Halloween Tale Published by Anti-Saloon League, 1921
Halloween Tale Published by Anti-Saloon League, 1921

Halloween, the October 31 holiday which celebrates all things scary, is a relatively recent creation.  With roots in ancient Celtic tradition, All Hallows Eve has a long pedigree.  But Halloween as we know it today is largely an American creation.  It started with the Scotts-Irish immigrants, who found the American pumpkin a more easily carved vegetable for making jack o’lanterns.   Fortune telling and cider-and-donut parties merged with juvenile hooliganism and outhouse-tipping.  Fearing the alleged rise of delinquency, the holiday was channeled into more manageable trick or treating at the turn of the century.  By the 1920s, Halloween was more respectable, more child-friendly, and more controlled. That’s when the Anti-Saloon League in Westerville hopped on the Halloween bandwagon.


[i] Nicholas Rogers, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford University Press, 2002.. 

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Alan Borer
Our Chicken Man
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Accidental History – NEW exhibit by Nina Thomas

"The intent of My Final Photo was a challenge. It was a personal quest to make more, better, and different photos. Photos from a place where I’d lived, but spent little time photographing: Westerville. Almost 18 years later, the result is what I’ve begun to call “Accidental History.” When I sorted through the collection, I could see my photos reflected a brief span of history in Westerville. I never intended to create a history collection."

- Gary Gardiner

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