GenX Halloween Experience
About This Episode
From homemade costumes to pillowcase candy hauls, Halloween as a GenX kid was something special. It was a simpler time with more freedom, but also prone to real-world scares that have led to a more watered-down Halloween today. In this Backtrack, we’re looking back at our memories of the GenX Halloween experience!
Discord » GenXGrownUp.com/discord
Facebook » fb.me/GenXGrownUp
Twitter » GenXGrownUp.com/twitter
Website » GenXGrownUp.com
Podcast » GenXGrownUp.com/pod
Merchandise » GenXGrownUp.com/merch
Shop » genxgrownup.com/amazon
Theme: “Grown Up” by Beefy » beefyness.com
Apple » itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/genxgrownup-podcast/id1268365641
CastBox » castbox.fm/channel/GenXGrownUp-Podcast-id2943471?country=us
Pocket Casts » pca.st/8iuL
TuneIn » tunein.com/radio/GenXGrownUp-Podcast-p1020342/
Spotify » spoti.fi/2TB4LR7
iHeart » www.iheart.com/podcast…
Amazon Music » amzn.to/33IKfEK
Show Notes
- The History of Trick-or-Treating Goes Back Centuries » bit.ly/4dRk28Q
- Garbage Bag Costumes » www.upworthy.com/80s-halloween-costumes
- Gen X Mom Calls Out Millennial Parents For Ruining Halloween » bit.ly/48m0Y1w
- Halloween Traditions Vary By Generation, Confectioners Say » bit.ly/4dUqKLf
- 1980s Now Poison Halloween Candy Episode » 1980snow.com/halloween-sadism-and-the-tylenol-murders/
- 1980s Now Podcast » 1980snow.com
- Mail the show » podcast@genxgrownup.com
- Visit us on YouTube » GenXGrownUp.com/yt
TRANSCRIPT
| Jon | Welcome back Gen X Grown Up Podcast listeners to this backtrack edition of the Gen X Grown Up Podcast. I am John. Joining me as always, of course, is George. Hey man. |
| George | Hey, how’s it going, guys? |
| Jon | Wouldn’t be a show without Mo. Mo, how you doing buddy? |
| George | whoaa Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. |
| Jon | Hey, what happened? |
| George | The fuck dude. |
| Jon | Oh no. Wait a minute. What am I forgetting? |
| George | Yeah. What are you forgetting? The guy that lives in the same city as you is been on vacation for like a week and a half, dude, because he’s got his rich friend that takes him all over the fucking world while we get stuck here in hurricane central. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Jon | That’s right. |
| Jon | but she Well, she’s also a very nice lady aside from that, but yes, that’s right. |
| George | I mean, she’s a nice lady. I’m not saying that, but but I don’t know that he deserves it anyway. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | He’s not here. |
| Jon | Okay. Um, I’m going to, I, I i’ve got it. |
| George | You got to figure this out, dude. Either we’re just going to do it, me and you, or you better have something ready. Where we started. |
| Jon | I’ve got it. I’ve got it. Hold on. Give me one second. I put you on hold. Give me one second, George. I think I have a solution. |
| George | All right. |
| Jon | Okay. Then her skit, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I just put cat on hold. I have a solution. Um, maybe George, you want to know who it is? And I’m like, you’ll find out in a second or whatever. You know, maybe something like that. |
| George | Sure, sure. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Okay. All right. |
| George | Why don’t you, you’re going to come back in and say, okay, I’m back and I’m gonna say, all right, what the fuck are we doing or something like that? |
| Jon | I’m going to come back in um yeah exactly. Yes, exactly. |
| George | I got you. |
| Jon | Exactly. Okay. So I come back in at three, two, ah got it fixed. |
| George | Jesus. |
| Jon | I got to figure it out. |
| George | Well, thank fucking God that took long enough. |
| Jon | Take care of. |
| George | What the fuck are we going to do now? |
| Jon | I just, I had to make a quick call and I have a third co-host. I have somebody lined up. |
| George | What you call the fucking Ghostbusters. What do you mean? You got to make a call. |
| Jon | I made a call already and I coordinated someone to sit in for Mo. So we’ll take care of it. ye They’ll be here after the break. So let’s take care of business here. |
| George | All right. |
| Jon | All right. But hey, at the top of the show, all right. |
| George | Awkward as shit, but all right. |
| Jon | but More importantly, what we’re… |
| George | Professionals. |
| Jon | In this episode, from homemade costumes to pillowcase candy hauls, Halloween is a Gen X kid with something special for all of us. It was a simpler time with more freedom, but also prone to real world scares that have led to a more watered down Halloween today. |
| Jon | In this backtrack, we’re looking back at our memories of the Generation X Halloween experience. And our co-host is well versed in a Gen X Halloween. So I think we’re gonna be in good shape. |
| George | But yes, I was at Halloween. What do you mean our co-host? |
| Jon | No, not the other, we know you did. The other co-hosts, the fill in. |
| George | Hi, this is so confusing. |
| Jon | George, it’ll all make sense in a second. First though, it’s time for some fourth listener email. |
| George | All right. |
| Jon | Fourth listener this time around is Tom W. Tom dropped us a line. Subject line was playing outside rewind. Just a few, a couple of months ago. |
| George | Oh, wow. |
| Jon | Yeah, remember that old backtrack about playing outside and the things we did and all your rambunctiousness? |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | ah Tom listened and he wrote in and said this. Hi guys, I’m listening to your Backtrack episode about playing outside as kids. As a young kid, my family lived in Southern California about three miles from the pier at Huntington Beach. |
| Jon | During my summer, my oldest brother would commandeer my toy wagon, tie it with clothesline or whatever to his bicycle, somehow strap his surfboard along with a few foam boogie boards to it, and then my two older brother and I, I was the youngest, would bike convoy down the sidewalk on Beach Boulevard to go play on the beach. |
| George | Wow. |
| Jon | What a caravan! |
| George | I mean, that, that would be kind of awesome. That feels like it’s something out of an old Spielberg movie or something. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Jon | it let’s That’s the childhood we had. People forget. The old Spielberg movie is just showing what we did. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | It’s kids, basically. Tom goes on to say, ah we we usually tell our parents, and I guess my oldest brother would bring a dime or something for a phone call, the case of an emergency. what yeah Yeah, right. |
| Jon | or Or just rub some dirt in it is fine, too. ah When it was getting close to dinnertime, we would load up the wagon and head back. The Republic drinking fountains, so bringing hydration wasn’t even considered and we could usually find enough Coke bottles along the way to cash in at a store so we could buy ice cream or something. |
| George | Right. |
| George | Yeah, wow. |
| Jon | Man, those are the days, damn. |
| Jon | ah Tom, this is a great email. ah He wraps it up by saying, my oldest brother recently passed away and I shared this with his widow. He was one of the best things about growing up. Thank you for a great podcast, Tom W. |
| George | wow |
| Jon | ah What a great memory to hang on to, Tom. That is great. And to remember your brother, remember to his wife, fantastic stuff. We love that you listened. We love that it helped you bring these memories back. And we love that you took time to wrote it. And we love that you took the time to write in and tell us about it. ah Listener, if you would like your email featured here on the show, it is drop dead easy. Just hit us up at podcast at GenXGrownup.com. You know, we read every single, you know, we read every single one and eventually, what is it? |
| Jon | Yep. You know, we read every single one and it will eventually make this show. Okay. With a good business behind us, George, you and I, and our third guest popping in right after this and to talk about the gen X Halloween experience. |
| Jon | All right, it is time to jump into talking about our Generation X Halloween experience. But as promised, George, I did find someone to sit in for Moe. Cat is here with us. Hey, Cat. |
| Kat | Hi guys! |
| George | Who is cat? |
| Kat | What are you? |
| Jon | What are you acting like? Cat is one of the my amazing co-hosts over at 1980s now. |
| George | Oh, the podcast I don’t listen to. Yes. |
| Kat | Yes, that’s exactly what I was about to say. |
| Jon | That’s the one, yeah. She’s also though, she’s a Gen X grown up patron, a longtime listener, regular emailer. |
| George | Okay. |
| Jon | So Kat not only… |
| Kat | and someone who gave George a hug at SFGE, so this whole who’s cat thing. |
| Jon | Oh, |
| George | I don’t recall that at all. you You better have some camera footage of that. |
| Jon | I think there’s photographic evidence, George. |
| George | I don’t think that’s happened. |
| Jon | You may have gotten more than one hug from Kat. |
| Kat | And yes, he did. |
| Jon | So Kat pulled our Let me see. Oh, you pulled out of the fire. Pulled her. |
| George | I said it, sir. |
| Kat | I pulled what? |
| Jon | Pulled her. Hold on. I’m getting there. Bay bacon. That’s what I was looking for. |
| Kat | What did I pull? |
| Jon | Yes. No, no, no. No, no. It’s not filthy. Hold on. |
| Kat | it’s not oh that’s right we’re not on 1980s now |
| Jon | No. All right. No, no. That’s right. |
| Jon | Cat has pulled our bacon out of the. |
| George | Hades now is nastier than I am. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Jesus. |
| Jon | Kat pulled our bacon out of the fire. We were missing Mo and we’d forgotten he was on vacation. So she’s agreed on short notice to hop in. So what do you say we get into talking about the Genex? |
| George | We can, but I would like to point out we didn’t forget shit you forgot. |
| Jon | I forgot. Well, I thought we were a team. |
| George | No, there’s no Royal we involved here, sir. |
| Jon | um Only when it’s going great. |
| Kat | Only when there’s not a bus rolling down the road to throw you under, John. |
| Jon | that We have a mouse in your pocket? |
| George | see |
| Jon | Yes. So often we’ll talk on backtracks about things that are gone. In this case, it’s one of those things where we’re talking about things that are dramatically different. So we still have Halloween, it’s still a holiday. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Every year we celebrate it in some form or fashion, but it was quite different. And I think a lot of it has to do with just the state of the world, the state of the mentality of us as latchkey kids and that sort of thing. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | So we’ve broken down a lot of things that we want to kind of reminisce and talk about, kind of a freeform discussion about the differences between today’s Halloween experience in the 2020s, what it was like for us, you know, in the late 70s, early 80s, that kind of thing, right? |
| George | sure |
| Kat | Yep. |
| George | yeah I mean, there’s no question that just the activity, the main activity that kids care about when it comes to Halloween trick-or-treating, that is drastically different. |
| Jon | Tricks or treats? No. |
| George | I mean, it’s, I think when we were growing up, it was still holding on to the 50s, 60s era. of trick-or-treat a little bit like it was still like kids could get mischievous a little bit more I think um there was a little bit of an element that if somebody didn’t have candy at a house I was gonna fuck with them in some capacity depending upon what age level I was at at the time yes that’s the trick-or-treat motherfucker you better have some snickers that’s all I can tell you yeah |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Oh yeah. this It’s in the name, trick or treat, your choice. |
| Kat | Or treat. |
| Jon | Pick one. |
| Kat | That’s true. |
| Jon | You know what else is funny about that is now that you mentioned it, George, it’s partially it’s because of our aging. Today, I think of Halloween as it’s the decorations and the creepy season and the things all around it. |
| Kat | in |
| George | Sure. |
| Jon | When I was a kid, trick or treating was Halloween. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | All the rest was just background noise. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | That was it. |
| Jon | I’m like, yeah, yeah, you hung some scary ghost from the tree. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Where’s my candy? That was the part I was most interested in. |
| Kat | yeah |
| George | I think I was most concerned with decorating myself, the costume, but now as an adult, it’s more about the house like you’re talking about decorating for the appearance, I guess. |
| Kat | Yes! is |
| Jon | Mm hmm. Yep. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Kat | That’s a great point. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| Kat | ah There’s so much decoration. So you can get anything you want at Home Depot or, you know, any store, Target, wherever. |
| George | mm hmm. |
| Jon | The 18 foot skeleton. |
| Kat | And it’s, yes, that people keep up all whole year decorate for different holidays. But I remember far, far less house decorations when I was a kid. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | It was more about decorating ourselves, for sure. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Yeah, I okay. |
| Jon | So speaking of trick or treating, let’s but that’s probably the key thing for us, as I said. So let’s talk about our trick or treating experience. So like, how did you go? Did you go yourself or your parents take you in groups or whatever? |
| Jon | Start with you, George. What what was your what typical? How I mean, it could have been different over the years. Typical trick or treating. |
| George | Yeah, definitely it evolved, right? So at first, um, it was with mom would, you know, handhold, take you around as you’re like five or six or seven, maybe at the latest. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. Little kid. Yeah. |
| George | But then once I got into like eight to 10 range, uh, it was with groups of friends and. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | I think I enjoyed that one more, although looking back on it now, I appreciate the mom trick-or-treating more now than I did with the friends, right? |
| Jon | Oh, right in hindsight. |
| Kat | Aww yeah. |
| George | i The friends were, I yeah ah love my mother. |
| Jon | Oh, you’ll softy. |
| Kat | Aww. |
| George | yeah the The Friends trick-or-treating was adventure and it made me feel like I had more freedom, which I’m sure we’ll talk about in more in depth later on, but ah the going ah back now and thinking about it for this podcast, |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | doing something that innocent with a parent and it being a fun activity all the way through was kind of a rarity for me because, you know, like I’ve talked about in the past, my father was a little different. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | He was definitely controlling a little more manipulative. |
| Jon | The little more brusque, perhaps. Yes. Yeah. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | Got it. yeah Okay. |
| George | Um, so I didn’t do many things that were pure and innocent with a parent from an age where I can remember stuff up through. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | Halloween trick or treating was kind of an exception with that mom and I would go. |
| Jon | Cool. |
| George | I remember, you know, she’d let me knock on the door. That was cool. And getting the candy and she remember reminding me to say thank you and all that kind of stuff. |
| Kat | Mmm. |
| George | That was, that was fun. I liked that. |
| Kat | Little gentleman. |
| Jon | Learning to be a little a little ah man. Learn how to socialize. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. What about you, Kat? What was your trick or treating on we? |
| Kat | What happened? |
| Kat | My trick or treating experience was mostly with my mom. I don’t remember my father ever really coming along. That wouldn’t have been his scene unless we were stopping off at a friend’s house that had some beer or something like that. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | Oh, let’s say we’re something in it for him. |
| Jon | He had to get back on the road. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | Yeah, trick or treat, now we’re on board. |
| Kat | All right. |
| George | yeah |
| Jon | Treat. |
| Kat | But yes, like from the time I can remember it was my mom bringing us around and also where we lived Was removed from where the other kids lived we happen to live I lived at a shore town in New Jersey as a child and we were we were like in the ghost and town section of town because it was mostly rentals or Or, I mean, that there was like one person who lived next door, but everyone else was in, in town. |
| George | Mm hmm. Wow. |
| Kat | No, the town was not large. It was like, you know, one square mile, but still it was, um, my mom got us to where the action was. |
| George | Gotcha. |
| Kat | And, and then she stayed with us. She just kind of hung out in the car. And as we went along the streets, because yes. |
| Jon | Okay, so she kind of she was hovering nearby, but let you kind of go out and that’s cool. |
| George | Did you have siblings? Cause you keep saying as we went around the street or did you and your friends go with your mother? |
| Kat | Good question. I did not clarify that. Yes, my sister and I, um she was just a two and a half years older than I was. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Kat | And I really don’t remember us trick-or-treating with any specific friends because my best friend lived a few towns away. And um like we would bump into people that we recognized, but we didn’t set out with a particular group of friends. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Kat | And um eventually when I was 11, I had a brother who was born, so there was a big age gap. |
| Jon | Oh, big gap. Yep. |
| Kat | Yes. And by the time he got ready for trick or treating, then we would take him, my sister and I would accompany him when he was old enough. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | And I don’t even remember if my mom was with us or not. Like, I think she just sent the three of us out, like here, take care of your brother. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| George | John, I’m curious because we’ve talked about it on the podcast in the past. You lived in a completely rural area, like cats, New Jersey, small towns, multiple, you know, across each other. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| George | That’s one thing, me being in a suburb kind of area, but you lived in a very rural area. I can’t imagine there was like a trick or treat walking route where you were at. |
| Kat | Right. |
| Jon | Yeah, yeah go you can say hillbilly, just say hillbilly, that’s fine, I don’t mind. |
| George | I was, yeah, well, there have to be Hills, Florida doesn’t have any, so |
| Jon | we were Yeah, no mountains. |
| Kat | No, no, no health disabilities. |
| George | Redneck, I would say, but anyway. |
| Jon | As you said, I grew up in the sticks. so ah yeah i mean There were houses around, but they were all |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Jon | a quarter of a mile away, they weren’t like a little kid walking distance. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Wow. |
| Jon | But I kind of had this duality, especially in the peak of my childhood, because while we lived out in the woods, as I said, my grandmother lived ah in town, well, in a small town nearby, the next little town that actually was a town that had streets and a grid and everything. |
| Kat | Ah. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | So we would go into that little town, I’d go visit grandma and trick or treat in her neighborhood. |
| Kat | Yes, okay. |
| Jon | because it was it was the idyllic, you know, 79 through 83, picturesque little town, right? |
| Kat | Ah. |
| Jon | It was, everybody had their lights on, everybody was, there were kids all over, the it was like, |
| George | Mm. |
| Jon | It’s like, you don know, when you turn the lights and the roaches scatter, it’s like that, but the roaches are never gone. |
| Kat | oh |
| Jon | They’re just kids scattering all over the place, running through yards and stuff. And I was never really in on that, because I didn’t live in town with those kids. |
| Kat | That’s awesome. |
| Jon | I knew them from school, but we didn’t weren’t next door neighbors, right? so um But I would meet up with a lot of them sometimes, and I walk with one through a couple of ah you know couple of ah blocks, and then we’d meet up with the next bunch of kids. |
| Jon | But it was kind of free reign. I got a feeling my parents were watching from a distance, But it was that it was that kind of thing. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Jon | And if I didn’t in the times when I didn’t have access to my grandmother’s house, which kind of kind of segues into the next thing I wanted to talk about, you’d have to go somewhere where they were having Halloween. If Halloween wasn’t where you were, you would go to it. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Jon | So we have sometimes maybe there was some farm that had the the hay ride you could go through, but they would have their own little local like a fall festival or something. I’d go to those sometimes, too. |
| Kat | Oh, cool! |
| George | Yeah I was I was thinking about this as you were describing it and it dawned on me one thing that we’ve left out that it’s just worth mentioning |
| Kat | Okay. |
| George | Is it possible that Halloween and the trick or treating that we think of as our Gen X experience really couldn’t and probably didn’t develop until suburbs in the forties, fifties and sixties were really developing because everybody was too far spread apart. |
| Jon | Oh, absolutely. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Like what your experience was even on in your rural area. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | I imagine that Halloween couldn’t have been a thing without the suburbanization of America, right? |
| Jon | That’s right. Before that we heal, but he’s just headed on down to the town social, right? |
| Kat | Good point. |
| Jon | Because there was, there was no walking around from farm to farm. |
| Kat | No. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | You’re right. Yeah. Those kind of fall festivals were a big deal before and even after for those of us that didn’t have urban areas. |
| Kat | Right. |
| George | Yeah. And you know, think about like the County fair that might be in town that might be around that same frame timeframe of year and for us, but the fall festivals, I distinctly remember those, uh, from the la religious slant. |
| George | So where, yeah, where I went to like private school and, you know, especially in high school was a religious private school. |
| Jon | Oh, really? |
| Kat | Mmhmm. |
| Jon | Like in a church. Okay. |
| George | Uh, they would not acknowledge Halloween. That was the devil. So. |
| Kat | Oh wow! |
| George | They wouldn’t acknowledge anything about traditional Halloween, but they would do a fall festival or a harvest festival, those kinds of things, because they would take the the ghostliness out of Halloween and it would just be about the time of year. |
| Kat | so |
| George | And so they would be very careful with the things like at the fall festival, I’m even thinking about when my son was most recently in middle and high school at that same place, |
| George | ah like the little games that they would let you play that you would think of traditional Halloween stuff they would have a more religious slant to them or they would de-ghostify or de-spirit or whatever you would want to say yeah I mean so you know like witches broomsticks kind of stuff wouldn’t be there you know that kind of thing you would yeah it was just ah looking back on it now as more of an adult it was like |
| Jon | like Like bobbing for crosses instead of apples or like what like what’s in the bucket? |
| Kat | Ha ha ha ha ha! |
| Jon | ah Okay, right. |
| George | I get why you do that because it goes against your core beliefs, but at the same time, you’re not fooling anybody. |
| Jon | oh |
| George | Fucking fall festival is a Halloween party. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | That’s all there is to it. |
| Jon | You were getting like the impossible whopper of Halloween’s, right? It’s like, not really Halloween, it’s soy Halloween, plant-based Halloween. |
| George | Exactly. |
| Kat | hey That’s fascinating. I don’t remember any fall festivals from when I was a child. |
| Jon | No? Okay. |
| George | Wow. |
| Kat | It could be they were occurring and we just weren’t tapped in to these festivals, but I would think that if |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Kat | like came from a family where if they had been happening, my mom probably would have been like, oh, let’s go do this thing. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | But now there it’s everywhere. |
| Jon | Everywhere. |
| Kat | Oh my goodness. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | And also, George, um I also went to a Catholic school, um a parochial school, but I don’t remember them. i |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | removing the Halloween from Halloween. I don’t think that happened for us. |
| George | That’s interesting. |
| Kat | It is. So you guys were super strict. Now, like I work in a school and in this school district, we can’t, it used to be like back when my kids were attending ah the the school where I work, they’d have a Halloween hop, like a little dance and they’d reference Halloween now. |
| George | Right. Yeah. |
| Kat | Nope. It’s been changed. It can only be references to fall, right? |
| George | Too many lawsuits nowadays, I imagine. |
| Kat | So there’s no holiday reference. Yeah. |
| George | I think part of one thing you mentioned there, you said you went to a Catholic school, which I don’t |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| George | I can be completely wrong, but I associate that more with northern living here in the south. |
| Kat | ok Okay. |
| George | It’s almost all strictly Baptist or that. And so I wonder if those two different religious viewpoints look at things differently because in in the Catholic faith for a long time, I don’t know if it’s still a part of it or not, but you have purgatory, which is very ghost like, right? |
| Jon | Yes, that’s the sound of me thumping my Bible in the background. |
| Kat | Yes. Yeah. |
| Kat | Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. |
| George | And in the Southern Baptist, you don’t have that at all. It’s either heaven or hell and you go into one of them and that’s it. Cause you’re an evil son bitch, you know? |
| Kat | Black or white? |
| George | And I wonder if that doesn’t influence how that time of year is celebrated. |
| Kat | yeah Yeah. |
| George | Just, you know, what the religions have in their background. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Kat | I think you’re onto something. Yeah. |
| Jon | And across that spectrum, I didn’t go to any kind of church affiliated schools, public school, but we also had fall festivals sponsored by our school. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Jon | And they were like down at the ball field or down like we, in elementary school would have football stadiums. It was wherever you played, you know, wherever PE was, it’d be, they’d set up little booths and it’d be little games like a cakewalk where you pay in a mountain, you walk and they stop at a number and you get a cake and we saw that. |
| Jon | I remember specifically fishing for prizes, like they had a sheet up and you throw a, there was a stick with a rope and you throw it over the sheet and they clip something onto it and you pull it back. |
| Kat | Ah. |
| George | Oh, yeah. Yeah. |
| Jon | Oh, I caught a, you know, a little bag of candy or something. |
| George | Right. Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Those, I really, I remember those as being very Halloween themed. And of course, our school, we all the devils and witches and ghosts you want, we’re we’re all good with that. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | We’re happy and it’s not a problem religiously. oh But like today, I don’t see so many fall festivals here. I mean, Kat, so you see more there probably. Maybe that’s a northern thing. |
| Kat | Sure, yeah. |
| Jon | But I see a thing lately has been a big deal. We talked a little bit in the tease about the watering down of Halloween. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| Jon | There’s a thing called trunk or treat. You heard of these things? |
| Kat | Oh, yes. |
| George | Oh, yeah. |
| Kat | Oh, yes. |
| Jon | And it’s like a super sanitized version rather than your children walking around to houses, people that are interested in a participating, you literally in a parking lot, you open your trunk, maybe you have a a candle or some lights or whatever, as people decorate, but you just walk from car to car to get candy. |
| Kat | There’s |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Kat | Yeah? |
| Jon | And it’s it’s like a… |
| George | Yeah, because nothing says safety like a bunch of open trunks of strange cars in a parking lot. |
| Jon | Right, right. If you hear one, the lid slamming somebody peel out, check your kids. right |
| Jon | It’s just such, it’s almost like an alien heard somebody describe Halloween trick or treating and goes, we can reproduce, park all these vehicles and hand out candy to children. |
| Kat | to |
| Jon | You know, it’s like, but it’s not the experience. It’s just this pale version of it. |
| Kat | No. |
| Jon | So you can, it’s more safe and if the lights are in the the parking lot and everything and you’re getting candy and talking to people, yeah, more shoe controlled. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Kat | Yup. More controlled. |
| George | but it’s, but it might feel safer, but it’s completely the opposite because if somebody wants to do harm to your child by razor blades in the Tootsie Roll or whatever, that’s an easier way to get away with that shit, right? |
| Kat | Yes. Yeah. |
| Jon | Which they didn’t. |
| George | Cause you drive off, they’re never going to find you again. Fake license plate, repaint the car. You’re done. I’ve thought this whole thing out already. |
| Jon | See only George thinks of, he thinks this all through. when it’s When it’s my time to go, how will I strike back at the children? Goodness, George. |
| Kat | Remind me to avoid any trunk or treats in near George’s neck of the woods. |
| Jon | Right. That’s right. First question. Is George there? No, we can do it. This will be fine. |
| Kat | Oh, OK, I’m safe. |
| Jon | Let’s all go. |
| Jon | Another watered down thing that I’ve noticed in traditions. I don’t know if you guys have that maybe work in school. Currently, Kat, you would see this used to be you went trick or treating on Halloween night. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Yes, used to. |
| Jon | And now they’re like, well, this year we’ll be celebrating trick or treat on Saturday from four to seven. And and it’s not even the day of or some Saturday, and they want to do it on a school night. I loved going out on a school night when you’re not supposed to. It was part of the taboo and the breaking the rules and the running wild thing. Do you see that in your in you a school zone, Kat? |
| Kat | Well, actually I’ll start out by telling you when I first moved here, I’m in Pennsylvania, from New Jersey. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Kat | on It was the first Friday night I was living, wherever I was, renting from a friend. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | And the doorbell rang and I go down and there’s kids in costumes. And I was, what? Wait, what? It’s not Halloween. I’m very sure tonight is not Halloween. |
| Jon | Because it was the right date, yeah. |
| Kat | i it was not the right night for me but for them back in whatever whenever that was i i got pennies i got ahead of jolly rancher i like i scrounged something up i did scrounge something up but i was shocked and confused who and then i learned oh |
| Jon | She’s digging breath mints out of her purse. I swear I have candy. |
| George | here you get a stapler you |
| Jon | Ricola. |
| Jon | a scoop of mac and cheese, whatever you got. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Kat | So I learned the Friday night before Halloween between six and eight that’s when trick-or-treat occurs here now I have a feeling that’s more I don’t know if if they’re doing that back in New Jersey now I haven’t checked but it was completely unexpected to me and now I’ve gotten used to it though and now but when when When I had my own children, I kind of liked it because it was like, okay, this is predictable but I know between |
| Jon | I hate that. |
| George | Here, you get a stapler. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Mmm, better for adults, worse for kids. |
| Kat | Exactly. Between six and eight on that night. That’s what I’m going to be ready. And and then we’re done. So there was something nice about it. |
| George | So I got I have a societal soapbox to jump on now, because I think I know why this is developed. |
| Jon | So we need a theme for this. |
| Kat | ah Oh. Oh. |
| Jon | du doturrr Every once in a while, George has a societal soapbox. |
| George | Right, Georgia soapbox, there we go. |
| Jon | Today’s segment brought to you by |
| George | All right, so think about what has changed in society from the time when we were kids to the time when we have kids, right? One thing that is for sure is economic times have drastically changed for the ah average American family, right? |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Sure. |
| George | So our dollar does not go nearly as far. And because of that, almost every household that has two parents has two parents that work just to make ends meet, right? |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Yes! |
| Jon | Yep. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | Right. |
| George | Whereas traditionally, back in the 50s, 60s or 70s even, it could be a one income household with two parents. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Yup. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | So the one parent could handle the household social activities like a Halloween night on a Tuesday or a Thursday or whatever night it might be on. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. See, we’re going. Yeah. |
| Kat | Or Halloween right after school, right after school, you could trick or treat. |
| George | And the other parent could rest and get ready for school. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| George | Yeah, exactly. like But as our society has |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| George | moved more toward the greed model where the elite 1% has most of the wealth and we have to scrimp and scrounge and save. The parents of today are far too quote tired or busy |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| George | Cause some of them might even have to have two or three jobs to make ends meet, to be able to take their kids out on a random different day each year to do this activity for a few hours. |
| Jon | Right. |
| Kat | who |
| George | So let’s homogenize it, put it all on a specific day that most people have off from work traditionally. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | Sure, or can be done. |
| George | And that way they can, they can rest during their day and in an early part of the evening, like you said, cat, like, you know, five, six, four o’clock, eight o’clock, whatever, you know, something earlier, get the kids out there, rush them through the process and then get them back home. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Through the go around to the trunks of the cars. Keep an eye out for George. |
| George | That’s the whole system now, right? We built a system because our society took away something that was important to us as children. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Jon | yeah yeah |
| Kat | I will argue though, because I like the way it is now. I would argue that it’s almost like there’s a fall festival happening right in my neighborhood. I live in a wonderful neighborhood where a lot of people, not everyone, but a lot of people do participate in the trick-or-treating. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | And actually, I think they bus people in like from other towns and downtown. They all they all want to come right around here. |
| George | Sure. |
| Jon | Yeah, yeah. |
| Kat | And it there is a really, |
| Jon | They’re the good neighborhood. They have the they have the full bars. |
| George | he Right. |
| Kat | I don’t even know about that. There’s just a lot of porch lights on, let’s say, you know, a lot of decorations, and but it’s, it’s such a fun feeling. And there’s this little anticipatory feeling that happens. So after school, if you’ve got your kids, they’re getting ready. And then it’s like the countdown to six o’clock, you know, can we go yet? Can we go yet? |
| Kat | And then I’m like, no, I don’t have the bowl of candy and the thing, you know. And then it’s like, okay, six o’clock, it starts. And it’s so fun um because the neighbors are all kind of, hey, like everybody’s out and and waving at each other. |
| Kat | And we even used to do a fun thing with our neighbors that used to live next door. He would give out hot dogs instead of candy. So he had his girl out and |
| Jon | Oh, oh, I cooking out. I thought you meant like, like dropping a hot dog and people sack, like rolling around in there. No, I got it. Okay. Like a cookout. |
| Kat | yeah It was like a good girl. |
| Jon | Got it. Got it. |
| Kat | So he’s providing dinner, you know |
| Jon | Was that, was that the treat or the trick? |
| George | but Think about why you like it. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | You’re an adult. |
| Kat | yes yeah, yes, that’s true it does Yes, that’s true that’s true |
| George | It’s a system that’s agreed upon by a group of people that makes it easier for you to handle what would normally have been a slightly more spontaneous, unplanned thing. |
| Jon | yeah |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | So as the adult, you appreciate the system, but I’m going to tell you as the kid, it’s all about the moment. |
| Jon | yeah Yeah. Yeah. |
| George | And I think we’re taking the moment away from the kids and forcing them into a system, which I don’t like. |
| Kat | True. |
| Kat | I think you’re right. |
| Jon | yeah |
| Kat | And as a kid, I never thought about that. We just went and we rang the doorbells. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | And as a grownup, I think that’s really annoying to just have people knocking on your door for five or six hours. Oh my gosh. |
| George | But who’s Halloween for? It’s not for the adults. |
| Kat | It’s not for the adults. |
| Jon | Yes, exactly. |
| George | It’s for the kids. |
| Jon | Yeah. Well, and the kids that are going to the structured Halloween today, they don’t know any different because they’ve never had a Halloween where they did. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | So look, they don’t, they don’t know what they’re missing. Unless they listen to our show and they’re gonna be bummed. |
| Kat | You’re right. |
| Jon | You’re like, Oh Christ, I’m missing all this cool stuff. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | Man, Kat, you mentioned one of the one of the things that I think I still see, I’m not sure, but you mentioned people had their lights on. Most people had their porch lights on. Remember the, just like we had the, when the street lights come on, you ought to be you know in your shot or in the house or something. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | Halloween, porch light on or off had a whole different meaning that night. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | If it was on, Everything goes. We have candy, knock on our door. Please don’t trick us. We’re playing. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | If your porch light is off, it kind of implied, bah humbug. right we’ we’re not We’re not participating. We don’t have candy. Don’t knock on our door. We might be home. |
| Jon | That’s irrelevant. Don’t throw eggs at us. We’re just not like, you know, but it’s a safe space. don’t Don’t do anything here. We’re not part of it. Do you guys see that where you were too? I mean, you kind of mentioned it, Kat. |
| George | I, I use that. |
| Jon | Yeah, you used it too, yeah. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Kat | do you |
| George | I, my lights off every fucking year now. |
| Jon | ah yeah Scrooge. |
| Kat | Yup um b you know |
| George | yeah It’s art. |
| Jon | he’s got He’s got a trunk full of kids, Porsche lights off. |
| Kat | and about team |
| George | I do. |
| Jon | What are we going to learn next? |
| Kat | that’s right i forgot about the trunk full of kids and he’s all worried about |
| George | no it’s our neighborhood doesn’t have a system like cat’s neighborhood does so halloween always sneaks up on me now the only thing that that’s good is that i now have my mother living directly across the street and she loves children and loves doing stuff so |
| Jon | ah |
| Jon | Lights off. |
| Kat | ah |
| George | At least I usually get like a day or twos ahead of time notice from her saying, did you get candy Halloween’s on Thursday or whatever day it is. And so I’m like, Oh shit. Uh, no, I’ll get some, and then I forget. And so the light stays off because I don’t want to, you know, go up to the door and open the door and say, sorry kid, all I’ve got is Ricola for you. You know, |
| Kat | <unk> Do you put up a big sign, go across the street, go to my mom’s house? |
| George | No, I they figure it out pretty quick. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | It seems like. |
| Jon | No, he puts up a sign, eat shit. |
| Kat | so |
| Jon | it’s like He’s like, he seriously doesn’t want them coming here. Well, George, you were talking about candy as kids. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | That was probably second, maybe to dressing up and running wild. The reason for the season was to fill up a something with candy. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Jon | Now, sometimes you get the, like a big pumpkin, the big rubber, pump the plastic pumpkin, or, or maybe you’d have a pillowcase if your mom didn’t plan far enough ahead, or you get the boo bucket from Halloween that you run around with or something. |
| George | Oh, yeah. Yeah. |
| Kat | Mmhmm. |
| George | Public’s grocery bag. Yeah. |
| Kat | Oh yeah! |
| Jon | Oh, yeah. So real quickly, favorite candy Halloween. what What did you want to see when you opened that back? Cat, can you remember? |
| Kat | Oh, I loved anything, um, a little bit sour, you know, like, um, yeah, like, uh, what am I thinking of? |
| Jon | Sour candies. Yep. |
| Kat | Um, well, I liked Smarties. Those were great. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Kat | Um, sweet tarts, you know, like sweet tarts. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | Oh, yeah, yeah. Yep. |
| Kat | But, but also, um, I wasn’t a big fan of milk chocolate. So if I ended up with a little special dark, you know, one of the little little Hershey’s or anything coconut. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | So that was, that was the, the holy grail for me. If I ended up with a little almond joy or a mounds. |
| Jon | oh yeah I like a lot of the bad candies that people don’t like and so I had a leg up sometimes because like I like candy corn, I like black licorice, I like the black jelly beans, you know that bitter taste that comes with some of those candies I like and those were all great because you could you know maybe trade with somebody or something but |
| Kat | Oh, |
| Kat | i John. |
| Kat | john |
| Jon | Reese’s peanut butter cups, home run. |
| Kat | Yes, yes, yes, yes. |
| Jon | That’s what I wanted. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | I’m a peanut butter freak. Reese’s peanut butter would be the way to go. What about you, George? |
| Kat | Ah. |
| Jon | Any favorites? |
| George | Uh, if it was considered to be candy, it was a favorite basically. Uh, I mean, so while I was not a chubby kid at all, because of all the sports and everything else I did as a kid, we did have the grocery store. |
| Kat | Ah. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | And so I. |
| Kat | oh |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | I grew up on the gambit of candies that are available. So Twizzlers, Snickers, um, cow tails, uh, long johns, um, anything. |
| Jon | ah Boston baked beans, those crazy things, right? |
| George | Yeah. Ah, Boston baked beans. |
| Jon | No, that’s got peanut in it, right? |
| George | That’s not candy. That’s just a pebble with red paint. |
| Jon | so over his Red paint. |
| George | Yeah. |
| George | Now, if you want peanut stuff, you got goobers, you had, um, uh, the Mr. Good bars, they were always popular back then. |
| Kat | Yes, I love those two actually. |
| Jon | he said |
| George | Um, Oh man. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Yeah. But I’m. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | George like a candy scientist. What’s the pH of that nougat, Jordan? he’s he He knows his way around the candy. |
| George | Right. Three musketeers. Oh yeah, man. |
| Kat | The colors and. |
| George | I, yeah. I, I don’t think I like too much of like the, uh, the black licorice. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| George | Sometimes you get kind of that stuff. |
| Jon | No, I’ll take it. Give it to me. Give it to me. |
| George | Jelly beans were fine. I liked them a lot. Um, Laffy Taffy. That was a real kind of fun one, um, to get ahold of Starburst when they came out. |
| Kat | Oh. |
| George | Cause remember Starburst were not out when we were first kids that got developed later. |
| Jon | That was like mid 80s. |
| Kat | Wow. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | Oh, yeah. |
| George | Um, but yeah, yeah. I’m pretty much anything was a favorite. I don’t Snickers probably back then now three musketeers. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah, some chocolate. |
| Kat | They were okay. I need to know. Did either of you know about and like Mary Janes? |
| George | We, we sold them at the store. I don’t think I really liked them that much. |
| Kat | Okay. |
| Jon | Did you? I didn’t know. |
| Kat | You don’t think you liked him that much? |
| Jon | They weren’t on my radar. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Jon | I mean, if I got, I probably ate them if they were in my candy bag, but it wasn’t like a favorite I remember necessarily. |
| Kat | Okay. You believe it, okay. Got it. right I did not like the Mary Janes. I’ll say more about that later. |
| Jon | Mm. |
| George | Well, the good thing that I really appreciated the most about Halloween, especially after you would get the candy and me loving almost all types of candy made it a really easy activity for me was the candy trading that would go on with my groups of friends. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | Now, when I was going trick or treating with mom, you didn’t have that. |
| Jon | Oh yeah. |
| George | It was just you and your mom, you go around. um And then when you got home, dad would steal whatever candy he wanted, which I absolutely carried that tradition on. like in like Um, but yeah, that’s right. |
| Jon | This is the tax we’re living here. |
| George | Go out and get my Snickers boy. Uh, but when we would go out with the groups of friends, so that like eight to probably 11, 12 age range, maybe 13, um, |
| George | After you would do all the houses as many times as they would let you and you would you know get together in your group on you know at somebody’s driveway or on the street corner or something like that and you just sit in a circle and everybody would start going through their bag or their are there pumpkin, plastic, whatever. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | and you just dump out in front of you like you’re you would you would sit down and you would open your legs you would dump all the candy in between your legs and everybody would have their own little pile and you would start just it was almost like gold panning but with candy and somebody would yeah and what was left you’d start trading out and everything oh that was probably my favorite part of the evening |
| Jon | My pillowcase. |
| Jon | Right. |
| Kat | Gold panning! |
| Jon | Take out the best stuff and figure out what’s left and trade. |
| Kat | Yep. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Kat | Wow! |
| Jon | Yeah, mine wasn’t that organized, but I certainly would trade. |
| Kat | What about you, John? No? |
| Jon | Cause like I said, I would take the things that other people thought was bad. Like I hate candy corn. |
| Kat | Yeah! |
| Jon | I’m like, rock on. Here’s a Mary Jane. Here’s a cow tail. Like, the ah cause I’ll take the, and you could get a good like exchange rate cause they’d give you all their black jelly beans for like one Snickers because they didn’t want them at all. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | Right. It was, it was a, was it true? |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | Oh, all right. Before we get out of this segment, we’ve talked all about the treats. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | We had to briefly touch on the tricks. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Kat | o |
| Jon | So, It’s in the name, as we said, ideally, if somebody didn’t give you candy, you did something something to them. |
| Kat | yes |
| Jon | And I know the answer for George, but we’ll let him go last. but I was such, I don’t remember doing much in the way of actual tricks. I would, you know, neener neener. I would yell at somebody or you’re dork old people or something, but I wouldn’t actually do throwing stuff or the tissue paper, the typical stuff. |
| Jon | I saw it happen sometimes, but I think probably because of the nature of like, I didn’t have neighbors to mess with. |
| Kat | Right. Oh. |
| Jon | I couldn’t go back and see the carnage the next day. There was less interest in me causing chaos. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Jon | Maybe cat, any tricking in your trick or treat history? |
| Kat | That’s a good point. I would never like that didn’t. |
| Jon | No, such a sweetheart. Never |
| Kat | That was something those town kids did, right? So like I mentioned before, those townies, I, like I said, we lived like away from where all the other kids were. |
| George | The townies. |
| Kat | Again, it’s not, it wasn’t huge, but it was, it made a difference and it felt like, like, well, there was a mischief night thing. I guess it’s like the night before Halloween was mischief night. Um, but as far as like tricks. |
| Kat | I, I never saw it happen. At least I don’t think I did. I would occasionally see toilet paper and trees around town after mischief night or after Halloween. |
| George | Did you now? |
| Jon | Oh, yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Worry around George’s town perchance. |
| Kat | I must’ve been, I must’ve been. And I remember as a child feeling like, Oh no, it just felt like this, this awful thing that horrible children did, you know? |
| Jon | Those kids, those bad kids. |
| Kat | and ki |
| Jon | All right, George, compensate for the two of us goody two shoes. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Jon | What kind of tricks are you into? |
| George | Yeah. How much, how much time do we have left in the podcast? Because this might be a problem. |
| Kat | oh or |
| Jon | Well, just tell us the radical things because we know you did everything else. |
| George | Okay. So toilet papering the house. That’s one that everybody knows of, but we took it a step further. |
| Jon | Oh. |
| George | Toilet paper, the trees, the house and everything, but then you go steal their garden hose and you wet everything down. |
| Kat | but what |
| George | So it made it more difficult to clean up the next day. |
| Jon | Oh, so it’s stuck up there. |
| Kat | Oh no. |
| Jon | Oh, yeah. |
| George | Yeah, yeah. |
| Jon | Very industrious. Good job. |
| George | Yeah. um If they had any kind of garden or fruit tree in a yard that was accessible, that shit got broken or ripped up. |
| Kat | Don’t encourage him. |
| George | um Yeah. |
| Jon | Wow. yes It only would have cost you a Snickers, dude. |
| George | ah Shaving cream. |
| Jon | Come on. I had to. |
| George | Yeah. Shaving cream on the cars, especially under and in the door handles was a popular one. |
| Jon | oh |
| George | ah Rocks inside the hubcaps. |
| Jon | thank |
| George | Remember hubcaps had the little holes in them. Rocks shoved inside them so that when they were driving. Yeah. |
| Jon | You little juvenile delinquent. |
| Jon | but He was compensating. |
| George | Hey. |
| George | Let me tell you, if you ever want to find the worst kids in a society, go to the religious school. |
| Jon | ah Go to the religious school. |
| George | Trust me. |
| Kat | ah Well, yeah. |
| Jon | ah |
| George | Those are the kids fucking everything with drugs. |
| Jon | oh |
| Kat | Repressed. |
| George | They don’t care. |
| Kat | Repressed. |
| George | Now we were, we were awful. Um, I would not want to be a parent in the neighborhood that I was a child in, um, without paying the Halloween tax. |
| Kat | Oh my goodness. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Jon | yeah |
| Kat | It’s like You were like the mafia in your town. |
| Jon | Pay the tax. |
| George | Yeah. Yeah. We were. |
| Jon | That’s right. |
| Kat | Did you do eggs? Did you throw eggs? That was a thing. |
| George | Yeah. I mean, you well, you can’t just throw eggs. They have to be rotten eggs, first of all. |
| Kat | Oh. |
| Jon | It’s like, come on cat, do the eggs right. |
| George | So. You have to eggs. You have to, you have to plan out and there’s a system to it because eggs were, uh, you know, they were staple in your refrigerator, right? |
| Jon | There’s there’s a science to this tomfoolery. |
| George | You eat eggs. So you couldn’t just like take eggs out and let them rot ahead of time. Cause your mother would notice a whole dozen gone. So you had to plan rotten eggs out very specifically, like a couple of months in it. |
| George | You take one egg out a week and just stick it somewhere probably outside in the, yeah. |
| Jon | yes |
| Kat | George, you. |
| Jon | he He was eggbezzling. |
| George | Yes, but you had to be subtle about it. It couldn’t be, you know, like a dozen on Halloween week because your parents are going to notice that and they’re going to take them away from you before you get to use them. |
| Jon | oh |
| Jon | Yes, wouldn’t want to get in trouble for doing something bad. |
| Kat | So you did this. |
| George | So no, it’s, the I don’t care about getting in trouble. |
| Kat | No, no. |
| Jon | i Like stealing an egg. |
| George | I didn’t want to get stopped. That was the problem in your bag, in your Halloween bag. |
| Jon | Ah. |
| Kat | And then how did around? What if it accidentally breaks on your treats? |
| George | No. |
| Jon | Abort. |
| Kat | eats and |
| Jon | Abort. |
| Kat | oh |
| Jon | We have a breach. |
| George | I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that some kids were not careful enough to handle their eggs properly. |
| Kat | Oh, well, unlike you. |
| George | We were really good at our jobs. |
| Jon | well |
| George | That’s all I’m going to say. |
| Jon | he He was well rehearsed in practice. |
| Kat | Oh, man. |
| Jon | He had it down to a science as we’ve established. |
| George | Yes. |
| Jon | Wow. I knew he would compensate for the goody two shoes that we work at. |
| Kat | He certainly did. Whew, black and white. |
| Jon | Okay. All right. We’re out trick-or-treating. But before you did that, you had to dress up. We get back from this quick break. We’re going to talk about our costumes and decorations. Stick around. We made it through the giant first segment. |
| George | All right, it’s fine to go out and get candy or mess with people who don’t give the candy up like they should, but in order to do that, in order to participate, you have to be wearing your uniform. |
| Kat | Is that fine really? |
| Jon | It’s fine for some. |
| George | And on Halloween, that means costumes. Now, I know we’re going to have plenty of stuff to talk about in this segment because I think costumes kind of went commercial during our childhood as opposed to being homemade before, but |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | They did. |
| George | The biggest commercialization I’ve saw of Halloween costume age was a really terrible movie. |
| Kat | That’s too much. |
| George | Halloween three. |
| Kat | oh |
| Jon | Oh. |
| George | which was the bastardization of the Halloween storyline franchise where we had no Michael Myers, really. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | We had no Jamie Lee Curtis anymore. We had no Donald Pleasance. |
| Jon | Boo. |
| George | We just had this stupid fucking song and the silver Shamrock Halloween mask. |
| Kat | um don du duun du du du du du du du don |
| George | Oh my God. I kind of wanted one, but I kind of hated him at the same time. |
| Jon | Well, didn’t they like take control of you or something? |
| Kat | Oh my goodness. |
| Jon | They were like, you’re possessed, right? |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | They turned your brain into like this. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | They like, they shot a laser beam because they got some rock from Stonehenge and put it in the little thing in the back of the mask. |
| Kat | Yes. Right. |
| Jon | it’s |
| George | And it shot a laser beam when the commercial came on into your head and it turned your head into like snakes and crickets and spiders. |
| Kat | When the commercial came on. |
| George | And it just poured out of the mask and you died. |
| Jon | You know, a logical third Halloween movie. |
| Kat | Okay, so George, I’m really glad you brought this up. So the year that my brother was born, I mentioned earlier that I was 11. |
| George | m |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | And when that happened, my father got in charge. he He was told he had to be in charge because my brother was born on Halloween. |
| George | Oh, |
| Jon | Oh, oh is he he was in charge of Halloween for you. |
| Kat | and |
| Jon | Is that what happened? |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | Oh, okay. |
| Kat | Yes. Sorry, I didn’t specify. |
| Jon | Gotcha. |
| Kat | Yeah. So yes, my father was told he had to be in charge of us for Halloween, my sister and I 13 and 11 because my mom, you know, we, any day she was, you know, something was going to happen. |
| Jon | Uh-huh. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | right |
| Kat | Turned out it was on Halloween when we still had trick or treat back then. And. Also, either right before, no, it must’ve been before that Halloween, that movie came out. |
| Kat | So was that 1982? |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | I’m thinking it must’ve been. My father thought it was a great idea to bring my sister and I to see Halloween three. Right. |
| George | Really? |
| Jon | 11 and what 13 you said still. |
| Kat | And I’m 11. 11 and 13. Now maybe the 13. Well my sister loves horror movies to this day. She was fine. Some people might think 11 was old enough. I’m telling you I was not old enough. So that this was traumatic for me and But one way that I tried to work it out was we got some pumpkins and I took, I don’t know, do you remember those markers that were silvery? |
| Kat | They were special. They had like color and silver on the middle, like a paint marker kind of thing. |
| George | Oh yeah. |
| Jon | Oh, like yes. Yes. yeahp Yep. Yep. Yep. Mm hmm. Yeah. |
| Kat | And ah instead of carving my pumpkin, I drew a giant silver shamrock on my pumpkin. I think I was trying to work it out or gain mastery. |
| Kat | I don’t know what I was doing, but I thought this was a great idea. |
| Jon | Halloween three therapy, you’re performing for yourself. |
| Kat | I was doing something therapeutic to get it out. |
| George | yeah |
| Kat | I don’t know what I was doing. Uh, yes. So I have a special, um, special childhood trauma with that. movie |
| George | Wow. Yeah, it was, I, I went back to look it up to make sure my memory was correct. It was the week before Halloween in the 82 when it released. |
| Kat | Thank you. Yes. |
| George | So that makes sense. |
| Kat | So yeah. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. Yep. |
| Kat | Yep. Yep. |
| Jon | oh Well, there were fortunately costumes that didn’t take over your brain, the ones we would typically. So I remember when I was a kid, and you kind of alluded to this already, George, kind of the evolution of the commercialization of the costumes. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | And the ones I remember most when I was a kid were like the the Collegeville and Ben Cooper style. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | It’s a box that has a clear middle, and there’s some mask in there, and you take out the mask and the rubber band that ran on the back of your neck, your back of your head. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | And it had like this plastic smock thing. Like I’m gonna do some, like I’m an artist. |
| George | Sure. |
| Jon | I need to protect myself from the water oil paints or something. And my problem with them all, like the masks were okay. They kind of look like the thing you’re trying to be, but the smock wouldn’t look like the costume of the guy. |
| Jon | It would have a logo. Like, so George, you’re going as Garfield, right? The mask would kind of look like Garfield, but the smock would have a Garfield logo on it. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | No, I want to look like orange and fuzzy. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | So I want to be Garfield. I don’t want to be in a but Garfield billboard. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | And I remember my six million dollar man, it looked like Steve Austin for a bionic eye that I had like ah like a kiss explosion around his eye and red and orange to show it was bionic. But then the the smock that you wore was like a logo from the TV show in the middle of my chest. |
| Jon | I’m like, no, that would give away, that he’s a secret agent. He doesn’t tell people he’s bionic. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | I hate that. But the costumes were fun to have, but I never satisfied my my cosplay desire of being the character. |
| Kat | Right, they were lacking. |
| George | I mean, at least with the Steve Austin one though, you could have, you could have replicated that one pretty easily. You just could have done the red running jumpsuit thing. |
| Jon | The red jumpsuit. Yeah. |
| Kat | Oh, yeah. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | That would have been pretty iconic. I, I remember a lot of those things being the first things that I thought of is trash. |
| George | that I would get like so I would get like a little toy car for Christmas and that was precious to me right I would play with that now don’t get me wrong it could have been trash and I could have destroyed it inside of a day but I didn’t think about it that way but those Halloween costumes with the cheap rubber band and the little plastic smock suit thing that would just tear as soon as you pulled it out of the box |
| Kat | Ah. Yes. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. Yep. |
| George | Those as a child, I thought of instantly as trash and hated. Now I didn’t mind the masks. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | I liked the mask. They were okay, but the, the other parts of it, I was like, this is bullshit. I mean, I hated those things. |
| Jon | They’ve only got the last three hours, right? that That’s all they got to do. Then you’re done with them. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Kat | don’t recall us ever using those. I was aware of them. I saw them walking around you know in the neighborhood trick-or-treating, but I don’t believe we ever had that particular style. |
| Jon | Uh-huh. Yeah. Yep. |
| Kat | um There was one year, I remember, I think I was maybe four or five, I wanted to be a witch, and I did have |
| George | Hmm. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | um I guess and you know an ugly plastic witch mask and a hat and so but I had on it wasn’t a plastic I think I had on like a black dress you know some kind of cheapy fabric thing yeah yeah |
| George | Oh, yeah. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Jon | Like real clothes, yeah. |
| Kat | But most of the time, what I can remember is we did homemade costumes. And yep, yep. |
| George | Oh sure. |
| Jon | Oh yeah, me too, yeah. |
| Kat | And sometimes my mom was in on it, especially when we were younger, because she could sew. And she actually really loved being creative with things, which which persists to this day was with so many gift wrap. |
| Kat | Oh, you you’re in. It doesn’t matter what’s in the box. It could be like a little box of you know a package of peanuts, but you’re going to get this great big crazy you know wrapped thing. And she would do that for us with our costumes. |
| Kat | And then as we got older, then we would try to improvise and and just use whatever was around the house. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | um Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah, I had a few of those. |
| Kat | And one year I was Linus from the pean from Peanuts. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Jon | Oh, see the big blanket. |
| Kat | I did, I had a blue blanket and I wore a stripey shirt. And I think my sister, I forget if she was like Lucy or Snoopy, but i I identified with Linus because when I had been very young, I sucked my thumb and I had a blue blanket. |
| Jon | Ah, there we go. |
| Kat | So so I was, ah yeah, that was a ready match. |
| George | Oh, yeah. |
| Jon | Here’s your blankie. |
| Kat | That’s right. |
| Jon | You know, one of the things I was trying to remember as we were preparing for the show, even I was trying to remember as we were preparing for the show, even like, what did I go as? |
| Jon | And I can remember the $6 million dollars man and I have a couple more and I have one that’s a homemade costume story. |
| Kat | Mmm, yes! |
| Jon | I’ll talk about at the end of the show, Kat, but I can’t remember a lot of the things I was. |
| Kat | Okay, yeah. |
| Kat | John, right? |
| Jon | And as you and I were talking, it’s like it’s because I was inside looking out through the eye holes. |
| Kat | Same! |
| Jon | I wasn’t looking at me so I can remember what my friends were. I remember that year that he was a robot and that year that two guys were Dracula. Like I remember those. I don’t remember me so much like what I dressed up as. |
| Jon | Do you remember like any of the things that you were George? Did you go with your like you baseball players? |
| George | Well, I mean, yeah so, you know, it ah kind of a combination play off of what Kat talked about, you know, using what was around the house. |
| Jon | You do that that kind of thing? |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | I often just went around for Halloween as whatever, uh, costume uniform that I had. So, you know, baseball that year, whatever team I played for, I went with that. |
| Kat | Mhm. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | Um, there was, um, a couple of times I went as a Boy Scout because I was in the Boy Scouts and we had the uniform, you know, um, |
| Jon | Yeah, right. You had the costume. |
| George | Yeah, football player, basketball player, those kinds of simple things that could literally be pulled out of my closet because I had them already and you would just put them on and go. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | um We did the cheap plastic costumes a couple of years, but I hated them so much that it just wasn’t worth it for my parents to even take me to Kmart to go look for them because |
| Kat | Mhm. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Who cares? I hated those things. Um, sometimes I would, um, I would ask just for the mask, but back then I don’t remember that they sold just the masks very often. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| George | It was almost always the box with a Schmock kind of thing. |
| Jon | Not as much. Yeah, it was the set. I think you’re right. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | You know. |
| George | Now you can go to Dollar Tree and get masks on the store and you know, but yeah, I, we just went, whatever was in my closet that year that wasn’t dirty at the time. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| Kat | Yeah, absolutely. |
| Kat | That wasn’t dirty and resembled a uniform of sorts clearly. Okay. I was not sporty at all, like at all. |
| Jon | OK. |
| Kat | But for some reason, and I think it must have been, I looked this up, George, you can correct me if I’m wrong. |
| Jon | okay |
| Kat | I think it was in 1983, the Baltimore Orioles won the World Series. |
| George | Hm? |
| Kat | Now, I don’t know why that was even in my consciousness at that time. So I would have been 12 years old. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | ah And, but for some reason, my sister and I dressed up as Baltimore Oracle players. And I think, I don’t know if my father bet on the game and won. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | I don’t know if like. |
| Jon | Oh, maybe it was candy pandering to all the other fans. |
| Kat | Maybe? Maybe? But somehow, for some reason, we were inspired to dress as baseball players, which is so weird to me. I did not play baseball. I was not interested in sports, although I did like having a catch with my cousin. |
| Kat | We would just throw a ball back and forth. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | But that is one costume that I can remember. And like like you say, John, I’m having trouble remembering. I know one year I was a witch, one year I was Linus, one year I was a baseball player. |
| Jon | Yeah, yep. |
| Kat | And that’s about all I can remember. |
| Jon | What decorations do you remember the most then? I mean, today you were talking about George, like I can go to Target and get a skeleton, anything, a hang up this and inflatable that you have to work very hard to decorate as long as you can afford to go buy it. |
| George | Sure. |
| Jon | But I remember, |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | and For the most part, decorations when I was a kid were much more homemade or home-brewed. And I’m not just talking about jack-o’-lanterns. |
| George | Sure. |
| Jon | Of course, everybody’s gonna get a jack-o’-lantern. But even now, half the jack-o’-lanterns I see, you plug them in and they’re hard plastic. |
| George | Well, |
| Jon | They live in the attic. yeah They’re not real. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | But we would make, I think I mentioned earlier about hanging ghosts. |
| Kat | Yep. |
| Jon | Like you just get little like dish towels and put a ah ball in it and tie around the neck and you hang ghosts in the trees. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | It was homemade stuff, not so much |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Yep. |
| Jon | You know, you certainly didn’t see the crazy lighting and those headstones in the front yard kind of thing. You know, what kind of decorations you’d see when you were causing chaos, George. |
| George | Oh, I mean. |
| Kat | Right. |
| George | I think most of the decorations that especially homemade stuff kind of got born out of arts and crafts time in school right then. |
| Kat | Mm |
| George | So stuff that the school would do because it was that time of the year, like the little, you know, ball inside the cloth and tie the little string around it, you know, um, those kinds of things are like for Thanksgiving, you know, draw your hand and that’s the Turkey, whatever. |
| Kat | -hmm. |
| Jon | couple couple |
| George | Um, I remember mostly that stuff. I remember a lot of black and orange streamers around houses. |
| Jon | Oh, yes, streamers were huge then. |
| Kat | Mmm, streamers, that crepe paper streamers. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| George | Um, a lot of hay, a lot of like, just, you know, like dried out grass or what the hell ever that people would lay around or put, or just maybe they mowed their yard two weeks before and didn’t clean up. |
| Kat | Yeah, yeah. |
| Jon | Yes. Yep. Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Yes, hay bales! |
| Jon | Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. |
| George | I don’t know. |
| Kat | Or a scarecrow, like a, you know, a flannel shirt filled with hay and jeans. |
| George | Um, yeah. |
| Jon | You stuff some old clothes, stuff your dad’s work clothes with hay. |
| George | One, yeah, like one house maybe would go to that level of effort, but most of them wouldn’t. |
| Kat | Yes. Yeah. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. Yeah. |
| George | Um, I think, especially as you got more into the eighties, cause I’m slightly younger than John, a couple of years, as you got more into the eighties, that’s where the commercialization really took over in the. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| George | cut in the decoration area because those pin up things like the black cat or the witch or something that would get taped to a door or a window became way more prevalent. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | who |
| Jon | Yep. |
| George | Um, they were cheap, they were easy to produce and parents could put them up. |
| Kat | o |
| George | And so it became again, as our parents got bus and busier, busier, busier, because they had to, they had to sacrifice time |
| Jon | Pre-made, saves the day. Yeah. |
| Kat | Yes, yeah. |
| George | So they had to, you know, outsource their decoration creation, I think. And so that’s the stuff I remember the most. Um, I think it’s funny that when we were kids or even when our parents were younger, the idea was it’s easier to go get a pumpkin and carve it. |
| George | Whereas now it’s easier to go buy something at the Dollar Tree that’s lit up as a pumpkin. |
| Jon | It’s easier to just get it. |
| Kat | but |
| Jon | Yeah, yeah. |
| Kat | Facts. |
| Jon | And again, it doesn’t have to last, but just a couple days, you know, and then it’s, you know, trash again, it’s disposable instead of reusable. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Jon | ah But before we get out of this segment, we talked a couple of times, we alluded to, you were dumping out and trading candy and that kind of thing in the boo buckets and ah what was your go to trick or treat candy container? |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | What was, not not which one did you have, if the ideal, what’s the perfect one? If you’re going trick or treating, maybe you had it, maybe you didn’t. For me, it was it’s always been the iconic stiff plastic pumpkin head, just the jack-o’-lantern head. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | And like the little strap of black plastic with two little rivets. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | that specific one is and I didn’t always have that I had different things or like I said a couple years I just had some sack or backpack or whatever but that is for me the iconic and it’s what boot buckets and other things are simulating so that’s kind of the go to what’s your cat what’s your go to candy pickup container I don’t want to tarnish yours okay mmm yep yeah |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | I absolutely had one of those the aren’t that you just described, the orange pumpkin with the black handle. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Kat | I’m trying to remember if I used anything else, maybe one year, I think when I was Linus, I might have used a pillowcase because we had peanuts sheets. |
| Jon | It blended in. |
| George | All right. |
| Kat | like we you know So it kind of matched, you know it went with the outfit. |
| Jon | Oh, but even better. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | Themed. Yeah. |
| Kat | That’s ringing a bell in my head, but most of the time it would have been, I’m pretty darn sure it was my pumpkin head, yep. |
| Jon | A pumpkin. What about you, George? |
| George | A pallet. |
| Jon | how A A pallet? |
| Kat | What? |
| George | Yeah, I needed. |
| Jon | Like a forklift would lift a pallet? |
| George | I just needed a big forklift to carry all the candy. |
| Kat | What? |
| George | I was good. |
| Jon | George had a wheelbarrow in the grocery. |
| George | No. So, I mean, honestly, I mostly had, I mostly had paper grocery bags because we had the grocery store. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| George | So they were in ready supply. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | And we would actually, um, I remember my father would always. donate a green of bags to the school because the kids, a lot of the kids didn’t have the money to get the little plastic orange pumpkin thing. |
| Jon | Oh, so they could use. |
| Kat | Oh. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | Right. |
| George | Um, and so the school would hand them out to the kids during the day and the kids would use them at night. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| George | You would write your name on it or decorate it, that kind of a thing. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | So that’s what I used mostly and I found it more efficient because rather than |
| Jon | Cute. |
| George | having just the one bucket that if it got filled up, you had to figure out some way to empty it so you could keep collecting. |
| Kat | Oh. |
| George | We just got another paper bag. |
| Jon | Round two. Fight. |
| George | Yeah. And just, you know, tie it off the other one, stuck at it on the corner of somebody’s house and went out back again to go get more candy. |
| Kat | Oh my gosh. |
| Jon | but It was George’s reputation as being a hooligan that they overfilled his bag in defense of their home is what happened. |
| George | I’m sure that played a part because I didn’t make no bones about it. |
| Jon | Couldn’t possibly carry any more. It’s so full. |
| Kat | they They didn’t want the dawn of the mafia to be dissatisfied. |
| George | i yeah I was% not hiding the fact that if you didn’t give me candy, you’re getting fucked with. |
| Kat | Wow. |
| Kat | ah |
| Jon | Okay, that’s a perfect outright there. I’m just gonna use that, work really well. |
| George | Cool. |
| Jon | Now Kat, you are a sweetheart and we’re able to jump in and fill Moe’s seat on short notice. |
| Kat | Aww. |
| Jon | well Thank you for that. |
| Kat | Oh! Doo-doo-doo! |
| Jon | ah But real quickly, I wanna take a chance to talk about this segment. In fact, we’re gonna be talking about some of those real world dangers that you, I, and Will talked about over on 1980s now. |
| Kat | o |
| Jon | Remember we talked about the like a tyal Tylenol scare and the razor blades and apples kinds of things. |
| Kat | Yup. Yup. |
| Jon | So Will brought, basically he debunked a great, he’d played MythBusters on us. |
| Kat | Yup. |
| Kat | Yes! |
| Jon | So much of that stuff didn’t really happen. |
| George | Oh, that’s why that’s why I don’t listen to that podcast. |
| Kat | That’s right! Yep, I remember that. |
| George | I don’t want to be debunked. |
| Kat | you don’ Oh, and if anyone needs debunking, it’s you. |
| Jon | All right. |
| Jon | So listener, you probably already hear me, Kat, and Will over in 1980s now. If you don’t, you should check it out. It’s a great show. We have a wonderful time over there. But since George has sworn to never listen to that podcast, we still need to you need to talk |
| George | Hmm. I didn’t swear. It’s just a thing. |
| Jon | We did talk about those things here. |
| Kat | oh. |
| Jon | And really, a lot of the things we’re going to talk about here, whether they were real or fictional, as we kind of alluded to, they have led to the watering down and the dilution of what that Halloween experience was for us because of scary things like stranger danger. |
| Jon | There was a great fear that erupted kind of in the mid 80s of everybody’s out to get your kid. |
| Kat | who Sure. |
| Jon | Can you grab it from there? I was out of breath. |
| George | That was, I can jump in and grab it. |
| Kat | No, that’s okay. You definitely seem like you’re out of breath. Yeah. |
| George | I didn’t know you didn’t, you didn’t give any segue at all. |
| Jon | Okay. Thank you. I didn’t, I was trying to find the way out. |
| George | I’m like, what the fuck? |
| Jon | Okay. |
| George | All right. |
| Kat | You got it, George. |
| George | Let me think what you said. |
| Kat | And I’m not, I don’t know if I’m good at picking up segues. |
| Jon | Somebody was out to get your kid is what I said. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Kat | Somebody wants to get your kid. |
| George | OK, so you’re right. Somebody was out to get your kid. This is one of the primary catalysts for the whole helicoptering parent thing that we have fallen into ourselves now in this generation. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| George | I think it absolutely bears |
| George | its original origins in those times. Now you say that, you know, will on some other podcasts, I never listened to debunked a bunch of this shit. I don’t believe it because I was there. |
| George | I know Tylenol was poisoned and shit. That was real. |
| Jon | And then that one is real. That one is real. |
| Kat | That, yes, yes. |
| George | Um, but I do remember, uh, people starting rumors about the razor blades or the poisoning in candy and everything and I think some of that has its origins in horror films of the day. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Right. |
| George | Not that in horror films we saw kids trick-or-treating and having razor blades in their candy or anything like that but |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | Horror films are specifically the Halloween franchise based around Halloween and the holiday and the fall time and darkness and scary things and stuff. I think those becoming more watched by younger people developed this idea collective conscious wise that |
| Kat | Mm, yeah. |
| George | These things were becoming real as opposed to just being fantasy. And so if somebody said to me, Hey, did you hear that there are sewing needles and tootsie rolls? |
| George | I’d have been like, yeah, I heard that. and I hadn’t heard shit, but as a young person watching horror movies, that would have made so much sense that I would have agreed to that hysteria instantly. |
| Jon | Like it sounded believable because of the other media you consumed. |
| Kat | Right. |
| George | Yeah. Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Yeah, i I remember like there was this thing where they would, like the local clinic would say, bring in your candy, free X-ray. |
| Kat | Right. |
| Jon | Well, X-ray your candy bag for you. |
| George | X-ray. |
| Kat | Wow. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Kat | Yes, I remember. |
| Jon | says yeah And then the the show we were talking about, Kat, I’ll find a link to it for the show notes here to that episode of 1980s. Now we did, but I think there were like three documented cases of actual harm or death coming to someone. |
| Kat | Yeah, |
| Jon | One of them was like the uncle poisoning something with his own drugs. |
| Kat | That’s right. |
| Jon | but one They were all like someone from inside the house. It wasn’t anyone, they just had, it happened at Halloween time and crazy stuff. |
| Kat | Right. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | I think it was like, was it heroin and a pixie stick or something? I forget what it was, but |
| Kat | It was. It was. I’d forgotten about that. Yes. Now I want to go back and listen to that episode ah to refresh myself. Yes. it and it it It was somebody known. |
| Kat | It wasn’t like some random stranger thing. |
| Jon | Yeah, right. But they caused paranoia throughout the neighborhood because they would go, Oh, terribly happened to my kids candy. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Kat | Right. |
| Jon | And rather than finding out the answer first, then you had the stranger danger you had though people are doing terrible things. |
| Kat | right Mm hmm. |
| Jon | The news doesn’t always go back and recap and go, oh, by the way, that thing we’re panicking about last Wednesday turned out to be nothing. You know, they’re onto the next story. So you don’t always hear about the back end of it, but man, it was, it scared us. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Jon | Cause you said, George, we would kind of believe it, whether we knew to believe it or not, because that sounds like shit somebody would do maybe |
| Kat | Yes, it did. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | And we were told to only accept or only eat the candy that was prepackaged, that was wrapped, and I guess people handed out apples. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Sure. |
| Kat | Maybe I did on that, you know, random trick-or-treat night, you know, when I was scrounging, you know, and I didn’t know it was trick-or-treat night. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Yeah, that house got fucked with too. |
| Kat | by |
| George | Here you go, hand me fruit and tell me it’s Halloween. |
| Kat | But… i would have I would have paid dearly for that. But I remember as a kid, we never went to my grandparents for trick or treat. They lived two and a half hours away. um and you know So that was just just not a place I ever went to for Halloween night. But I remember learning, I think we must have gone to visit them very soon after Halloween one year. And I learned that my grandmother, |
| Kat | made popcorn balls. I guess she used some kind of sweetener to hold the popcorn together and then wrap them up. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. |
| Kat | And that’s what she handed out. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | And I was old enough to be shocked by this. I was at an age where I was like, oh, you’re not supposed to do that. |
| Jon | Oh. |
| Kat | Nobody’s supposed to give out, you know, homemade stuff. |
| George | Yeah, but she was still in the baked goods era, right? |
| Kat | Of course. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm, yeah. |
| Kat | And she, I mean, to the best of my knowledge, she didn’t, you know, right. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Some of the best treats at Brownie’s that somebody just made in my bag? |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | That didn’t even make it home if that happened. |
| George | No, but |
| Kat | you’re Right. |
| George | I would not put it past little Debbie to have fueled some of the paranoia. |
| Kat | Right. |
| George | So their little brownies got bought instead of grandma’s brownies. |
| Kat | and Exactly. They got wrapped up. |
| Jon | Oh, purchase the shrink wrapped 90% fewer razor blades. |
| George | Only 90%. |
| Jon | Well, you know, you have to plausible deniability in case you find one. |
| George | There’s so many, there’s so much acceptable razor blade parts in a brownie by the FDA. |
| Jon | It’s like the rat parts. |
| George | Exactly. |
| Kat | Razorblades is low on the ingredients list. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Jon | Did you finish your grandmother’s story, Kat? |
| Kat | I think I did. |
| Jon | Is that that the end of that? |
| Kat | yeah I think I was just trying to make the point that I i felt shocked. |
| Jon | That’s okay. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | That’s okay. |
| Kat | I felt like, oh no, this isn’t pre-packaged. How can my grandmother be doing this? |
| Jon | Are you poisoning the children, Grandma? |
| Kat | Not that she was trying to harm people. Right, right! |
| George | yeah |
| Kat | Yes! She’s not following the rules! |
| George | They’re not going to teepee my house this year. Damn it. |
| Jon | I know they say very often that the whole deal with stranger danger is that it’s reported more. We’re in the 24-hour news cycle going into the late 80s. |
| Kat | a Yeah. |
| Jon | And it’s not that things happen more frequently. Look, I’m not a political scientist, but my understanding and from what my reading |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | The things that happened today that we hear about were happening then too. It was that we didn’t have an opportunity to hear about every little thing in real time on Twitter, the second it happened, and everyone outraged by it. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Kat | Mm? |
| Jon | It got diluted and disseminated and we heard about it in statistics, not an individual people happening. |
| Kat | Right. |
| Jon | and And that has led to, think it’s my turn to be on the political soapbox, the social political soapbox with George. |
| Kat | Yes! |
| Jon | But it’s unfortunate that the very thing that makes us more informed also makes us more in fear. |
| Kat | yes |
| Jon | because we know about, that’s that right. |
| George | Well, because that’s, that’s what they want to inform you on because that’s what will keep you glued to the TV more. |
| Kat | Mm. |
| George | You don’t, you don’t watch NASCAR to watch 40 idiots drive left. |
| Jon | You don’t tune in to hear the good news. |
| Kat | Mm. |
| George | You watch it. |
| Jon | ah but oh I’m waiting for a wreck. |
| George | So one idiot hits somebody not against it. |
| Kat | oh no and and think about that |
| Jon | Big NASCAR fan, George. Yeah. |
| Kat | i |
| George | They just didn’t give me candy. |
| Jon | Take that NASCAR. |
| Kat | I just looked it up. I was curious about when the first missing child was shown on a milk carton. It was in 1979. |
| George | Oh yeah. Yeah. |
| Kat | I just popped into my head as a thing. Of course, that’s not watching the news per se. That was to try to help. Hey, help us find this child. But that became something coming into our homes. |
| Kat | ah in addition to the news that was ah bringing awareness of, oh no, you could get kidnapped. You need to need to watch yourself when you’re walking to school or whatever. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah, it’s it’s just, and I understand times change, the climate changes, you know, people change, but we take the bad with the good that, you know, like the additional information, the kind of thing that you learn more and you’re more afraid. |
| George | Mm. |
| Jon | That’s what you get hand in hand with. having immediate access to information. A lot of good comes out of that, but then you get the watering down of rumor that leads to the Halloween we have now, which is, I feel bad for kids that they are probably never going to experience the running wild chaos through the town. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | The Wild West. |
| Jon | Yeah. And they’re never going to experience George putting the would foam up under the door handles or some shit you did. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | What if it’s crazy anyway? |
| Kat | Shaving cream. |
| George | Shaving cream. |
| Jon | All right. |
| Kat | ah Now don’t think there’s no Wild West. |
| Jon | One more segment. |
| Kat | Oops, sorry. you Don’t think there’s no Wild West. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| Kat | When it gets close to eight o’clock around here on trick-or-treat night, there’s a little nuttiness. |
| Jon | Oh, there’s still some chaos. |
| Kat | there’ yeah There’s some, oh, good yes, yes. |
| Jon | That does my heart good. |
| Kat | You’ll be glad to know the adolescents. Well, I don’t know if they’re doing exactly what George did. They are, you know, they’re still, run. |
| Jon | No way. |
| George | No, now there’s, now they go to, they go to jail for that shit at eight years old now. |
| Kat | Well, they need to, yes. |
| George | so Back then it was just your parents are going to whip your ass when you get home. |
| Kat | They need to watch their step a little more, but there is a little sense as it gets later, a little tiny bit of running amok. |
| Jon | Right. |
| Kat | is You sort of feel it when you’re getting ready to, oh, I’m out of candy. |
| Jon | Hmm. Well, good. |
| Kat | I’m going to turn out the light. Oh, what are they doing out there? |
| Jon | Oh, maybe we’re finally starting to correct the overwatering down of Halloween. |
| Kat | yeah |
| Kat | Maybe. |
| Jon | Wouldn’t that be wonderful? |
| Kat | Maybe. |
| George | Alright, we’ve talked about collective, you know, memories of Halloween in general, and we’ve talked about costumes, we’ve talked about the scares, but what we haven’t done yet is picked out a specific memory that each one of us has. And we like to do that in these podcasts because while we’re talking about something that is still here but drastically different, the one thing that is most important to most of our listeners, I think is just hearing our personal stories and anecdotes. |
| George | So I know what I would like to talk about with mine, but I think it might be fun to start off with John and see what his redneck country situation might’ve been because I got a feeling it’s going to involve some straw or like some bales of hay or some shit. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | okay |
| Kat | Oh. Oh! |
| Jon | Well, I kind of teased it a bit earlier when I said, related to Kat talking about homemade costumes. |
| Kat | You did tease, yeah. |
| Jon | um And so this was a year that, I remember one year, ah like for example, that’s not the one one year I would go as like ah the strong man. |
| George | Okay. |
| Jon | And so I had ah a big, ah ah like gray sweater and big balloons under it for giant muscles or something. |
| Kat | That’s |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | just whatever could Just made it up in the spur of the moment. But actually planned this homemade one, I wanted to go as a scarecrow. |
| Kat | great. |
| Jon | but I also didn’t want to, as George suggested, stuff myself with straw. So actually my mom helped me learn how to do a little bit of sewing and what I did was take some old clothes. She helped me put big patches on them all over the place. |
| Jon | And then I sewed a yellow yarn to act like straw coming out my sleeves, coming out around my collar, right, coming out around the bottom of my shirt. |
| Kat | Hmm, nice. |
| George | Ah. |
| Kat | Clever. |
| Kat | Hmm. |
| Jon | And so it was just fake straw coming out. And it was all this yellow yarn. |
| Kat | Huh. |
| Jon | And then I had a broomstick that I would put over back of my neck and put my arms out, you know, like I was standing in the middle of the field with my arms out. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | Huh? |
| Jon | and then I went down to the fall festival and and I looked oh somewhat I guess like look the straw was there are they but your arms get tired when you’re holding this thing and you can’t carry a bag and you can’t play the games and so it ended up just being a stick I was walking with not something |
| Kat | Huh? |
| Kat | Oh! |
| Jon | And so everyone who tried to guess what I was said, are you a lion? Cause it got the yellow tufts or whatever. |
| Kat | Oh my! |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | And I’m like, Oh no, are you raggedy Andy? |
| Kat | Yes! |
| Jon | Cause he had all the patches like nothing sewed together because you didn’t have your arms out. And and it’s, it’s not that it’s a good or bad memory, but it stuck with me because I spent all night going, no, I’m a scarecrow. |
| George | Sure. |
| Jon | And I put the stick over my arm, see, and they’d put it down cause my arms got tired. And the next person, are you raggedy Andy? No, damn it. I’m a scarecrow because |
| George | And you could have like just attached the broom to your neck with some kind of thing and had like one of your old clothes stuffed arms, like fake arms hanging off of it. |
| Jon | because I didn’t use real straw. |
| Kat | ah |
| Jon | Like fake arms. That’s what I should have done. |
| Kat | Oh, that’s what you needed. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | Yes, fake arms. |
| Jon | Yeah. I don’t know. I had to be, I don’t know, fifth or sixth grade, maybe right in there. |
| Kat | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | So it wasn’t very old, but so was that 10 or 11 years old, something like that. I was just so frustrated that they couldn’t tell what I was. |
| Kat | Yeah. Oh, my goodness. |
| Jon | So then I think I bought my next costume the next year because I want to be able to know what I am. |
| Kat | Oh. |
| Kat | It was one of those plastic ones, right? |
| George | All right. |
| Jon | The next year, yeah, yeah. |
| Kat | Yes. |
| Jon | George, how about you? |
| Kat | That’s funny. |
| George | Uh, well, it’ll, it’ll probably surprise exactly no people, uh, listening to this podcast that my, the one memory that I tend to have the the strongest from my Halloween time was a big fight over some candy, um, in the neighborhood when we were doing one of those circle trade things that I described earlier. |
| Jon | Zero. |
| Kat | Oh. Oh. |
| Jon | Well, I’m glad you said trade. |
| Kat | Really? |
| George | Um, yeah. |
| Kat | yeah Oh. |
| Jon | Even Kat got it. |
| George | Yeah, we were. So and my friends and I were sitting around and we were sorting out our candy and, you know, figuring out what to trade with who. |
| Kat | Oh. |
| George | And I, um, I had this, uh, one kid and his brother, they were kind of the neighborhood outcast. We played with them because you kind of had to, you needed them to like make up a whole baseball team. |
| George | You needed the numbers, but nobody really liked them. |
| Kat | oh |
| Jon | Necessary evil. |
| Kat | Oh dear. |
| George | Um, And so I remember that the older of the two brothers who was about my age as well, um, he had, he had a Snickers and I had some now and later, so I think it was, or something along those lines, something that I didn’t care as much about as I like Snickers. |
| Kat | Low value. |
| George | And so I was like, Hey, do you want to trade, you know, some blah, bla blah, blah for the Snickers. He’s like, uh, yeah, sure. So the, it came to, you know, like I was going to give him all like John talked about with the black jelly beans. |
| George | I was going to give him all of my now and later for the stickers, which was a full size sticker bar. |
| Kat | Ooh, nice. |
| George | Okay. Little bastard had a half stickers bar hidden over in one corner of his pile and tried to give me that bullshit for all my now and later. |
| Kat | oh Oh my goodness. |
| Jon | Bait and switch. Bait and switch. Bait and switch. |
| George | And I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Give me my now and leaders back. Oh, they’re in my pile. I don’t know which ones are yours now. No. Oh, sorry. Now there’s about to be an ass whooping up in this place about this candy. |
| Kat | Oh my goodness. |
| George | So. I went and stuck my hand into his candy pile to get my now and later’s back. And of course, you know, i grabbing other stuff just because it’s all bunched together and he didn’t like that. |
| Kat | Collateral damage. |
| George | So he, you know, like, I remember he slammed, closed his legs really quick on my hand. And of course that hurt and I’m a kid. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | That doesn’t sound good. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | So I punched him right in the mouth. |
| Jon | oh |
| Kat | Oh my gosh! |
| George | And then of course his younger brother jumps on my back and then one of my neighborhood friends yanks him off of me. And then it’s just a Donnie Brooke amongst the kids. |
| George | And those two little brothers got their asses whipped. Cause there’s like six of us and two of them. |
| Kat | Oh boy. |
| George | And I could fight and a couple of the other guys could fight and they really couldn’t. So I just remember going home with a split lip and bruised cheek and thinking I still got the best of that motherfucker. |
| Kat | Oh man. |
| George | Just. |
| Kat | It’s like the, it’s like the outsiders on Halloween. |
| George | It was, it was, uh, yeah, it was very, you know, kind of, uh, like butterfly effect kind of, yeah, it was, it was, yeah, children are not good at running their own society. |
| Kat | Oh man. |
| Kat | Mm-hmm. |
| Kat | And… Lord of the Flies! |
| George | That’s for sure. |
| Jon | Lord of the Flies, right? |
| Kat | It was Lord of the Flies! |
| George | Even in small doses, but. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Kat | Did you end up with your now and later’s back or your snickers? |
| George | Oh, I got all his candy. |
| Kat | and Oh! |
| George | I whipped his ass. |
| Jon | It was a thorough victory. |
| George | I took every bit of candy he had. |
| Kat | Oh my goodness! Wow! |
| George | Yes. Yeah. He got nothing that, that Halloween, he went home with nothing. |
| Jon | ah |
| George | I took the stuff I didn’t like. I took the stuff I did like yeah everything. |
| Kat | Oh man! |
| Jon | Well, Kat, top that. |
| Kat | Oh! Oh! |
| George | It’s not a competition. |
| Jon | Do you have any particular anecdote that involves fisticuffs in your Halloween memories? |
| Kat | Almost. Almost. Funny you should say that. |
| Jon | okay Oh, almost. |
| Kat | Almost. Actually, I’m going to pull a George because I do listen to Gen X grown up podcast, even though he doesn’t listen to 1980s now. |
| George | oh |
| Jon | oh He doesn’t listen to this show either, so don’t feel bad. |
| George | Wow. |
| Kat | So I’d like to mention, he doesn’t even listen. |
| George | man Yeah. |
| George | I don’t, I barely listened when we’re recording. |
| Kat | So I’d like. Oh great. ah Well open your ears because I’m gonna pull a George and mention two things if that’s okay for my one. |
| Jon | Ooh, that’s exactly right. |
| George | Ah, okay. Well, first of all, if you’re asking permission, you’re doing it wrong. |
| Kat | yeah I wasn’t asking you. |
| George | You just need to do the two things. |
| Jon | ah Oh, she’s just informing you it’s gonna happen. That’s just all she’s doing. |
| Kat | Yes, yes. |
| Kat | So the first thing ah is we had a funny contrast of treats that we would get from a special aunt that we would go visit. |
| Kat | So we would do the the neighborhood thing like in town. |
| George | ah |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Kat | And then when we were done with that, my mom would drive us out to our aunt’s house, which was, it wasn’t super far, but we had to drive. It was at least a good five minute drive away. This was the rich aunt. |
| Kat | She, and super wealthy and |
| Jon | Oh, good candy. |
| George | nice |
| Kat | Yes, and she didn’t get any trick or treaters because she was um on a like it a long driveway house near the pond. |
| George | Nice. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. You don’t just pass by. Yeah. |
| Kat | Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, there’s no way anybody’s trick or treating there. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | So she would make my sister and I each a large Ziploc bag, like a gallon size full of all kinds of candy, all the things that we loved. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | ah Oh, nice. |
| Kat | And there’d be some money in there, too. |
| Jon | Oh, |
| Kat | She’d tuck in |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | Like for some reason, maybe I only picture a $1 bill, but it might’ve been a 10. |
| George | All right. |
| Jon | That’s |
| Kat | I don’t know. Like when, when I was little, I didn’t really care i what it was. |
| Jon | money. |
| Kat | It was money. |
| George | yeah |
| Kat | Yes. So that was a tradition. It was, is it time to go visit Aunt Betty yet? You know, we’re going to go get a really good bag. And that was special. And then after that, we’d come back home, but we would go next door. |
| Kat | There was this man who rented a little apartment in the house next door and he had always had something for us. It was always one full bag of Mary Janes, which I hated. |
| George | Yeah. Ah. |
| Jon | Oh, oh, that’s what you asked earlier. |
| Kat | And my sister. |
| Jon | You hated him. |
| Kat | Both my sister and I did not like this candy, but this man, he was older, he, you know, a little lonely, didn’t really have a lot of, you know, visitors, and it was very quiet, you know, where we lived. |
| Kat | And it was so special for… |
| Jon | The kids love the Mary Jane’s. |
| Kat | like We should have put up a protest or something. He had no idea that we didn’t. |
| George | I mean, they’re not bad, though. I mean, they’re chewy peanut butter. John should have liked him, I would think, because he’s a peanut butter guy. |
| Jon | I just don’t remember them. I remember having them. Yeah. |
| Kat | I wish I’d known John. |
| George | They were in the like yellow wrapper with like a red stripe, I think. |
| Kat | I would have sent them to him. |
| Jon | I believe you. |
| George | Right. |
| Kat | Yeah, like a red or black stripe. |
| George | They were kind of like bit of honey. They were kind of chewy and hard a little bit. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | Yeah, I just, they weren’t my thing. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Kat | I did. I loved the Reese’s. I loved peanuts, peanut butter, but these things. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Kat | So, and my sister and I, we only had each other to trade with really. it so it was I don’t know whatever ever happened with these things. I don’t know who ate them, but it was just a funny contrast in like the ooh super special bag full of things we loved. |
| Kat | And then the other tradition of this guy giving us something that we hated. |
| Jon | Then that garbage. |
| Kat | Yes. So every year. That happened. And one year, here’s the second part of my story. We must have gone to visit my aunt first, or some other special neighbor must have given us a little bit of money. |
| Kat | There was a dollar bill or something. Someone, some kid, while we were in a little lineup to go up to this house or something, there was a little crowd of kids stole the, my sisters, I don’t know if they stole her whole bucket. |
| Kat | I don’t remember the details, but she reminded me of this recently. |
| Jon | Oh, oh, party foul. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Kat | Uh, what’s that? |
| Jon | Party foul. |
| Kat | Yes, party foul. So she lost her money. like Like somebody reached in and got the money and grabbed some candy. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | Oh, wow. |
| Kat | And i maybe this was the year my brother was born. I’m not quite sure because apparently my father was also there. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Kat | I didn’t remember this, but my sister said that my dad ran after but like whatever kid or group of kids once she told him what happened. So I guess they They ran off, like they dropped, they dropped it and and ran off, but the money was gone. |
| Jon | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | So we got the candy back, but no money. |
| George | Oh. |
| Kat | So, but I don’t know what would have happened if my father had gotten his hands on this kid. |
| Jon | Oh, right. |
| Kat | I really, I don’t, I don’t want to think about it. So well yeah. |
| Jon | Hmm. Wow. Well, you know, it wasn’t George because he would have stayed and fought. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Kat | Yes. Yes. He would have put up his dukes with my dad. |
| Jon | Well, time to fight an adult now. Let’s go. |
| George | Let’s see what kid he got. |
| Jon | He’s probably got the good stuff, right? |
| Kat | No, he’s got a beer. |
| Jon | Guys, it has been so much fun reminiscing about our Gen X Halloween experiences. Kat, I so much again, I wanna thank you and appreciate you for popping in to a guest host for Moe. And hey, we’ll talk with Moe and see if maybe he just wants to step out every once in a while so you can step in. I don’t know what he wants. He’s gonna hear that and he’s gonna give me the riot act. |
| Kat | Oh, yes, I think that you’re going to hear something about that. |
| Jon | ah |
| Kat | And please know it was my honor. This was so much fun. |
| Jon | Oh, you’re sweet. |
| Kat | I’m so honored. |
| Jon | Before we go, I do want to thank a couple of very before we go, I want to thank a couple more very special people in addition to cat I want to thank two more patreon. Two more supporters over on Patreon, brand new Matt M joined us over at patreon dot.com slash Gen X grownup. |
| Kat | Ooh. |
| Jon | And Christian W, this happens every once in a while, George, already a supporter, gave us a little upgrade, bumped itself up to the next level. |
| George | Mm hmm. Nice. |
| Kat | Oh cool! |
| Jon | Yep. Christian, thank you so much. |
| Kat | oh |
| Jon | Matt, you are joining a roster of amazing people like Christian and so many more who get our YouTube content and our podcasts and stuff on our website totally for free, yet they believe in what we’re doing and they want to support us with a little bit of a pledge each month. |
| Jon | Guys, thank you so much for stepping up. If you want to join them, again, just head over to genexgrownup.com slash Patreon. you can For as little as a buck a month, you can jump in, start getting those perks, exclusive content, all kinds of great stuff. |
| Jon | That is going to wrap it up for this year. dishergition. I’m drunk. |
| Kat | who your which which |
| Jon | That is going to wrap it up for this edition of the Gen X grown up podcast. Don’t worry. We’ll be back in two weeks with another one. And next week is a regular edition of our show. Until then, I am John. George, thank you so much for being here. |
| George | Yes, sir. |
| Jon | Kat, you know, we appreciate you. |
| Kat | I appreciate you guys, even George. |
| Jon | Even George and fourth listener, it’s you. We all appreciate most of all. We can’t wait to talk to you again next time. but Bye bye. |
| George | See you guys. |
| Kat | Bye. |
(Visited 144 times, 1 visits today)
About The Author
