You know who else liked Halloween?

October 31, 2010 8:21 AM

From National Geographic News, October 29, 2010 — Halloween Costume Pictures: Spooky Styles a Century Ago. In 1918, American kids, witches, and swastikas were cute.
posted by cenoxo (16 comments total)

Well, in 1918, Eva would have been 6, and Adolf 29, so it ain't them.
posted by lobstah at 8:35 AM on October 31, 2010

The Nazis ruined a bunch of stuff, including a handful of symbols. Look at most pictures of kids saluting a flag in the US before 1942.

I'm fascinated by the random mish-mosh angle. That lady just threw on some skates, because, you know, woohoo skates. Nowadays it seems costumes are supposed to portray something specific - Superman or a nurse or Jack in the Box. Gone is the era when you could put a corn cob on your hat and wrap yourself in yarn and walk in on stilts and have everyone be like "hey, great costume!" instead of "dude, what's up with that?" Pity.
posted by SMPA at 8:58 AM on October 31, 2010 [4 favorites]

I really, really hope that the swastika will be taken back in my lifetime. Not as a sign of complacency toward the Holocaust, but a de-co-opting of it from the hands of genocidal bastards.
posted by griphus at 9:04 AM on October 31, 2010

Those rollerskates ain't random!
posted by gorgor_balabala at 9:05 AM on October 31, 2010

Gone is the era when you could put a corn cob on your hat and wrap yourself in yarn and walk in on stilts and have everyone be like "hey, great costume!" instead of "dude, what's up with that?" Pity.

Some people call me the space cowboy, some call me the gangster of love. I'm starting to think my costume really needs more focus.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:12 AM on October 31, 2010 [15 favorites]

Just tell people you're a pompatus.
posted by griphus at 9:25 AM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

At one time Halloween roller skating parties seem to have been very popular: 1907, 1908, 1918, 1924, 1936. So the skates may not be random.
posted by interplanetjanet at 9:28 AM on October 31, 2010

I thought the skates were to allow her to glide around like a malevolent spirit. Nothing less convincing than an plodding banshee.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 10:13 AM on October 31, 2010

No High School Halloween for Hitler — Gothamist, November 1, 2006 (followup here). Sixteen year old Brooklyn student Walter Pertyk and his mother were later interviewed by Bill O'Reilly (scary enough), but what's most frightening is the Fox News scroll across the bottom of the screen.
posted by cenoxo at 10:22 AM on October 31, 2010

I don't get the uproar over the Hitler costume- you're supposed to dress up as something scary, right?
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 11:01 AM on October 31, 2010

I really, really hope that the swastika will be taken back in my lifetime. Not as a sign of complacency toward the Holocaust, but a de-co-opting of it from the hands of genocidal bastards.

Maybe we can celebrate this with a national Too Soon Day.
posted by hanoixan at 11:25 AM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

I thought the skates were to allow her to glide around like a malevolent spirit.

My Tibetan friend, who grew up in a remote area of the country (he saw his first automobile at around the age of 30) was visibly distressed by rollerskates. He explained that according to the Kalachakra prophecies, demons with wheels for feet were a sign of the end times.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 1:18 PM on October 31, 2010 [5 favorites]

A Nazi witch clown? I think we've got our own one of those this Halloween.
posted by XMLicious at 6:41 PM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

according to the Kalachakra prophecies, demons with wheels for feet were a sign of the end times.

He probably shouldn't watch this then.
posted by freecellwizard at 6:06 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wonderful post, interesting captions and stunning, charming pictures. Thanks.
posted by Miko at 6:13 AM on November 1, 2010

Who knew that Americans in the 1910s were so big into Buddhism?
posted by Apocryphon at 6:02 PM on November 1, 2010