Halloween mysteries demystified!

Preparing balloons for the 1950 Anaheim Halloween Parade.

Want to get into the Halloween spirit a little early this year? Historian Stephanie George will share the story of Anaheim’s Halloween Festival at the Orange County Historical Society’s meeting this Thursday, Oct. 11, 7:30pm, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The event is free to the public, and YOU are invited.

Once called the "biggest Halloween celebration west of the Mississippi," the Anaheim Halloween Festival began in 1924 and grew to capacity crowds in the late 1950s, with estimates of more than 150,000 people traveling from all over the Southland to attend this wildly popular event. These days, the Anaheim Fall Festival & Halloween Parade bears only a slight resemblance to its predecessor, but rest assured, Thursday's presentation will conjure up the sprites, hobgoblins, and broom-toting witches of the past.

The Space Age invaded the Kiddie Parade at the Festival in the 1950s.

You'll be spellbound in discovering the Festival's disputed origins, bewitched by the Slick Chicks, and howling after learning who was behind the ousting of Steve Allen, the 1970 parade's grand marshal. Eek! Finally, the unexplained will be explained as Anaheim's long, Spooktacular tradition is explored.

Stephanie George, an Anaheim native, is the archivist at the Center for Oral and Public History at CSUF, as well as the recording secretary for the Orange County Historical Society, president of the California Council for the Promotion of History -- and second place costume contest winner at the 1962 Anaheim Halloween Festival Pancake Breakfast.

The Halloween Parade passes through the heart of Downtown Anaheim in 1928.

Members of the Anaheim Historical Society and the current Anaheim Fall Festival organizing committee will also be attending this OCHS event. Costumes are welcomed, but not mandatory.