Halloween, aka All Hallows' Eve, is a celebration full of tricks or treats. This collection of old ‘spooky’ Minnesota Public Radio audio contains both.
October 31, 1981 - MPR’s Dale Connelly interviews Fred Suppe, a medieval professor at the University of Minnesota. Suppe provides details on the Celtic origin of Halloween, and its adaptation over the years.
October 31, 1984 - Carl Weschcke, a St. Paul resident and warlock, shares his personal experiences of ghosts in haunted mansion on Summit Avenue. Weschcke is president of Llewellyn Publications, one of the largest publishers of occult and New Age books in the world. Segment is followed by MPR’s Stephen Smith talking with kids about their ‘fun & spooky’ costumes for the Halloween season.
October 19, 1987 - Mainstreet Radio-Brainerd’s John Biewen presents the October Pumpkinland events at Kopischke farm, in Vernon Center. Biewen interviews farm owner Gordie and Dorothy Kopischke.
October 28, 1988 - MPR’s Jim Bickal looks at the history of Anoka beyond its reputation as “Halloween Capitol of the World.”
October 30, 1993 - MPR’s Lawrence Sutin shares ghost stories, a remembrance for the late Algernon Blackwood and also reads excerpts from ‘The Wendigo’ by H. P. Lovecraft and M. R. James’ work, ‘The Old Man of Visions’.
October 28, 1994 - On this segment of Voices from the Heartland, Minnesota writer Susan Carol Hauser reads an essay on Halloween and the “ghosts” that appear.
October 28, 1996 - For this Halloween edition of our Odd Jobs series, MPR reporter Mary Losure went out with psychic Echo Bodine on one of her ghostbusting jobs…at an ordinary house in the suburbs, where most of the ghosts were out in the backyard. If the ghosts don't feel like leaving, she also helps homeowners understand their ghosts, and learn to live with them.
October 31, 1996 - With wind chills for Halloween expected to hover near or below zero, Minnesota continues to prove in being the worst place in the world for trick-or-treaters. MPR’s Chris Roberts wondered whether this puts much of a damper on things for kids, so he sought an expert's opinion.
October 30, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio’s Bob Reha profiles Mel Nygaard and his haunted farm. The rural Moorhead farm is getting national attention for providing plenty of scares.
October 29, 2004 - Gloria Weisgram, who lives in Moorhead, recounts "scariest night of our life." She vividly remembers one Halloween from her childhood when she dared to go trick or treating at the scariest house in her neighborhood.