Americans love “spooky” things. While the Halloween holiday is relatively new celebration in the larger scheme of human history, the general time period surrounding all hallows eve and all saint’s day has been marked in celebration by several western European cultures since the age of paganism before Christianity dominated the continent. Halloween as it is known in contemporary times is uniquely an American celebration, and one that resembles a pinnacle American value historically speaking. Individualism, in which a person can exercise their own choices and forge their own personal identity, is embodied in the holiday when children select festive costumes to adorn in search of candy while participating in trick of treating affairs.
Modern consumerism has also influenced the holiday. Candy companies, costume retailers, interior home décor companies and exterior providers of home services and retail products have benefitted from the celebrations. Additionally, the fall harvest and pumpkin carving, baking, and apple picking that are often associated with the season and the holiday also helps farmers and agriculturists across America. On October 23rd, engineers working on Yaverland beach on the Isle of Wight in England discovered massive prehistoric dinosaur footprints believed to be millions of years old. These engineers were excavating on a beach in order to bolster natural defenses against rough and stormy weather. The footprints are believed to belong to a mantellisaurus, a 1,600 pound, 23-foot beast which moved like and possessed the feet of an ostrich.
In another recent development, divers located a ship at Whitefish Point on Michigan’s Lake Superior. The ship was a merchant vessel that sank in Lake Superior in 1940. The captain perished with the ship in the upper peninsula region of Michigan. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced the discovery through researcher Dan Fountain. The 244-foot long ship named the Arlington was discovered in 650 feet of water near the Keweenaw Peninsula. The ship encountered a storm after April 30th, 1940.
