Oct
31

Happy Halloween from the Smithsonian!

We hope you take a moment today to enjoy the sweet and spooky sentiments of the season.

Dramatically lit Castle at night
The Castle’s dramatic lighting is not supernatural, but preparation for a 2008 film shoot for “Night at the Museum.” Photo by James Di Loreto.

For most American children, Halloween is synonymous with candy, but that wasn’t always the case! When trick-or-treating started to gain traction in the 1930s and 40s, goodies might include fruit, nuts, pieces of cake, or small toys and coins. Candy manufacturers hopped onto Halloween promotions in the 1950s and packaged sweets became the go-to offering as trick-or-treating became an established tradition.

From colorful costumes to menacing monsters, the Smithsonian has plenty of tricks and treats in our collections!

 

A Halloween Horror: The Highlands’ Headless History

We’ll pretend that our motives are purely educational in publishing a ghoulish little history on Halloween. Continue reading.

Mezzotint print of Simon Fraser holding his head

“Lovat’s Ghost on Pilgramage,” William Hogarth, 1747. Published by Samuel Ireland, courtesy Cooper Hewitt Department of Drawings, Prints and Graphic Design.

Eleven collection objects giving us the creeps this Halloween

“I wants to make your flesh creep!” With apologies to Dickens, here are 11 creepy objects from the collections of the American History Museum. Continue reading.

Creepy mechanical doll

This patent model accompanied George Pemberton Clarke’s patent submission for a moving baby doll. The doll’s head, two arms, and two legs are made of plaster. The arms and legs are hinged to a brass clockwork body that imitates crawling by rolling along on two toothed wheels.

 

We wants to make your flesh creep

For some creepy Halloween fun, Rebecca Seel combed the collections of the American History Museum to uncover six common phobias—sort of a historical Fear Factor. Continue reading.

Cropped version of "The Scream" painting

Detail from “The Scream” by Edvard Munch

 

Object of the Day: Perky Little Skeletons

This seems like the perfect wallpaper for a child’s room. Especially if you’re Wednesday Addams. Continue reading.

Design showing white skeletons on blue backgroun

Wallpaper design “Skeleton” by WIlliam Justema

 

Spooked at the Smithsonian

Is that mysterious knocking sound just old pipes in an aging building? Or is the Smithsonian host to something a bit more…unnatural? Continue reading

Graphic for Sidedoor Episode

 

Haunted by tragedy…or eccentricity?

Any Castle worth its sandstone has to be at least a little bit haunted. Our own Castle has seen more than its fair share of sudden death, apparitions and things that go bump in the night. Continue reading.

Dramaticallylit Castle

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Posted: 31 October 2023
About the Author:

Alex di Giovanni is primarily responsible for "other duties as assigned" in the Office of Communications and External Affairs. She has been with the Smithsonian since 2006 and plans to be interred in the Smithson crypt.