Jack-o'-lanterns aren't just for October. Glenn Roush of Riverdale keeps his collection of pumpkins and other Halloween novelties on display year-round.
They're not just novelties. As befitting a former antiques dealer, the 50 or so items in his curio cabinet conjure up memories of old haunts -- many of them decades old, one more than a century old.
Roush didn't plan on this gathering of iconic knickknacks. He began collecting vintage Halloween decorations in the mid-1990s because "my wife had seen an article in Country Living magazine and said we should find a few items for Halloween."
"A few items" turned out to be 150, but that number has since been pared down. The collection is kept in a glass display cabinet so dust doesn't gather on the delicate papier-mache, paper pulp and cellulose items.
He owns two large paper-pulp lanterns, popular from the 1930s to 1950s, one in the shape of a pumpkin and the other resembling the head of a black cat. The cat's eyes and mouth are lined with tissue. Traditionally, candles were placed inside to illuminate the lanterns, although later versions were battery- operated.
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