My favorite Halloween decoration was in Biddeford, Maine. The road from Fortune's Rocks runs up to a T-intersection with a stop sign. Across the intersection on an open lawn is one gravestone, for a real grave. One year my friend's daughter carefully crafted a scarecrow and leaned it against the gravestone. The scarecrow sat there for the week leading up to Halloween. Then, on Halloween night she pulled it in, dressed in the scarecrow's clothing, and took its place. As cars pulled up to the intersection she carefully timed it so that, as they pulled away, she moved. The look on her face as she told the story was impressive. It was a great Halloween trick.

For myself, last year, I dressed in normal street attire but I wrapped a rag around my head and over one eye. I liberally doused the rag with red food coloring. Then I walked around the neighborhood saying to children in a very reasonable voice, "Excuse me, but, I've lost my eye. Is it in your bag?" It was great fun. The smaller kids would hold out their bag for me to look in and the older kids wanted me to prove that I really had lost my eye.