As you may have seen in a posting from a few weeks earlier, I begin to celebrate the fall and harvest in August, for that month is actually considered the first month of harvest (click HERE). By September, I am going full force (click HERE to see my post about that).
I also spent many hours visiting my favorite historical open-air museum enjoying all that it has to offer this year concerning fall and harvest.
So, today's posting shows my Hallowe'en experiences there at Greenfield Village, plus some of our home decorations.
We'll begin with the Village - many photos that you may have seen before, but a few extra's you have not seen yet. Plus some extra text thrown in.
In other words, lotsa history surrounding the holiday~
Hope you like it.
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It was in early October that most of the members of my family, along with a few friends, journeyed to Hallowe'en Past by way of Greenfield Village. In fact, it was back on August 30 that tickets for this event went on sale:
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| It was like waiting in line to get tickets to see Led Zeppelin 50 years before. In fact, many here (including myself), have waited in such lines to get concert tickets for our favorite bands back in the day. Today, however, we're all a bit older and we now wait in line to purchase tickets for Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village! |
Around these parts we begin to see Hallowe'en décor showing up in August in stores and sometimes on front lawns, so by late September/early October we are really deep in the midst of it all. And in this day and age we are living in, it seems everyone is ready for some sort of fun, traditional holiday to take us away from the rigors of society.
Hallowe'en is a great way to let loose by decorating with mystery and sometimes horror, but mostly in fun. And Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village takes the best of the holiday - the fun, the horror, the mystery, the surprise, the fantasy, the stories & lore - and puts it all together in one gigantic pot of Hallowe'en stew!
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This was the first year they offered a free horse and cart ride, so it just happened to be the first thing Patty & I (and our son Miles) did. It wasn't a long ride. In fact, it actually could have/should have been a bit longer.
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A super idea that the Village came up with back in, I believe, 2019, is what they call The Hallowe'en Express train ride:
"Board one of our ghostly passenger cars for a ride on the Hallowe'en Express. This 20 minute train ride will take you on a tour of ghosts, monsters, and urban legends as it winds through the eerie but enchanted woods at Greenfield Village." I consider this a must experience attraction and a definite highlight. My young grandkids love it - my adult kids love it - and we, the grandparents love it.
It must be good.
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| The "Hallowe'en Express" is always a good time, whether day or evening. We took our ride at night - unfortunately my pictures on that ride did not turn out. |
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| The smoke poured out of the stack. My friend, Darrin Green, took this picture. |
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| I love seeing the caboose - I wish they would run the caboose during the regular season. |
Now here is a quick little Hallowe'en history lesson:
The telling of ghost stories on Hallowe'en derives from both the Druids' belief that the ancestral dead arise on this night and the Christian directive to honor the souls of the departed at Hallowmas.
It was only natural, then, at early American harvest time get-togethers, when the communities would gather for such harvest time activities as corn-husking parties, apple paring parties, sugar and sorghum making days, and even at thresherman dinner parties, that ghost stories would become an integral part of these autumn celebrations. Many American ghost stories evolved from actual superstitions and rituals practiced by those who lived in the British Isles. These tales of the ancestral dead were told and retold by the elders to a spellbound crowd, late at night, after all of the activities were done, when the moon was fully risen and the trees outside shook with the autumn wind. That's when people gathered around a fire and told one another tales of the silenced dead lying in graves nearby.
Harvest time indeed!
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology.
In many of these stories, Trolls have been associated with bridges, and Greenfield Village has the perfect bridge: the Ackley Covered Bridge from 1831. In these stories, trolls are often depicted as large, ugly creatures who are rarely helpful to human beings. They live in isolated places such as rocks, mountains, or caves, but they are also known to dwell under bridges. The belief was that these trolls would try to harm or trick human travelers who crossed their bridge. Over time, this image of the bridge-dwelling troll became a popular motif in fantasy literature and media, leading to the popular association of trolls with bridges that we know today.
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We had to cross the Ackley wooden bridge, under which lives a fearsome and hideous troll, who is so territorial that he eats anyone who tries to cross it. But we had to cross it to see other Hallowe'en experiences. Luckily, we made it through! |
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| We had a downpouring of rain that only lasted about five minutes. But we had a beautiful rainbow afterward - if you look close, you can see it's a double rainbow. |
Greenfield Village also has a Woman in White. The old tales from Ireland and more northern countries, wailing women in white are said to foretell death. However, the Village sort of added a twist to this legend:
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| High upon her balcony, in search of her lost mate, stands a woman in white, tormented by her fate. She reminds me of Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. |
When you have a lagoon, you have to have depictions of pirates.
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| Neverland Pirates~ Meet Captain Hook and Smee |
Are you familiar with the mind-blowing tale of descent into madness and paranoia known as the "Tell Tale Heart"?
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| Story teller, Tony Lucas, captivated audiences by bringing to life Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 Gothic masterpiece, The Tell-Tale Heart. |
Meet (most) members of my family and our friends:
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| Family picture break - - Here we are - only my son Robbie & his wife could not make it this night. However, long-time family friends, Mari & Darrin, did join us, as did my daughter's friend! |
The Village did a spectacular job showing many of the characters from the classic Wizard of Oz.
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| My two eldest grandkids have entered the Land of Oz. Author L. Frank Baum spent summers vacationing at Macatawa Park on the shores of Lake Michigan in Holland, Michigan. According to local lore, this was the place that inspired Baum to write this classic story. |
If you go out in the field, just after dark, beware of the Corn Creeper .
He is waiting for you!
Now it's dark, and the Corn Creeper seems to be rather "lit"~
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| Is that The Corn Creeper behind me?? But it's not dark! |
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| New this year is a pretty large Jack-O-Skeleton (or a depiction of Dept. 56's Corn Creeper). This is pretty cool - a good addition.  |
"Trip, trap, trip, trap," went the bridge.
"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll.
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| Earlier you saw the troll 'neath the bridge. Now my grandkids will take the chance! Well, their parents will help, I'm sure... |
One of the coolest books about Hallowe'en for kids is "The Hallowe'en Tree" by Ray Bradbury. Here is a summary:
When young Pipkin becomes ill and is whisked away into the mysterious darkness of the Hallowe'en tree, his friends must race through space and time to save him. With a peculiar old man named Moundshroud to guide them, the kids encounter the many earlier manifestations of the holiday known as Hallowe'en.
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| The Hallowe'en Tree - a tried and true favorite. According to Ray Bradbury's book, "The Hallowe'en Tree," each pumpkin represents someone who died on Halloween. |
Now I'm not 100% sure if this tree in Greenfield Village is based on Bradbury's book, but there seems to be many other folklore tales come to life at Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village based on books, so if this is as well, I think it's great.
For thousands of years, various cultures have had figures to represent death. One of the most common and enduring of these is the Grim Reaper—usually a skeletal figure, who is often shrouded in a dark, hooded robe and carrying a scythe to “reap” human souls.
The Grim Reaper seems to have appeared in Europe during the 14th century. It was during this time that Europe was dealing with what was then the world’s worst pandemic, the Black Death, believed to be the result of the plague.
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| The Grim Reaper~ Do you know why the grim reaper looks the way he does and carries a scythe? |
Yes, why the skeletal figure?
Why the scythe?
Why the robe?
Skeletons are symbolic of death, representing the human body after it has decayed. The robe is thought to be reminiscent of the robes that religious figures of the time wore when conducting funerary services. The scythe is an apt image taken from agricultural practices of the time: harvesters used scythes to reap or harvest crops that were ready to be plucked from the earth…and, well, that’s kind of what happens when humans die: they are plucked from this earth.
There is so much more to see at Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village. My favorite of the night is the depiction of Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
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| Taken right from Washington Irving's 1820 story, "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." |
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| In fact, another storyteller, representing Washington Irving, told the story. I didn't stop to listen, for we had a haunted train to catch. |
Washington Irving's original short story is actually not as modern society thinks.
Now, we're all aware of the Tim Burton movie version that was released to theaters in 1999 starring Johnny Depp. I certainly enjoyed the scary thrill that this version gave me. But as I read the original story from over 200 years ago, I learned that this was not even close to what Washington Irving wrote. In fact, the Burton/Depp version is nearly an entirely different story altogether; pretty much only the names remain the same, to a certain extent: the headless horseman is there (but didn't actually play such a prominent part in Irving's original telling), Katrina Van Tassel, Ichabod Crane (who is a lawyer here where in the original book he is a school teacher), Brom Bones, a few of the other Irving characters, the time period in which it takes place - 1790s - is correct, and, well, that's pretty much it for the similarities.
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| So...have you read the actual story from 1820? |
It was through extensive searching that I was able to locate a filmed version that followed the book much closer: a made for TV version done the same year as the Burton/Depp film.
I wrote an Amazon review of it:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, starring Brent Carver and Rachelle Lefevre, follows Washington Irving's original much, much closer than the Tim Burton version (one that I also like, but is mostly its own story rather than Irving's). Washington Irving's original story wasn't necessarily a horror story as is depicted in our modern times, but, rather, it was more of a love story with a touch of fright and even a bit of comedy thrown in. However, it was framed in eeriness and the true fright comes in at the very end.
The ride is a bit eerie, with ghosts, ghouls, witches, werewolves, and other creatures of the night interspersed throughout the wooded areas and flat lands, but even just seeing the train was kind of spooky as well.
This made for TV version I am highlighting here shows Brent Carver to be a positively perfect Ichabod Crane - straight out of the book in every way, and the depiction of the story being told at a dark, candle-lit tavern in the early 19th century on Hallowe'en helps to give it a more creepy feeling.
And, I have to say, the late 18th century atmosphere of the story itself is also very well done; few other versions capture that warm, autumnal feeling that Irving illustrates so perfectly in his original story.
Yep - this may not be the horror story we've all come to make it out to be (though there is horror included), but then, neither was the original.
The movie is not perfect, but well-done.
One thing that is most remembered in both movies as well as in Washington Irving's original story is the Headless Horseman. In the original, the horseman is more of an underlying theme running mostly in the background, while moderns have placed him at the forefront.
What is really cool, for Hallowe'en's sake, is the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane are both at Greenfield Village, and they are scary - yet fun. So I took plenty of photos and included my favorites right here (with narrations directly from Washington Irving's original 1820 "Sleepy Hollow" pen):
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| ~An opening in the trees now cheered him with the hopes that the church bridge was at hand. He saw the walls of the church dimly glaring under the trees beyond. He recollected the place where Brom Bones’s ghostly competitor had disappeared.~ |
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| ~"If I can but reach that bridge," thought Ichabod, "I am safe." Just then he heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him; he even fancied that he felt his hot breath…Ichabod cast a look behind to see if his pursuer should vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone."~ |
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| Adaptations of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" often show the Headless Horseman with a pumpkin or jack-o'-lantern in place of his severed head. However, in the original story, a shattered pumpkin is discovered next to Ichabod Crane's abandoned hat on the morning after Crane's supposed encounter with the Horseman, but the story does not reference carved jack-o'-lanterns or Hallowe'en itself. |
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| Our "hero" - Ichabod Crane - is also a school master, and kind of a bumpkin one at that, and not a detective (as in the Burton/Depp movie). |
The most infamous specter in Sleepy Hollow is the Headless Horseman, said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball during some nameless battle of the American Revolutionary War, and who is ever seen by the country folk hurrying along in the gloom of night, as if on the wings of the wind, and who rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head.
This dominant spirit seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, and is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head.
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| I was a-waiting for the Headless Horseman to be in perfect alignment for me and the sunset/twilight time in the distance. This is the shot I got. |
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| So the Headless Horseman, as presented in Greenfield Village, chases Ichabod, but does not carry a jack o' lantern. Well done - this is my favorite part of the entire time here. |
But the Hallowe'en spookiness was not quite done yet at the Village.
There was a train to catch!
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| The spooky "Hallowe'en Express" |
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| The cars were lantern lit - I love it! |
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| The lit caboose. |
It is unfortunate that neither my phone camera nor my actual camera does a good job capturing the images during out bumpy nighttime train ride.
~Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village is quite the event, and a good portion of the Village is used.
They also have a few snippets of harvest, such as beer brewing and the dyeing of wool, and little more, which I posted about HERE. In fact, with all they have going on, the hours from 4 til 9:30 are actually not enough time~
At my home I don't really go all out in decorating for Hallowe'en. Instead, I do mostly autumn and harvest themes. I found it interesting that as I was walking through one of the local hobby stores I noticed all of the fall decorating, such as fake pumpkins, rubber apples, and the like. And they did look good. Then I realized that we grew pumpkins, picked our own apples, plus bought a few gourds, had turnips and flax that we grew at the cabin...then add the candles we dipped last year - -
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| A small harvest vignette~ We had our own real fall décor, all natural with its variety of colors. And it all lasted through the season pretty well. The best part was watching the pumpkins change from green to orange and having that nice color mix. |
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| And though we do not live out in the country - we live on a rather small patch of land (not even enough land to allow me to vote had I been alive back in those early Republic days), we still have our red oak tree that we were given one Arbor Day about twenty years ago while at Greenfield Village. Fall right there in my own speck of a yard. Yeah...little things can make me happy. |
As for Hallowe'en decorating - like I said, I keep it simple and mostly inside my house:
However, I do try to bring out my haunted village from Department 56. |
| A new edition this year to my Dept. 56 Hallowe'en Village is this Ichabod Crane with his horse, Gunpowder. |
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| Another new edition this year is the "Corn Creeper" - - - If you scroll back up to the Greenfield Village pictures, you'll see a life-size version of something very similar. |
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| And there's "Stingy Jack" of the Lantern, with his period-correct lit turnip (good for you, Dept. 56, for doing your research!)~ |
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| Another bit of history is here - the Major Andre Hanging Tree (Andre was convicted of being a British Spy and hung from "this" tree, which was located in Tappan, New York - not too far from Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow). It's said his ghost still haunts the area. |
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| And the haunted covered bridge where the Headless Horseman may find you, should you dare to cross. Or maybe even a troll will hear you trip-trapping...! |
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A painting I purchased in 2022 called "Punkinhead" by artist Ken Scott |
Then comes Hallowe'en!
Two years ago we had no kids trick or treating.
Last year we had one.
This year we had probably twenty five .
We're moving in the right direction - - - SO glad!
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| I'm not the best pumpkin carver, but it served its purpose! And it looks a little creepy amidst the corn stalks & hay. And the rose bushes. |
By the way, we had our first snow of the season on this night. It was only flurries for us, but, well,
The Nightmare Before Christmas, I suppose!
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| As the sun set behind a blanket of thick clouds... |
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat 'til the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween
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| And soon darkness reigned over Hallowe'en night... |
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
'Alloween, 'alloween
'Alloween, 'alloween
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
Goblins, imps, fairies, and trolls were thought to do a lot of mischief on Hallowe'en; it was the night spirits were out and about, and farmers bolted their doors and avoided walking alone in the darkness. This was the night when doors were blocked with carts, or attacked with a fusillade of turnips. Plows and carts were carried off and hidden. Gates were taken off their hinges and thrown into a neighboring ditch or pond. Horses were led from the stables and left in the fields a few miles away.
So, with my love for Harvest Time Past, to celebrate Hallowe'en in such a manner, and keeping it inclusive with the harvest as it once was, it has become just one part of the greater whole.
I hope you enjoyed our 2023 trip through Hallowe'en past and present.
It's been many a-year since I've had as much fun on this holiday as I did this year. I love the fact that my grandchildren all play a part.
Until next time, see you in time.
To read more about Hallowe'en's history, please click HERE
To read a bit about some of the actual ghost stories of Greenfield Village, please click HERE
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