People have shared their horror over Halloween costumes from the 1930s, with many agreeing that they’re far creepier than today’s store-bought outfits. A haunting photo captures a group of youngsters adorned in homemade paper-mâché masks, crafted with their parents for the fearsome festivities on October 31.
From animal get-ups like cats and elephants to bizarre human visages, these eerie ensembles have stirred quite the reaction online. Reddit users couldn’t hold back their shock at the children’s handiwork, as one said: “I mean, if the aim is to look frightening, this definitely is a good job.”
A second said: “When they actually wanted to scare the mean winter ghosts.” Fascinated by the DIY aspect, a third commented: “Super interesting to know back then you couldn’t really buy costumes so many of these are homemade.” Another said: “I’m definitely peeing the bed tonight.”
Revealing more about the masks themselves, another Reddit user claimed: “I was at an auction one time and some of these paper-mâché masks came up for sale. They were made from newspaper and you could still see the dates visible on the inside of the masks to verify their age. I believe the two or three masks they had were around 100 years old.
“They all went for an excess of $200 apiece. If you think about it things like this really don’t survive most times. It’s kind of amazing to see them nowadays but they were really beautiful masks you can tell a lot of time was put into them. “
A final user said: “These are significantly cooler than 99% of the store-bought bulls**t kids have been dressing up in for Halloween for the last 20 years. I also bet these would look amazing in colour. This group of kids in these costumes was likely very, very colourful and fun… the black and white, grainy nature of old photography has a pretty harsh effect.”