Hobgoblins and Witches Have Enlivened Capital in Halloween History
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Hobgoblins and Witches Have Enlivened Capital in Halloween History The old Van Ness mansion, site of the Pan-American Union Building. One of the many to- Tunnicliff’s Hotel, southwest corner of Ninth street and talled haunted houses of Washington. Pennsylvania avenue S.E., where patrons are said to have heard strange noises. and of being rescued by your fu- home of Judge Advocate Gen. Beliefs Possessed will In Ii Supernatural Many ture wife or husband, whom you Joseph Holt 1857. was Judge see as distinctly as though viewed Holt who insisted upon a death sen- with waking eyes. tence for Mrs. Surratt, and he is Who Also Feared Flaunted FFomes Here In another old book called "Ye believed by some to have been in a Mysteries of Ye Wytche Craft’’ measure to blame for her execution. there is given a charm "by which a Remorse, we are told, caused him to Old Customs of This Season Preserved maid may know if ye man she return occasionally to this earth loves be true." To perform this the after he had been transported to Through Ages, With Practices Designed maid is directed to “pluck at mid- realms elsewhere. Other houses on night on Allhalloween two monthly New Jersey avenue to the south of To Forecast Selected Persons’ Future roses with long stems, naming one the Holt house are declared to have for herself and the other for her been visited by supernatural beings By John Clagett Proctor. “It was said that in the olden the boys on the outside, for their lover. She must then go directly also. times all the spirits, both of the games were always too rough for the to her sleeping room without speak- However, when ground was Little Orphant Annie's came to our visible and invisible on this one beside broken In a house to stay. world, girls. ing to any and, kneeling 1871, for building to eve walked the earth. All devils the stems of house the Coast and An1 wash the run* an' saucers ud. an’ Applp Bobbing. her bed, must twine Geodetic Sur- the crumbs away. brush and witches are believed to be A very popular pastime at parties the two roses together and then vey, an old abandoned sewer was An' shoo the chickens off the porch, abroad and the fairies are said to repeat the following lines, mean- discovered. It led down to the an' bust the hearth, an' sween. was bobbing for apples. A wooden hold carnival. It is for this while the rose river and was with An' mak* the tire, an' bake the bread, high gazing intently upon swarming rats tub was used the an' earn her board-an'-keep. reason that youths and maidens generally for pur- named for her lover: of unusual size, and no doubt this the An' all us other children, when endeavor to peer into the future pose. (Of course, this was in the had much to do with the noises the suoper thines Is done. and obtain some forecast of their "Twine, twine and intertwine, people of the neighborhood at- We set around the kitchen Are an* has days before metallic, stationary the mostest fun matrimonial prospects. Nuts, ap- Let my love be wholly mine. tributed to ghosts. Just when this wash tubs were generally used and A-ltst'nin’ to the witch tales 'at Annie ples and cakes are used in these If his heart be kind and true, sewer was built along this avenue tells about. when nearly every family used the mystic ceremonies and a great deal Deeper grow his rose's hue.’ no one seemed to know, but its Gobble-uns 'at Kits you wash tub for bathing for An' the of fun and amusement is derived purposes, discovery and filling in had the tt you the Saturday night bath was then Don't from the signs and omens obtained. “If her swain be faithful the color effect also of doing away with the Watch looked upon as a necessity, as was The boys, as soon as darkness sets of the rose representing him ■will bad spirits that at times annoyed Out! i the rain barrel, from which water in. begin their celebration, and by grow darker and more intense." the guests of the old Varnum Hotel, Indeed, there are just as many 1 for bathing purposes was obtained • I mysterious noises on the window- where, when it was known as Con- However, the stems were taken from Walnut Ceremony. goblins today as there were in Little panes, the ringing of doorbells and rad <fc McMunn’s, Thomas Jeffer- the apple and pieces of wooden Of all the Halloween Annie's and the time then running away before they can many spells son went to be sworn in as Presi- Orphan day. on either side. be answered, they have a good deal toothpicks placed and charms associated with nuts, dent in March, 1801. Whitcomb who wrote of James Riley, of Then the girls and the boys dived fun. whatever enjoyment their one of the oldest is that which pre- and even cen- for the Experiment Failed. this beautiful poem, victims may be able to extract from apples—the advantage in favor of the one vails in some of England's northern turies before that celebrated Hoosier this form of obse -ving the vigil.” always being Another house where Thomas Ls with the longest tongue. Some- r\ «»«.<.*>* counties, and which Is to the effect came on and are Back in | resided, at 8ixth and N poet earth, they times the would not take strep | girls part that if a young man or woman will Just as grotesque and diabolical now Indeed, spirits tnd devils and in this sport, because they were Snow's northwest corner avenue and Sixth said to have been S.W., was years ago given a br Tavern, of Pennsylvania street, at on Halloween to a afraid would their hair go midnight as ever, and just as destructive, too. witches and sorcery existed in the they get wet, frequently visited by Beau Hickman, and by his ghost after his death. name by people who believed and some other diversion was se- walnut tree and walk around it And one of the things they do. out minds of the people as far back as communing with spirits. After beir lected. t three times, crying out each time not even a kid can get history and tradition go. In the I and three saucers were used. Into one from the time she entered the room <or hen that is to be vacated by Mr. Law it was of which j An amusing trick was sometimes then cutting the letters apart “Let him my occupif Second Book of Moses it them in a vessel of water. was a until Ard the next morn- true love me some walnuts,” Any pleasure is marking up of j we find played by the use of two plates, one placing placed gold ring, indicating morning. bring by Richard Bland Lee. uncle of Get The letter that came to the top first marriage: in another ashes, signi- ing, if the dream pleased her, she the future wife or husband will be houses and store windows with chalk said: “Thou shall not suffer a witch of which was smutted or marked on Robert E. Lee, and later E. C and in the third told and if it the tree its fruit, i by a table was the initial of the future hus- fying early death, probably even-body, seen in gathering costs the to live.” we will recall, i the bottom and placed on Wheeler. According to an old ac- and soap, which annually Shakespeare, band or water, denoting single blessedness. did not she undoubtedly kept it to It is said that if a young woman in a dark room. The other, a clean wife. count in The Star a has Hamlet to his father's German mu- owners of property here thousands talking \ The apple-paring test is an ex- The one whose fate was to be de- herself. stands before a mirror as the bell one, was placed on a table in a sician once tried to allay the gho' and should be ghost, and it is the to find old one. The paring of the termined in this way was blind- In an old book entitled “Ye True tolls midnight she wall see the figure of dollars to remove exception room where there was a dim light. tremely with piano music all night, but sig- is removed in one and folded and turned around three Arte to Read Ye Future" is the of her future husband. an early writer who did not place This trick was usually played on apple piece nally failed and left inglorious!'. prevented. head three times before being permitted to some or man who wanted then thrown about the following: “If a maid would know There are several ways suggested But since this The Star confidence in the supernatural. boy young building was close to Some years ago print- times behind the one make a choice. While this was go- name of man she is to informa- his fortune told, and, to accomplish and-riropped ye ye marry for getting the foregoing the river, rats no doubt were to one occasion, in our own the saucers also ed an editorial along the lines of Upon doing the when it will form ing on. positions of the let her on Allhallow even steal out as before a mir- what was intended, he was first whirling, tion.