05.18
Children are four times as likely to be injured on Halloween than on any other night of the year. Most concerned parents have developed their own Halloween safety checklists. Based on the recommendations of the National Safety Council, the American Academy of Pediatrics, The Center for Disease Control, and the Los Angeles Fire Department, we propose the following guidelines in preparation for the holiday:
Things to do BEFORE HALLOWEEN:
1. Prepare home for trick-or-treaters by clearing porches, lawns, and sidewalks and by placing jack-o-lanterns away from doorways and landings.
2. Place lighted pumpkins away from curtains and other flammable objects, and do not leave lighted pumpkins unattended.
3. Plan costumes that are bright and reflective. Make sure that shoes fit well and that costumes are short enough to prevent tripping, entanglement or contact with flame.
4. Secure emergency identification (name, address, phone number) discreetly within Halloween attire or on a bracelet.
5. Teach children their home phone number and to how call 9-1-1 (or their local emergency number) if they have an emergency or become lost. Remind them that 9-1-1 can be dialed free from any phone.
6. Review with your children the principle of “Stop-Drop-Roll”, should their clothes catch on fire.
7. Check around your property for flower pots, low tree limbs, support wires or garden hoses that may prove hazardous to young children rushing from house to house.
8. This is also a great time to buy fresh batteries for your home Smoke Alarms.
9. Think twice before using simulated knives, guns or swords with costumes. If such props must be used, be certain they do not appear authentic and are soft and flexible to prevent injury.
10. Obtain flashlights with fresh batteries for all children and their escorts.
POPCORN BALLS
CARAMEL POPCORN BALLS
During the dark months of February though September, 1692, hysteria swept through New England, centered around the increasingly unbelievable accusations of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts. Even Puritan ministers, Cotton Mather, whose writings on witchcraft had helped to fuel the flames, and his father, Increase Mather, became skeptical of the kinds of evidence the Salem court was using to convict accused witches. The testimony of afflicted young people, who claimed to have been visited by the spirits of the accused, and by the ghosts of their victims was referred to as “spectral evidence”. They questioned the credibility of the afflicted girls, the forced confessions of witches, and the court’s reliance on spectral evidence. When heads began to clear a little from the initial hysteria, some people began to question the veracity of the afflicted. The girls, then accused anyone who voiced doubt in their testimony. In all, about 200 people faced accusations of witchcraft. Nineteen men and women were hanged on Gallows Hill that summer. An 81 year old man was pressed to death for not entering a plea in his case. As many as 17 people died in prison, awaiting trial. The nightmare ended when powerful people, including the wife of the governor of Massachusetts, publicly denounced the proceedings, and were then accused of witchcraft themselves. Governor Phipps ordered the Salem court dissolved. 
Salem was not through the dark times yet, however. Because the area was so consumed with the witch hunt, trials and executions, fields lay fallow. Very little harvest was reaped that year, leaving the town facing a long hard winter. Some relief came from the generosity of a wealthy villager who had fled Salem after being accused of witchcraft. Upon hearing of the town’s plight, he sent a shipload of corn to ease their suffering. The feud between the farming community and townspeople that contributed to the unrest had taken its toll, when people finally recognized that many of the accused were rivals or enemies of the powerful Putnam family, whose daughter, Ann, was the most dramatic of the afflicted. In 1697, it was Ann who became the only one of the afflicted girls to ever offer an apology or admit any culpability in the horror that gripped the area. She stood before her church while her apology was read, which stated: “ I desire to be humbled before God. It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time.” It is believed that Ann may have been as much a victim as those she accused, being manipulated by her parents and elders to achieve their own goals.
Salem, Massachusetts has had over 300 years to recover from the scars of these infamous injustices. How have they fared? Salem became one of the most significant seaports of early American history. It was given the very first to designation by Congress as a National Historic Site. Today, Salem is a thriving community of about 40,000 people, whose major industry is tourism. The city is a mixture of important historic sites, New Age and Wiccan boutiques, and Halloween and witch-themed attractions. In October, they host a month long Halloween festival. Touted as the “Ultimate Halloween Experience”, it will include, this year, a psychic fair, tours of haunted places in the city, featuring the “Witch House” and the House of Seven Gables, a Haunted Happenings Parade, a street fair, and the annual Halloween Ball. The popularity of the festival, and the history of the area, have inspired Salem to boast that they are the “Halloween Capital of the World”.
In Puritan households, women were totally subservient to men. It was believed that women were naturally and uncontrollably lustful, and more susceptible to temptation. It was, therefore, assumed that women were far more likely to enlist in the Devil’s service. The old adage that “children should be seen and not heard” described Puritan belief about child rearing. Girls were particularly oppressed, since toys and games were discouraged and girls were required to learn to spin, sew, cook and take care of a household. Boys, on the other hand, had the options to hunt, fish and explore the forest in their free time. 
1. You could declare your innocence. This plea was met with shrieks and convulsions of the afflicted girls, who were ensconced in the front row of the court, further incriminating you. Evidence would be brought forward by your neighbors and former friends attesting that crops failed or livestock sickened and died at your whim. The hysteria raged through the village, and new “afflicted ones” fell into fits and accused you of causing it. There was no hope. You would stand trial as a witch. The accused who were found innocent by the jury were greeted with the howls and shrieks of the afflicted, who claimed that you were torturing them right there in the courtroom. This would cause the magistrates to instruct the jury to reconsider, and the next verdict was always “Guilty”.
In the months between February and September of 1692, about 200 people were involved in the trials, either afflicted, accused, or giving evidence. Many of the accused were jailed, and even if found innocent, could not gain their freedom unless they paid for their room and board. As many as 17 people, including an infant, are thought to have died in prison during the trials.