Harmon’s Histories: Dead cats tied to door knobs? No more Halloween hijinks!

Jim Harmon

It was the day before Halloween, October 30, 1908, and Major Sylvester of the Washington D.C. Police was fed up!

He ordered his officers to “repress hilarious gaiety!”

Enough with “dead cats tied to door knobs, doorbells being rung violently, while the shadowy figures of boys disappear in the gloom to some convenient place of concealment to watch for results.”

Enough with youngsters bombarding “pedestrians and residences with deceased chickens and rats...and gates being unhinged and carried away.”

Those sorts of things had been going on far too long!

One venerable inhabitant of the District told a Washington Evening Star reporter, “In the days before the Civil war, the youngsters would turn themselves loose upon the community and commit all sorts of mischievous pranks.”

“Grocery men, who (have become) wise to the game, are already putting up one-pound sacks of flour for purposes known best to the mischievous urchin class.”

For the genteel class, “provision dealers are stocking their establishments with rosy red apples, nuts, cider and other accessories to the proper celebration of the occasion.”

Then, finding an old clipping from the L.A. Herald newspaper, I became curious about the “Fey” creatures like elves, brownies and fairies.

The origins of brownie folklore take us back to English mythology. Brownies were often depicted as household helpers, performing tasks for humans in exchange for small offerings or favors.

That led me to a blog by Kimberly Quay.

“Today I’m talking about brownies! No, not the delicious baked good! The small, wrinkled, brown elves specific to Scotland.”

“Brownies,” she tells us, “are usually gentle household elves with large eyes and ears who hide during the day and do not often interact with humans. They come out at night when everyone is sleeping to perform chores, like tidying up.”

“In return for their work, they expect a gift of some sort, usually food or milk. If they do not receive an offering they are known to cause mischief in the home. They may spoil milk or break things. Some have even freed livestock.”

The only elf with which most of us might be familiar would be “Dobby” the “house elf” from the Harry Potter stories.

Elves are generally described as “small, elusive creatures known for their mischievous yet helpful nature.”

“Puck,” a figure mentioned in pre-Elizabethan literature, “embodied the qualities that would later become characteristic of brownies.”

Furthermore, the connection to ancient European folklore reveals a rich tapestry of similar beings across cultures, indicating a shared mythological landscape that influenced the evolution of the brownie narrative

Kimberly Quay, in her blog, asks, “if you want to share any information you have about my post, feel free to comment. I’d love to hear from you! Click here!