The Essays
"The Night I Met the (Not So) Great Pumpkin"
Halloween of 1967 was the one I'll never forget. That was the year I came face to face with the Great Pumpkin! But instead of bringing toys and candy, he carried a somewhat more unpleasant surprise.
I was (and still am) an avid Peanuts fan. My room was filled with Charlie Brown books and comics; I had a complete set of Peanuts bobbleheads, and many other items which are today highly collectible. After school I was always trying to get my friends to help me reenact the adventures of the Peanuts gang. So it was inevitable that one Halloween I would spend the night in a pumpkin patch trying to catch sight of the Great Pumpkin.
We lived in Tennessee at the time, and there was a lot of farmland nearby. I knew of one pumpkin field that was fairly close, and although most of the pumpkins had already been harvested, didn't Linus say that is was the sincerity of the patch that counted? And wasn't "Peanuts" all about never giving up, even when the odds were against you? Charlie Brown and his kite, Linus and his blanket, and Lucy's hopeless crush on Schroeder were all inspirations to keep the faith.
So that year I decided instead of going trick or treating with my brother, I would emulate Linus's lonely vigil. My brother thought I was crazy, but like Lucy, promised to ask for a few extra treats for his "stupid brother who was spending the night in a pumpkin patch."
As fate would have it, one of the first places he asked was at the very house of the farmer who owned the field I was in!
"Hmmm," the farmer frowned, "I have a feeling your brother WILL see the Great Pumpkin tonight."
Meanwhile, I was warm and cozy in my sleeping bag and Snoopy sweatshirt as I sat in the pumpkin patch that cool autumn night. It must have been around 10:00 when I heard the footsteps coming across the field. I shined my flashlight at the approaching figure and thought I was dreaming... IT WAS THE GREAT PUMPKIN WALKING TOWARDS ME! He had a jack o' lantern face and carried something I couldn't make out in the darkness. But it was HIM! I'd be famous! I'd be in the newspaper! Maybe I'd even get to meet Charles Schulz!
But my joy turned to horror when I realized what he carried was a SHOTGUN pointed straight at me!
"What in blue blazes are you doing on my property?" the farmer yelled, lifting his pumpkin mask to reveal a scowling, sun burnt face. "Don't you know you're trespassing? Now hightail it on home before I use this thing! Scoot, scat, skedaddle!!"
Needless to say, I ran like the wind, terrified the farmer was right behind me to make good on his threat.
When I got home my brother was already back, gorging himself on Sugar Daddies and M&M's. As I ran up to my room, he called, "What's the matter? Is the Great Pumpkin chasing you? Ha ha!"
Looking back, I now realize that the farmer was just a good ole boy pulling a Halloween trick of his own to tell his buddies about, and the shotgun probably wasn't loaded... But I doubt if even Charlie Brown tripping along in his contour-sheet ghost costume, or Linus being screamed at by Sally for "restitution" over her lost trick or treats, ever had a worse Halloween than the one I had the year I met the (Not So) Great Pumpkin.
Lew Seitz