The Commercialization of Halloween, Part Three: A Mini-Essay

     This mass commercialization of Halloween, however, has also found its detractors, chiefly among the religious segments of society. Religious decries against Halloween can be seen as early as the nineteenth century, with Arthur Cleveland Coxes’ 1846 text denouncing its paganistic practices: “Instead of the profane rites by which it has been desecrated, I have supposed it observed in Christian homes, by fire-side tales and recollections of the departed, and conversations about the state of Intermediate Response.”[1] While the sentiments of Coxes have been a longstanding and inseparable factor in the United States’ observance of Halloween, they have grown more vocal as capitalism propels the holiday further into mainstream society, with many Protestant Evangelical churches, the Seventh-Day Adventists among them, boycotting it and launching counter events, from fall festivals to trunk-or-treat parties, that strip the holiday of its perceived pagan elements and interject strong Christian morals (interestingly, members of the Buddhist and Jewish faiths, because they view Halloween as a purely secular celebration, do not share the same negative reactions).[2] The sharpest and most controversial response, in turn, comes in the form of the Hell House, a spiritually based haunted house manufactured by the Pentecostal Abundant Life Christian Center in Arvada, Colorado, and, akin to the haunted-house-for-charity model sold by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce in the 1970s, peddled to churches throughout the nation. In sharp contrast to the ghosts and monsters of the traditional haunted house, Hell Houses employ a bevy of realistic scenarios – “hav[ing] abortions, driv[ing] drunk, contract[ing] AIDS, or, in a few churches, wear[ing] trench coats and shoot[ing] fellow students” – that questionably draw on real fears to proselytize Christina-based messages of transgression and redemption.[3]

Works Referenced

Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt. A Halloween How-To: Costumes, Parties, Decorations, and Destinations. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 2002.

Coxe, Arthur Cleveland. Halloween: A Romaunt, with Lays, Meditative and Devotional. Hartford, CT: H.S. Parsons, 19845.
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[1] Coxe, 64.
[2] Bannatyne, 243-244.
[3] Bannatyne, 244.