Halloween Fetes

     It's Halloween, so I decided to find something interesting to post about. Here are a few old newspaper articles  that I found.

        

    This one is from a Pascagoula Mississippi newspaper called The Chronicle. In 1963 there was a Halloween event called "Holiday on Ice." It was at the Indiana Coliseum, the best seats in the house cost $3.30, and apparently the place was packed. It was opening night and all was going according to plan... until the final act. 

    A propane tank used for cooking hot dogs and popcorn exploded. It come up through the concrete floor under the seats and threw people like ragdolls. 

    Bodies were hurled 40 and 50 feet through the air onto the ice where chorus girls had pirouetted a moment before. Mink stoles lay among torn bodies, crumpled popcorn boxes and empty beer containers. In point of numbers killed it was the greatest tragedy in Indianapolis history. 

    

64 people died and 341 were injured
    

    I had to look up the word 'fetes' as I'm not familiar with it. It's really just another word for festival or celebration.
    

This one just has me  confused and wanting more information. It's from The Seattle Star, 1922.

    Knocked to the floor by a coffee pot hurled by his wife, Sam Funes, 43, shoe stand proprietor, was taken to the city hospital Tuesday night, after a Halloween celebration at the family home. Funes was treated for several lacerations on the head and released.

    So he was a professional shoe shiner. I wonder what sort of thing he'd being doing for work today. The real question is whether it was an accident or on purpose. Did he deserve it?

   

    This one could've been deadly but they was it's described and how I see it in my head is like a cartoon.  It comes from the Newark Evening Star, 1913. 

    A boy saw one of those huge cable spools at the top of a hill and decided he was going to see what would happen if he let it loose. The only thing holding it was a block of wood, so he just waited until no one was looking, removed it, then ran like hell. 

    The spool started slowly, but as the great cylinder, six feet in diameter and weighing a thousand pounds, rolled on, its momentum increased.

    Just before it reached Twelfth street, crowded with motorcars and pedestrians, it was traveling thirty miles an hour. Then it crashed against a water plug, when it stopped.

    The hydrant was snapped off at the base and the rushing water shot into the door of a saloon. Four girls on the sidewalk were within ten feet of the plug. Their dresses were ruined. Several men were also soaked.

    Why don't we call them saloons anymore? It just seems so much better than a 'bar.' 

    

        

     Without kids around or anywhere to go Halloween just isn't that exciting. I've made some cupcakes and got food coloring for some spooky cocktails. If it's not too cold and wet I'll probably have a fire outside or maybe watch a horror movie. 

    Trying to come up with something witty or even interesting to end this one on is trying to drive me insane. I just hope that you enjoyed the short stories, have a good day of your own and that you stay curious.