Monday, October 24, 2016

Halloween is almost here, so get your head out of that pumpkin!


Time has lunged forward and we are now just days away from Allhallowtide, so I'm going to try to squeeze in as many themed posts as possible between now and then.1

This embossed vintage postcard, which has no publisher listed anywhere, contains a lot of surprises beyond just the central image of a young girl with a large carved pumpkin on her head. There is a flower with a creepy face, two different moons, stars, a ring, a witch, a candle and, of course, a black cat.

The cat has a strange and tiny winged creature sitting upon the tip of its tale. I'm not sure what's up with that. Maybe it's a tiny owl. And, of course, black cats and owls are both extreme omens of death in European folklore, so if you see these two animals hanging out together, it's pretty much a double-whammy.2


This postcard was mailed in 1911 and sent to Miss Martha Lewis, who lived in the small borough of Williamstown in northern Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. (I found some evidence of a Martha Lewis was was born in Pennsylvania in 1902 and was the child of Edward Lewis and Amelia Thresa (Minnie) Temple. Martha also appeared in a 1930 census as a resident of Williamstown.) The short note on the card states:

Hello Martha. How are you getting along.
I guess you thought I was lost.
Leda.

Footnotes
1. And, of course, you can go back and see all the awesome vintage Halloween postcards that were featured as part of Mild Fear 2015.
2. Also, while looking for answers about that Cattail Creature, I discovered these unrelated creatures of world folklore: Tailypo (Appalachia), Bakeneko (Japan), Alp (Germany), Hombre Gato1 (South America) and Pard (medieval Europe).

Secondary footnote
1. Hombre Gato would be a great name for a band.

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