Vintage Halloween Postcards
December 6th, 2008 by John Wolfe
Since my Halloween Tree Ornaments post featured antique looking reproductions, I thought it would be cool to showcase a couple of original Halloween images from the early 20th century. The Flickr user, riptheskull’s, has an awesome collection of vintage Halloween postcards. The photos in this entry are part of the “Tuck Halloween Series.” I love the quaint, playful appearance of the cards. They really provide an indication of the attitude towards Halloween in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
December 6th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Wow, this was fantastic! Between my Nikola Tesla research, my continued fascination of the near by mansion Winchester House (also 1800′s–which was voted the second most haunted place in America–you can feel many spirits there and WOW, what a mansion!) and my love for antiques from that time era, you’ve really hit an interesting button in me with your recent posts
One of the reasons why I especially love art work or drawings from the 1800′s is because, at that time, everything WAS done by hand and NOT computer graphics. It was real. The drawing, the colors used, the scenery set…..all done by hand. Most, not all, of todays drawings/art work seem to be done on the computer. Other than painters of course. There’s just something very real about art work from the 1800′s and right before the industrial and technological age literally took over in the 1900′s.
That’s also why I’m such a huge fan of yours (one of many reasons!) but when you build your Halloween props, it’s done BY HAND! Sure the buckey is store bought, no biggy, but the entire Halloween masterpiece is created by your thoughts, your ideas and your hundreds of hours of manual labor of love in creating them. I know others make their display this way too but for me, YOUR creations really stand out and there is something hugely unique about them. Much like yourself
John, LoL, I never thought I would be so …..dare I say, addicted to a Halloween related website as I am to yours. Now that you’ve thrown in a favorite subject matter of mine, antiques, I’m right back to checking your site daily now. Oh, I showed Mom the ornaments and she just loved them. She too appreciates antiques but I tend to be a little more over the top about ‘em. Just wait till she sees these post cards. Now I have to take a break from Tesla this am and browse through antique Halloween cards. Thanks alot John……….LoL, no really, thank you
EXCELLENT post!
December 6th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Sorry for the second post so soon but I ADORE this new layout–under leave a reply–I like how the boxes are zig-zaged, it’s really cool. More thinking outside of the box which I admire greatly
Love the change….or am I seeing things, LoL. Nowadays, I’m never to sure 
December 7th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Goldie,
I didn’t realize you were so close to the Winchester house. That’s awesome. If you ever visit, you’ll have to fill me in about the experience.
I totally agree with you about pieces of art and images being made by hand. While I can still appreciate CG images and all the work that goes into creating graphics – there’s definitely nothing like doing it the old fashioned way.
Thanks for your compliments. I’m glad I’m finding things that peak your interest! I was just talking with my Mom, today, about vintage Halloween postcards, when she reminded she has a postcard collection. After going through her album, she found two related to Halloween. So, I’ll be taking some photos and posting them later this week.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the new layout. I can’t take credit for the alignment of the comment section though, as it took that position after I realigned the main section and the sidebar. Good to hear it looks better!
December 7th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
YOU would get a huge thrill out of the Winchester Mystery House. It was beyond thee most bizzare place you’ll ever step foot into. If your sensetive to energies and spirits, the house might overwhelm you. My last visit was 1997 and my friend wanted to take the NIGHT tour!!! Hell no, that was not my cup of tea. I’m glad I didn’t cause during the daylight hours, there was plenty to send a chill up your spine.
Did you know that even after Sarah Winchester’s death and construction stopped, that to this day some people claim to still hear the constant sound of hammers pounding the wood and nails dropping on the floor. The design of the house is beyond confusing. Also you HAVE to watch your step or your tripping left and right over the many different floor levels and staircases. Sarah’s notion was that it would trip up and confuse the evil spirits that haunted her. The main reason why the house has such a confusing floor plan was because of the spirits she felt were coming to get her. She figured that doors that opened to nowhere but outside of the house 2 stories up, stairways that go into the ceiling (of which you can sit in there) that the spirits would get caught or confused and leave to never return. I guess the whole “walking through walls” thing kinda slipped her mind
There are 467 doorways, 40 staircases: total of stair steps – 367, (everything was thoroughly counted by Sarah!) number of windows – 1,257, only 2 bathrooms and only one shower in a house that has 40 bedrooms and 6 full kitchens. She was obsessed with the number 13 and 7 so many stairways had only 7 steps and each window pane had 13 parts to it. To this day, her house has the most astounding stained glass work I have ever in my life seen. GET THIS, she even has WINDOWS in the floor, yes the floor and one of which is a materpiece stained glass window made just for her.
But, it was the sayance room that gave me chills, froze me in my spot and I wanted OUT of there right away. There are 3 ways to get out of that very small room and only 1 is the right way! The energy in that room is thee most intense out of all of the other rooms. Nothing ever touched me but I felt the presence of MANY of unsettled spirits. Night tour!! Are they crazy!! LoL, hell no…..I would be running so fast out of there, I would surely run into a wall, or a ceiling
or perhaps fall through the stained glass floor!! You would LOVE the sayance room John. I could only imagine what YOU felt from this place.
I am very sorry, didn’t mean to go on so much about it but I thought you might appreciate some of the more creepy details. I think I saw the “America’s Most Haunted” on the Sci-Fi channel. In the #3 spot is Area 51. Sooooo much inhumane activity taking place there, and for decades, it’s no wonder that was voted number one. The Winchester website is fairly well detailed and there are some pretty good videos on youtube as well. Thanks for allowing me the freedom to type so much. Your a real cool kid for doing so
December 8th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Thanks for sharing! I have watched several documentaries on the Winchester house. The one area that rang a bell, when you mentioned windows in the floor, was one that peers down into the kitchen. At least I think there was a window looking into the kitchen, wasn’t there?
Yeah, I don’t think Sarah was taking into consideration the fact that ghosts don’t have to abide by the same laws which apply to this physical Universe. I know she was said to have felt a lot of guilt over her husband’s inventions, so she probably was doing anything possible to try and ease her self-inflicted burden.
I think a night tour of a location like that would be great. The only thing is that I do tend to be hyper-sensitive to the emotion of a location, so it may be a little too much on my internal barometer. But physically, I would be raring to go!
December 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
LoL, some how I knew you would say that John!!! How DID I know
Yes, there is a window peering down into the kitchen. Also I must request 2 corrections on my behalf:
1–It wasn’t the Sci-Fi channel but the Travel Channel so my bad, sorry about that TC!
2–I didn’t proof read my writing the last time, like I usually do, and noticed I had a repeated sentence in one paragraph so I am sorry for that as well. I kicked myself in the rear a bit for not going back over my writing after being distracted by a phone call.
Oh and San Jose is about a 2-3 hour drive from me and finding the house in that city is NOT easy. I must have taken 5 U turns that day! I agree with you, I think physically you would ADORE the tour of the house AND the grounds – her garden is OUTSTANDING! I have a huge green thumb so I was thoroughly impressed with the garden. Moreover, I knew you would sign up for the night tour as there are no lights that are on but rather your path is ONLY illuminated from your flashlight. Like I said, NO thank you for me, I stick to sunlight hours. Lastly, I found the actual real clip I saw from TC on youtube last night, it’s only about 10 minutes long so if your interested I could send that to ya. It sounds like you’ve seen the jest of it though from the special you watched.
Thank you for your kind replies back John. Your very sweet for doing so and I’m looking forward to the pics of your Mom’s antique Halloween postcards.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
How dare you mix the Travel Channel up with Sci-Fi!…lol. Just kidding. Travel Channel has been mega-awesome to Season of Shadows, so I had to say that.
No worries about the double posting in your reply.
Yeah, please send the video to my Season of Shadows account on YouTube and I’ll check it out.