When Did Halloween Get So Ghastly Gruesome?

Halloween has become much more adult-driven and sexualized, according to Paul J. Donahue, a clinical psychologist and the founder and director of Child Development Associates, a group practice that works primarily with children and families in Scarsdale, N.Y. Costumes sexual in nature have become more popular.

"We're a culture of extremes," Donahue said. "We have to push things. At Halloween it becomes a competition among adults to outdo and go further and further."

At Christmastime, that could mean putting up 10,000 lights to trump the neighbor's 5,000. On Halloween, it could translate into wearing skimpier clothing or adding a bloodied, dismembered corpse to the cemetery scene in the front yard.

Adding to the ghoulishness is the fact that, just like the better artificial Christmas trees, these creepy costumes and props are becoming more lifelike every year. This is partly due to advances in technology and materials used to make Halloween paraphernalia.

John Bottomley, owner of Halloween-mask.com, said the newest masks are remarkably realistic. "I could wear one and walk up to you, and you would not know I was wearing a mask," he said.

Plenty of people argue that we all just need to lighten up and that the creep-out factor is part of the holiday's fun.

Maureen Dugan, whose birthday is on Halloween, has lived all over the world, attending costume parties wherever she happens to be.

"It's a good release," she said. "It's an opportunity for adults to be silly and get away with it."

Dugan's front-yard decorations in Old Town Alexandria include a witch suspended in a tree, a skeleton half-buried in the garden and a cadaver on a bench out front. Rather than frightening passersby, Dugan said, the props amuse them.

"It's ghoulish, but it's just to do something silly," she said. "People look at it and laugh. A lot of people stop by and tell stories about when they were little. There's a little nostalgia."

Some child development experts caution that younger trick-or-treaters can find the increasingly gruesome props overwhelming.

"Children below the age of 7 often have a hard time distinguishing between what's real and what's not real," Donahue said. "They see someone dressed up as Dracula, and it can be very unnerving and frightening. Scary and gory images can cause a good deal of distress in young children, particularly those who are already somewhat anxious."

Time will tell whether today's children will one day be nostalgic for giant fake maggots and serial killer costumes.

"In 1910, people were wearing ball gowns to Halloween parties," Bannatyne said. "I don't think they saw an air-brushed bikini coming."