Victorian HalloweenNo. 5804 · The 2026 edition
A Very Victorian Halloween
Step back in time to a spooky Victorian-era Halloween.
Our own summary of the original — the full post and photos live at ameliaearhartmuseum.org.
Discover how Halloween was celebrated during the Victorian era, from eerie games to ghostly tales.
About this
A short museum blog post from the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum exploring how Halloween was observed in the Victorian era, particularly in Atchison, Kansas. It covers the holiday's Scottish folklore roots, the rowdy pranks of young men, the love-divination rituals practiced by young women, and the party games that mixed romance with risk. Newspapers from 1872, 1880 and 1881 are cited as sources.
Facts from the original
- Halloween, All Hallow Eve or All-Saints Eve was celebrated with apprehension by property owners and admiration for optimistic lovers.
- Party games and tricks ran rampant through normally calm and collected Victorian towns.
- Halloween was viewed in the Victorian era as a Pagan holiday not recognized by the church, but Victorian youth would not be put off.
- A newspaper in 1872 wrote that the origins of Halloween arose from Scottish folklore.
- The tradition of carving vegetables such as turnips originated from Scottish folklore.
- Traditions arose that encouraged young women to take part in rituals to discover the identity of their future husbands.
- Many Victorian newspapers in Atchison thought Halloween was a celebration for young folks to run amok.
- Young men on Halloween night would spend the dark hours terrorizing properties around town.
- Fences were a popular victim on Halloween nights, often being fully destroyed and removed in a single evening.
- An 1881 account from Atchison describes a group of boys overturning many outhouses around town, resulting in arrests and fines.
- Property damage became so severe that several newspapers wrote of the poor influence Halloween had on the youths of America.
- Young women took part in more supernatural habits while young men conspired their tricks.
- Victorians held the belief that Halloween was the one night a year a young woman could see the face of her future husband.
- One love ritual was eating an apple while staring into a mirror.
- Another love ritual was plucking weeds from the ground to examine the dirt.
- Another love ritual was twining rose stems together and placing them beneath one's pillow.
- Some single young people tested bowls of water for cleanliness.
- Single young people in the Victorian era were desperate for love and would use any excuse to spend time with other youths.
- Party games were a popular pastime for Victorian youths and combined both whimsy and danger.
- One popular game involved tying both an apple and a lit candle to a stick on the ceiling, spinning the stick rapidly while party goers took turns jumping for the apple without using their hands.
- Results of the apple-and-candle game varied from getting a healthy chomp of apple to a burnt eyebrow or two.
- More reserved guests might instead bob for apples in a tub of water.
- One party game combined the young men's need for tricks and the young women's drive for romance.
- In that game, young women would travel to a dark unlit basement while the young men closed, and sometimes locked, the doors as the women looked for the face of their future husbands in the dark.
- It was left to chance whether the women would see the shadow of their future husband and whether the men would unlock the cellar doors to let them back upstairs.
- Halloween of the Victorian era was made up of a combination of superstition and the restlessness of youth.
- The history and traditions of Halloween can be ascertained from property damage and from predicting one's future through nuts in a firepot.
- Endnote 2 cites the Atchison Daily Patriot, Atchison, Kansas, Saturday October 30, 1880.
- Endnote 4 cites the Atchison Daily Patriot, Atchison, Kansas, Saturday 30, 1880.
- Endnote 5 cites the Sunday Morning Call, Atchison Kansas, Sunday November 6, 1881.
- An image caption identifies a turnip jack-o'-lantern, 1943, from the National Museum of Ireland.
- An image caption shows a Halloween greeting card depicting a young woman seeking her future husband, from Public Domain Review.
- An image caption shows a Victorian woman wearing a celestial witch costume, from The Victorian Historian.
From the original
In the Victorian era, Halloween — also called All Hallow Eve or All-Saints Eve — was a night that property owners dreaded and hopeful romantics adored, as party games and pranks overtook ordinarily orderly towns. The holiday was regarded as a Pagan observance the church did not recognize, and an 1872 newspaper traced its origins to Scottish folklore, including the custom of carving vegetables such as turnips into lanterns. Much of the mischief came from young men, who spent the dark hours vandalizing neighborhoods; fences were frequently torn down entirely, and in one 1881 Atchison account a group of boys tipped over many outhouses and were arrested and fined. The damage grew serious enough that newspapers lamented Halloween's bad influence on American youth. Young women, meanwhile, pursued supernatural matters, since Victorians believed Halloween was the single night a girl could glimpse her future husband's face. Methods were plentiful: eating an apple while gazing into a mirror, pulling weeds to inspect the soil, twisting rose stems together and sleeping on them, or testing bowls of water for cleanliness. When unchaperoned youths gathered, games blended whimsy and danger — a spinning stick hung an apple beside a lit candle while guests jumped for the fruit hands-free, risking burnt eyebrows, and the timid bobbed for apples in a tub. In one darker game, young women searched a dark basement for their future husband's face while young men locked the cellar doors. Halloween, the author concludes, was a mix of superstition and youthful restlessness, from property damage to reading futures in a firepot of nuts.
More photos
Photos hosted by ameliaearhartmuseum.org.
