By Mark Aldrich
One Halloween night, in 1979, I was allowed to venture on foot, in costume, and not accompanied by adults. I was 10. (Hold that thought for a second, please, while I address my mom: What!?!)
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The Martin Prosperity Institute released what it called its third “annual survey” of Halloween in America back in 2013. The Institute did not produce a fourth or any subsequent sequel to this seminal study of all things creepy, ghostly, and scary, and in 2019, the MPI closed up shop altogether. My hometown broke it, I believe, which I will explain.
The Institute’s 2013 in-depth look at the field of Halloween enjoyment, a study not seriously undertaken by most people older than eight, led to many national news articles that expressed shock at its conclusion, which was this: the best place for Halloween in the United States of America is Poughkeepsie, New York.
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