Is Trick-or-Treating Dead?

[Jacobus]

Halloween was one of my favorite days as a kid.  We lived in a rural town in Connecticut, and we could visit nine houses within a walk's distance from ours.  Every one of these houses welcomed us as neighbors and gave us some treats.  For some neighbors, it was the only time I saw them face-to-face.

Now I've got a couple of sons and recently moved to Mason, which is a little more rural than where I grew up but comparable.  We counted six houses within a casual walk, and I was looking forward to actually meeting some of the neighbors, since I have not met any yet.

Not one of the houses answered the door.  Some of them looked legitimately vacant at the time, but at least two had people present who ignored the knock.  The fact that neighbors would ignore us and just wait for us to go away left me unsettled.

Is trick-or-treating a dead tradition, or is this unique to my neighborhood? 

[MTPorcupine3]

Answer to question: I sure hope so! And who concocted this satanic holiday, anyway?

[AntonLee]

it wasn't dead here, but everywhere else in town it seemed to be.

[dalebert]

I haven't seen ToTers in years.  I've always wanted to hand out some candy to little boys and girls.  I mean... anyway.  I didn't have any candy this year because I've bought it year after year only to have maybe one knock from ToTers that whole time and a ton of leftover candy.  Then as I was driving off to Social Sunday, saw a bunch of them walking around my neighborhood and was feeling bad because I knew Richard would be stuck having to tell them we're a bunch of curmudgeons with no candy in my house.

[toowm]

It was very active in our neighborhood, because over half the families have school-aged kids.

For our poor dog, this holiday is at the bottom of the list  - strangers/doorbells/costumes.

[MengerFan]

In my day, we skipped over that wussy candy stuff and went straight for the virgin sacrifices.

[thinkliberty]

Answer to question: I sure hope so! And who concocted this satanic holiday, anyway?

Could it Be.....

[Jim Johnson]

... and was feeling bad because I knew Richard would be stuck having to tell them we're a bunch of curmudgeons with no candy in my house.

Why?  Richard would be good at that. 

[Sam A. Robrin]

Oh, didn't I tell you?  I waved Diet Moxies at them, and they disappeared screaming down the hill...

[Jim Johnson]

I knew that you could handle it, Sam.
Dale would have had to baked them muffins while they waited.

[dalebert]

Dale would have had to baked them muffins while they waited.

Muffin crisis!

[Free libertarian]

I think Trick or Treating peaked in the 1960's.  We were never lucky enough to have any "hippies" put marijuana in our treats, so we had to wait 'til the early seventies and get our own, then we really really liked the candy.   

[dalebert]

http://www.explosm.net/comics/2221/