A Spook-tacular Halloween Takeover

A Ten News Deep Dive: Episode 612

👻 It's a spook-tacular Halloween takeover today on The Ten News!

🎃 Ryan Nerz is here to break down the history of the holiday.

🕯️Pam and Ryan have a g-g-g-ghost story about NYC's beloved Broadway theatres.

🏚️ Plus, a look at some of the most haunted places in America!

Trick-or-Trivia: this classic candy used to have a totally different name 🌽

Resources

• https://catapult.co/stories/15-minutes-olive-thomas-follies-girl-ghost-new-amsterdam-theatre-emily-sernaker

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fAWm0L4l6A7Yv8MM6ayXxR8VnKXqGwPnjweBp0pe5a4/edit?tab=t.0

• https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/10/26/halloween-fave-10-spookily-sweet-candy-corn-facts/92767432/

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Transcript:

INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO

<SFX Owl hoots hoots hoots> (it sounds spooky in here) <SFX Door opens>

RYAN: (sings) Halloween is heeeere– Ummmm–<SFX Owl hoots or another spooky sound…> Hello? Is anyone here–

PAM: BOOOO! (loudly, her best effort to scare the crap out of him–)

RYAN: Hi Pam, nice try. Not nice enough, though.

PAM: That didn’t scare you?! I’ve been hiding in that closet for almost an hour!

RYAN: They say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in something, so maybe in another 9,999 hours you’ll be able to scare me. 

PAM: Or maybe that was just a distraction to make you think that was the big Halloween scare–

RYAN: Wait. Whut? By the way, cool Cowgirl costume. But it’s not scary. 

PAM: Nice bald cap and suit, are you…Jeff Bezos?

RYAN: Lex Luthor, actually, but good guess. There’s a lot of Supermans and Supergirls this year, so I had to change it up.

PAM: It’ll be tough to scare an evil genius… but I’ll do my best, because I’m Pamela Kirkland.

RYAN: And I’m Ryan Willard, it’s Friday, October 31st… 

PAM: This is the Ten News Halloween Deep Dive.

PAM: So Ry, what exactly do you love about Halloween? 

RYAN: Ummm, dressing up, scaring people and being spooky, and obviously trick or treating.

PAM: Do you know how it all began? Why people dress up and go door to door asking neighbors for candy?

RYAN: Ummmm, because you get to play make believe and you get free candy? ALT: because you get free candy, by dressing up. Right? 

PAM: Alright, I think we need to look into this. Let’s go to our correspondent, Ryan Nerz to break down the origins of this spooktacular holiday. 

RYAN NERZ: When you think of Halloween, you probably think of costumes, candy and decorations. And you’re not wrong. But there’s a rich history behind why we get dressed up. In fact, Halloween is one of the world’s oldest holidays. So if you’ll travel with me now…[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC]...to way back when, many moons ago, in times of yore, you’ll find that Halloween had much weirder, darker and spooookier…beginnings. Okay. It’s the year 1200 BC. The Iron Age. We’re in the land of the Celts, a tribe that ruled parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The Celts separated the year into two parts—light and dark. Every year, as summer turned toward the darkness of winter, the Celts celebrated a 3-day pagan festival called…Samhain (SAHHH-WIN). [GHOSTLY SOUND EFFECT] The Celts thought that, during this festival, the gods actually became visible to humans. Ghosts of the dead and spirits of the Underworld would spring to life and walk among us! So the Celts wore disguises - like animal skins and animal heads - in hopes that the gods might mistake them for spirits. Hiding behind these costumes, the villagers played pranks on each other…and, of course, blamed it on the spirits. These animal skin disguises were the original Halloween costumes, and those mischievous Celtic pranks are what put the trick in trick-or-treat. Many centuries later, Pope Gregory changed the date of the Christian holiday All Saints Day—or All Hallows Day—to November 1st. The day before was All Hallows Eve, which eventually became Halloween. But, it remained a work in progress for centuries. In the 1700s, as the first waves of Irish immigrants arrived in the United States, their Halloween traditions came with them. For two centuries, American Halloween costumes stuck to their Celtic roots. The most common costumes were ghosts and goblins. [CREEPY GOBLIN SOUND] The point was to be frightening, and to make your costume from whatever you found sitting around the house. But in the 1930s, costume companies started licensing fictional characters like Mickey Mouse and Little Orphan Annie. These pop culture costumes, along with other disguises like pirates and gypsies, helped change the vibe of Halloween, from scary to just plain fun. The concept of trick-or-treating had only been around since the 1940s. And in the early days, when you knocked on your neighbor’s door, you’d be more likely to get fruit, money or toys…than candy. Candy’s dominance over Halloween didn’t take hold until the 1960s, thanks to—you guessed it—advertising. Brach’s, the world’s biggest manufacturer of candy corn, ran ads boasting that they were “goblin-approved!”  [GOBLIN CACKLING]. These days, Halloween is celebrated by millions, and it’s become big business. This year, Americans will spend over ten billion dollars on Halloween supplies. And despite the pandemic, 65% of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween…and 20% of those are gonna force the family pet to wear a costume! [DOG BARK OR WHINE] Of course, not every country celebrates Halloween. But many cultures have their own amazing end-of-summer holiday. Mexico has the staggeringly beautiful Day of the Dead. Hong Kong has the Hungry Ghost Festival. India has Pitru Paksha, and the Philippines has the tongue-twisting holiday known as…Pangangaluluwa. Whether you’re celebrating Halloween or Pangangaluluwa, you should know that this holiday isn’t just about buying costumes and getting candy. It’s about adding some magic to your day-to-day life, getting in touch with your ancestors, and celebrating the beauty of rebirth by transforming yourself—and your surroundings—into something new.   

RYAN: Alright, Ryan, that was awesome. Also, I think you  have a great name. 

PAM: Alright Ry, are you ready to get scared? 

RYAN: You’re not gonna scare me if I know it’s coming… 

PAM: Alright, we’ll take a quick break and then we’ll see.

PAM: And we’ve got more costumes from our Ten’ers!

SARUNA: My name is Saruna and I’m 10 years old. I love the podcast and I listen to it all the time. This Halloween, I’m going to be Yor Forger from the anime Spy x Family. She is a city hall worker by day but also an assassin at night, I think she is so cool and I’m so excited for Halloween. Ummmm, amazing. Saruna, I wish my costume was that cool! 

PAM: Alright we’re back, and Ry, I’ve got a little ghost story for you…Did you know that almost all Broadway theaters share a common tradition of leaving a single light on at night when the theater is empty? It’s known as the “ghost light,” and superstitious theater folk debate whether its purpose is to ward off, distract, or light the way for, you guessed it - g-g-g-ghosts! There are all kinds of stories and rumors about haunted theaters in New York City. The most notable is The New Amsterdam, which is said to be haunted by the ghost of Olive Thomas, a former showgirl from the Zeigfeld Follies - a series of productions that ran throughout the early 1900s. 

RYAN: WHAT.

PAM: Olive is such a big part of the theater’s culture, that there are pictures of her hanging near the exits and entrances, where the cast and crew traditionally blow her a kiss at night on their way out to keep her happy. 

PAM: The ghost light does actually have a more practical purpose. According to stage managers, because the edge of the stage hovers right above the drop into the orchestra pit, the light helps make sure that anyone on the stage after hours won’t accidentally fall off because they can’t see the edge.  

RYAN: Okay, that was pretty good, but I’m still not scared. I got something spookier than that. Let’s go back to the other coolest Ryan I know, Ryan Nerz who’s gonna give us a look at the most Haunted Places in America…

PAM: I don’t know what’s spookier, those haunted places or the fact there are so many Ryans here today…

RYAN: Well to balance out the Ryan’s, let’s go to our Trivia Master Owen. 

OWEN: Thanks Ryan. Candy is everywhere on Halloween, but one type of candy is more controversial than all the rest… I’m not talking about raisins, those are nature’s candy. I’m talking about CANDY CORN. But do you know what candy corn was originally called? Was it…

1. Turkey Teeth

2. Sugar Boogers

3. Tasty Triangles

4. Chicken Feed

Alright Ten’ers, did you guess it? The answer is… D! 

A man named George Rinninger invented Candy Corn in the 1880s, when he worked at the Wunderle Candy Company in Philadelphia. The Goelitz Confectionery Company, now called Jelly Belly Candy, has been making candy corn longer than anyone else. When they first produced it, it was called “Chicken Feed” and the boxes had a rooster logo and a slogan that said it was, “Something worth crowing for.” So, I hope you all enjoy your chicken feed this Halloween!

INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO

RYAN: Alright, one full Halloween episode and you still couldn’t scare me. I am unscareable. 

PAM: (sighs) You really are. I give up. Oh by the way, Everett’s coming by and wanted to show you his costume–

RYAN: Ooooh, I love his costumes, last year he was Batman…I wonder if he’s going to be Luffy from One Piece this year

PAM: There he is, hey Everett!

EVERETT: Hey Pam, hey Ry! Look how colorful I am!

RYAN: Wait… is that a–

PAM: Cool butterfly costume, Everett! 

RYAN: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (HIGH PITCHED MAN SCREAM) <SFX SPRINTS AWAY, CRASHING ABOUT>

EVERETT: Ry come back! I just want to give you a butterfly hug! 

RYAN: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

PAM: (A BEAT) I’m gonna go check up on Ryan, and while I do, here’s a quick note for the grown ups. 

<AD BREAK>

PAM: And two extra notes for the grown-ups, you can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Ten’ers Club on our website. 

RYAN: And if you want to help support the Ten News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes. The whole team thanks you for your support!

PAM: “The Ten News” is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.

RYAN: The Ten News creative team is trading their Halloween candy and includes Tracey Not a Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas, Earl I Don’t Know His Last Name and Carson Not So Harry Potter. Big thanks to Owen, Not Slowin Down for Anybody.

PAM: Our Production Director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald Albright, Albright, Albright! and show creator Tracy Takes the Leeds Kaplan. I’m Pamela Kirkland.   

RYAN: And I’m Ryan Willard, thanks for listening to the Ten News.

EVERETT: And I’m Everett, still in a butterfly costume.

RYAN: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (high pitched man scream again) <SFX Runs Away>