrill,
the marking of seasonal change in times passage, and the
outlet for transgression and mischief. In controlled form, Halloween gives
(28:21):
us permission to be some one else for a night,
to embrace the spooky and supernatural, to build community through
shared celebration, and to mark the transition from autumn abundance
to winter darkness. These needs don't change even as society
transforms around them. As we ended the twentieth century, Halloween
stood triumphant, having survived every challenge thrown at it. The
(28:44):
holiday was poised for its next great transformation. Becoming a
global phenomenon in the twenty first century while facing new
controversies around cultural appropriation, environmental impact, and inclusion. But Halloween
had proven it could evolve and adapt while maintaining its
dential character. The vandalism of black Halloween was a distant memory,
(29:04):
replaced by safe suburban trickle troutin. The tampered candy panic
had been largely debunked, but last lasting safety rituals. The
Satanic panic had collapsed, though some continued to object to
Halloween on religious grounds. Halloween had become too big, too commercial,
too culturally embedded. To fail. It was unkillable. Thank you
(29:24):
for joining me for this exploration of Halloween's turbulent twentieth century.
We've seen how close the holiday came to extinction and
how it not only survived but thrived. In our final episode,
we'll explore Halloween in the twenty first century as it
becomes a global phenomenon, faces new controversies, and continues evolving
in the digital age. Until next time, may your Halloween
(29:47):
be filled with more treats than tricks, and may you
appreciate the complex history behind every piece of candy and costume.
This has been Macarb history, Halloween through the Ages brought
to you by Quiet Clea's podcast network. Thank you for listening.
Quiet please dot A, I hear what matters.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.