See How People Used to Celebrate Halloween

  • Children celebrate at a Halloween party in New York City circa 1940.
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  • A young boy and girl crouch and bob for apples on Halloween circa 1935.
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  • Blindfolded children search for a candle to try to blow it out in an old Halloween tradition circa 1900s.
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  • First lady Betty Ford greets costumed school children on the White House South Lawn on Oct. 31, 1974 in Washington D.C. during a Halloween benefit for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.
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  • A boy wears a knight costume.
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  • A Halloween festival held in Anaheim, Ca., on Oct. 20, 1962.
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  • Children parade through Central Park in New York City on Oct. 30, 1966.
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  • Participants in the 10th annual Halloween Parade in New York, Oct. 31, 1983.
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  • Second-graders pick their pumpkins during a class outing Oct. 19, 1984, at a farm next to their school near Doylestown, Pa.
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  • 07 Oct 1930 --- Children carve their own pumpkins for Halloween on Oct 7, 1930.
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  • A boy carves his pumpkin for Halloween circa 1900s.
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  • A young boy looks at a lit jack-o-lantern that he helped carve for Halloween, New York, 1949.
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By TIME Photo
October 31, 2014 9:00 AM EDT

Classic Halloween traditions like dressing up and carving pumpkins have been around for a while — much longer than sexy lobster costumes and deep-fried pumpkin space lattes. Here, check out how kids and adults in decades past celebrated the year’s spookiest day.

Contact us at letters@time.com.

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