Toward a Kinder, Gentler Halloween

Halloween’s gotten kind of gruesome lately, but the variety of family-friendly events available are grander and more plentiful than ever.

We won’t deny that Halloween’s origins are spooky. The Celts who started it called it Samhain. They believed on that night, the fabric between the worlds of the living and the dead got real thin, allowing ghosts to cross over.

Even so, early rituals to keep the sprits away could have a kind of mellow, even pastoral, vibe:

A few centuries later, Irish folklore’s Stingy Jack, after a long night of drinking with the devil, was dumb enough to try to stick him with the bar bill. That didn’t go over well, and an unwilling transformation followed. But even then, Jack, too, looks benign—kind of friendly, even:

Today’s version of Halloween, though . . . well, it can take a kind of grim turn, certainly grimmer than a bunch of Celtic rustics sitting around a fire in a forest wearing animal skins. Any number of massive amusement park experiences turn up the gruesome to ten. And while you can find plenty of Jack O’lantern masks in Halloween stores, you can bet they won’t be smiling like Stingy Jack; they’ll be scary. Clowns seem to be a lot meaner these days, too, with sharper teeth, to boot.

So how did Halloween take such an R-rated turn?

While some historical developments, say, rock and roll, develop over time and are the result of many difficult-to-trace influences, that’s not the case here. We know exactly when Halloween got dark: on October 25, 1978, the day the movie, Halloween, came out[1]. If the sinister potential of the holiday only lurked under the surface before, John Carpenter’s film made sure everyone got the connection, and it’s stayed that way.

Fortunately, family-friendly entertainment has also grown and diversified over the years, to be expected from a holiday that remains child-focused: 58.5 million youngsters are expected to celebrate this year.[2] And while the more sensational attractions may get more attention, in truth there are more all-age options than ever before to augment the basics of trick-or-treating. Let’s look at a few.

The Great Jack O’lantern Blaze; Croton-on-Hudson, New York

New York’s Hudson Valley is an apt setting for Halloween: it’s Sleepy Hollow territory, where Ichabod Crane faced off with the Headless Horseman. If that sounds horrific, remember Disney released a G-rated cartoon about it. Anyway, the Great Jack O’lantern Blaze has nothing to do with the legend and everything to do with carved pumpkins, over 7,000 of them arranged into glowing displays like pumpkin planets, skeletons, and even a fire-breathing gourd dragon. The shores of the Hudson River are designed to encourage leisurely walks through the outdoor exhibits. The paths are stroller-friendly, too.

A Halloween Parade with Super Heroes; Rutland, Vermont

The Rutland, Vermont Halloween parade has been around for over half a century. One of its notable aspects is how it places comic book superheroes front and center. That may not seem like a big deal now that superheroes are everywhere, but in the 1970’s, when the parade started, comic books were definitely more of a niche deal and certainly not taken seriously by adults. Marvel, at the time, appreciated the support from Rutland’s parade organizers and civic leaders, so they used the parade as a setting in a couple of Avengers issues from the period. Other comic publishers occasionally follow suit.

300 Halloween Events in 31 Days; Denton, Texas

“The Halloween Capital of Texas” is how the Texas State Legislature officially designates Denton, and the town is up to the challenge. It features “31 Days of Denton Halloween,” during which organizers manage to cram over 300 events and attractions into October, the vast majority of them family-friendly.

The whole town square turns into a Halloween wonderland, plus there are phone booths that whisper to you when you pick up the receiver (“haunted hotlines”), a garden of life-size Scooby-Doo villains, a 5,000 square foot interactive haunted maze—even an arts and jazz festival. Last year the celebration drew over 660,000 visitors from all 50 states, and it has a mascot, too, which residents voted to name . . . “Onion.”

On a Local Note…

There really is no place like home when it comes to Halloween, though, and we’re lucky that the areas adjacent to SSCS Headquarters—from the Salinas Valley to the Monterey Peninsula to Carmel Valley— are suffused with family friendly appeal, many in quiet settings reflective of the area’s agricultural roots, such as Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley. Here’s a small collage to give you some local Halloween flavor:

The Halloween season is full of special limited time offers, seasonal products, and a big spike in candy and novelty sales. Rapid changes in inventory make it hard for a c-store operator to keep up with the mini-trends that impact merchandise profit, placing retail potential in jeopardy. If you suspect you aren’t getting the most out of seasonal inventory, technology can help you make sure you do, in many different ways. Want to hear what they are? Give us a call at (800) 972-7727 and we’ll explain—it’s not a trick at all.

Happy Halloween!

[1] “Halloween: When Did It Become so Gory?” Andre Mauver, cbc.ca, October 31, 2013.

[2] “Halloween: October 31, 2025,” Press Release Number CB25-FF.08, United States Census Bureau, September 30, 2025.