Frightened to death by a Halloween 'False Face'

Growing up in the north of Ireland in the 1970s and 80s, my Halloweens were full of apples, whether bobbing for them, eating them in apple tarts with a 5p coin hidden inside, or trying to catch them as they swung on a piece of string. We also had monkey nuts, sparklers, indoor fireworks and false faces. We weren't allowed to go trick or treating but there was usually a bonfire in the area to visit on the night itself. I wonder how many of these games or treats are still a feature of the modern, commercial version full of pumpkins and literal tubs of sweets?

The term 'false faces' is one that I never hear these days. These masks seems to be more associated with Scottish Halloween celebrations but were certainly a feature in Ireland too. The faces I remember were usually comically grotesque demons or witches. Maybe they're too frightening for modern children! We'd pick ours out from local shops days in advance and hang them up ready to wear on the day itself. I guess the disposable plastic use wasn't great but they were cheap and funny before they quickly tore. Then it was on to the slightly disappointing, strangely coloured indoor fireworks and drawing letters in the night air with our sparklers...

We were a little on the impoverished side in those days of high unemployment and regular redundancies but my parents still made the best efforts to give us Halloweens to enjoy.

The fact that false faces could be on the scary side is underlined by the below 1845 report of an incident in Glasgow when a boy was reportedly 'frightened to death' by one! Poor James Forsyth...

Report from the Glasgow Examiner in November 1845, as featured in the Nonconformist (Public domain image via the British Newspapers Archive)

Another interesting mention of false faces from the public domain archive comes from this 1885 account in a publication called Colonies and India. Scotsmen, it says, will be glad to hear that the South Australian Caledonian Society held their Hallowe'en festival with a large number of guests for whom the requisites were provided - apples, nuts, green kale, false-faces, pumpkins (for turnips). 


Okay, so the green kale is a new one for me but otherwise the article speaks of familiar traditions still associated with my own Hallowe'en celebrations a century later.

I can't afford to buy the image for use but I think I can legally point you to this Getty Images search result for something similar to the false faces I remember.

How did you celebrate Halloween in the 1970s and 80s? Add in the comments below.



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