This is an old Polaroid photo in such terrible condition that I couldn’t even see who was in it. After I scanned it and did a lot of lighting and contrast adjustment, I can see that it’s me on my trusty bike. Also, because of some of the landscape that I cropped since it was so discolored and scratched, I could figure out where it was taken and so know that I was probably eleven.
Strangely, in spite of how murky the photo is, I know exactly what I’m holding. It’s a red plastic devil head on a stick. Either these were sold full of Halloween candy or they were somehow tied in to the school where my brother and Terri graduated, whose mascot was the Red Devils. I’ve looked in vain for an image of something similar online, so maybe someone else remembers.
So many memories, lost thanks to Polaroid film … and the color pics have deteriorated even faster than the black and white. I’ve given up on trying to salvage anything from my mother’s polaroid album. Your photo is at least surreally artistic.
Those really old ones are in pretty bad shape–I do have a few of them that look good, but they are ones I can’t share.
My mother’s color photos from her Kodak Instant still look pretty good, even the ones from the 1980s. I guess the technology had improved a lot by then. Even so, before I give all these photos away, they’ll be scanned in and saved electronically in several different locations.
That’s what I’m doing, and making copies on DVD for my brothers.
I hope to do the same for my family.
Hallowe’en was very low-key when I was a kid. It still is, although, like everything else, there’s more merchandising around it.
We did always dress up and trick or treat as kids. There also used to be school carnivals around Halloween time.
One thing some adults do now in lieu letting their kids trick or treat at strangers’ houses is Trunk or Treat. They decorate their cars and gather in some spot–the parking lot of a school, church, or park–and the kids go from car to car getting their treats. That way the young ones still get to dress up, see friends, and get candy.
On Halloween I always wanted to be World War I flying Ace Snoopy. Every. Single. Year.
It’s never too late.
that looks like a halloween candy stick. they had devil heads, pumpkins or other stuff on the tops. the candy was those gross multi-colored sugary balls.
I’m glad somebody else remembers this. I don’t recall the candy at all, just the devil head.