100 years ago, 1914
No Hallowe’en merrymakers of this season of 1914 had more right good fun than the Lewiston Cornroasters who gathered at the country home of Dr. and Mrs. A. N. Leonard, Dyer Road, Saturday evening. Soon after six o’clock the guests were making for the attractive country place by automobile and trolley car. Long before the farm was reached the light of the bon-fire could be seen and soon the brightly lighted farm-house was in view and one could hear the jollification within and get a sniff of the fried chicken. It was not long after the last guests had arrived before masks and sheets were brought into play, and the party took on a most ghostly appearance. The masks were in pairs and the matching of these determined partners for supper.

50 years ago, 1964
Five young Lewiston-Auburn boys in their late teens today were reprimanded by the Lewiston Municipal Court for Halloween pranks — and one of them, the driver of the car involved, lost the use of his vehicle for 30 days. The young men, although they were not formally charged, appeared before Associate Judge Harris M. Isaacson. They were accused of stealing pumpkins in the vicinity of Wellman Street in Lewiston Saturday evening. The father of the boy who drove the car involved told the court his son, an 18-year-old shoeworker, would not be allowed to use the car for 30 days. The mischief ended in a two-car collision as a neighborhood man ran into the rear of the boys’ car while chasing them.

25 years ago, 1989
(PHOTO CAPTION) Deanna Bowie, 4, of Poland, sits behind one of 125 hand-carved lighted pumpkins lining the driveway into Sonny Chipman’s farm off Range Hill Road in Poland Spring Tuesday evening. Chipman, Dorothy Coffin, Mary Jane Mitchell and Miranda Strout spent two days on the carving project and invited area residents to see the display.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be edited.