• Articles Sponsor

  • T-Shirts Available!

  • Halloween 1958 Style

    Does anybody know who this Witch is? Better look quick...she is just about to take off on her V-8 power double turbo charged broom! What makes this witches broom faster than most? A boost of nitrous oxide!



    My father always took me out for Halloween so that I could collect my annual brown bag of candy. I always dressed up and it was a lot of fun. I tried everything from homemade costumes to the store bought ones. They all seemed to do the trick. However there was this one particular store brought costume that I will never forget. My father saw a cat costume and he brought it home. I was about 7 years old at the time, so therefore dressing up like a cat wasn’t such a bad idea, at least until daddy made certain alterations to the costume. The tail of the cat costume simply just hung there. Daddy checked it out and found that he could stuff my tail with some of the white so-called cotton that he used for caulking repairs on his wooden boats. I didn’t care all I was thinking about was all of the candy that I was going to get and how much I could eat in one night. After stuffing the tail with the so-called cotton he created a big problem. The tail was too heavy so it just fell to the ground. Now I had a cattail that was 3 dimensional, but it wouldn’t stand on its own. I could tell that Daddy was in a mood or maybe he had a few cocktails. Now he broke out the fishing line. His plan was to tie one end to the tail and the other end to the back of my costume, which he did in a fast fashion. I now had me a state of the art moving cattail that actually swayed with my walk. (Remember the lion’s tail in the Wizard of Oz) I was ready to go “Trick a Treating” in my now daddy designer store bought costume.


    Our first stop was great! I got lots of compliments on my costumes and plenty of candy. I really made a haul. Daddy even got a beverage to go. As the evening went on my brown bag got heavier. According to Daddy my “Trick a Treating” was just about over, which wasn’t good news, but heck I was a little tired from all of the walking with my tail swaying. We must have visited at least 10 houses. Our last stop had the noise of a barking dog in the background. I was a little afraid of dogs, due to the fact that one of our neighbor’s dog had bitten me once before. I approached the door with caution. The dog was really barking at this point. When the door opened I saw the dog, which didn’t appear to be that large, but it sure had a big mouth. Some how after the owner told me that the dog didn’t bite it escaped heading right for me. (I’m sure I looked like a small deer in headlights!) Of course I did what any seven year old dressed like a cat would do I ran with tail swinging in tow. The dog lunged and became attached to my tail. This as you can imagine slowed me down a bit. I could see my father running toward me, but it seemed as though he was in slow motion. At this point the tail ripped off, but unfortunately the fishing line didn’t break. So now I had the latched dog in tow. Things couldn’t get much worst. I had dropped my brown bag and now had a dog attached to my tail. I finally met up with my father and he immediately picked me up leaving the small dog still hanging. The dog owner apologized as he removed the dog from my tail. The rest of the story is easily figured out, we went home. However the candy haul for this particular house was unbelievable. I guess the bottom line is that you pay for what you get. In this case a little entertainment goes a long way. The moral of this story is a simple one. “So-called cotton was made to stuff only into the cracks of wooden boats and fishing line is made for fishing not tail tying. Any alterations can certainly change the course of an evening.”



    Captain Kathy Brown is having a little Halloween fun with Chuckey’s Cousin Dickey! What does Dickey like to eat? Lots of noses and ears!


    No Tricks or No treats just some darn good exotic can goods!




    Way back in the good old days while on the pickle isle in Lester Claxton’s Wilmington Island grocery store The Piggly Wiggly I was approached by an older women. She asked, “Are you Captain Sherman Helmey’s child?” I replied, “Yes!” And then she said, “I have a funny story to tell you! While I was taking my grand children Trick a Treating last night I stopped by your father’s house to let my grand’s knock on his door. Your father answered with a smile on his face. I could tell he was complimenting the children on their costumes. I watched as he carefully dropped candy in their bags. I heard them thank him and watched as they came down the steps with their heavy bags. Heck I thought, what did Captain Helmey give them? Must have been all of his candy? Well, as it turned out your father didn’t have any candy. Apparently he had eaten it or forgot to purchase it. However, my grandchildren did not walk away empty handed. As soon as they got back to the car they showed me their unusual haul while sporting big smiles. He had dropped 2 cans of Vienna sausage and sardines in each bag. Since the kids weren’t ever allowed to eat such stuff, this gift was as popular as the candy! Heck, one child remarked, its exotic food. Now, where in the world they got that word from I will never know! And I just wanted you to know that your father was a hit with my grandchildren!”


    I am so happy that her grands got the good stuff, because I had already been told by another lady that her children had gotten a can of corn and stewed tomatoes. The fact of the matter is she was serving corn and tomatoes for dinner! Now you know for sure that Halloween wasn’t just about getting dressed up at my house it meant much much more! So therefore, if you run out of candy, just open up your kitchen cabinets, and pick out some exotic can goods! Because we already know from past experiences this can work to someone’s advantage! Happy Halloween!




    Thanks for reading! Captain Judy





    Happy Halloween!