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During a recent road trip, we happened upon the Castle Halloween Museum and Shop in Benwood, WV, near Wheeling. Now, if you’ve ever been to Wheeling, it’s unfortunately exactly as you remember it. It’s the only place we know of where you can still buy a house for $5,000. The population actually declined from 1990 to 2000. ‘Nuff said?
However, a mere five miles away is Castle Halloween, home of the Halloween Queen, Pamela Apkarian-Russell and her husband, Chris Russell. Things began to look up! It was a misty, overcast day, with periods of gentle, steady rain which muffled the sound of coal trucks lurching by. If you’ve ever been trapped behind one in traffic, you’ll know why coal trucks are not our favorite vehicle in the world. They’re bigger, and they know it. They drive sloooowly. They spit forth chunks of coal. Nice, huh? Traffic etiquette is not their forte.
The Halloween Queen, a noted authority on Halloween memorabilia, resides in the old Boggs Run Elementary School at 577 Boggs Run Rd. in Benwood, WV 26031. Call (304) 233-1031 before you go, to make sure someone is home that day. One of the Halloween Queen’s endearing qualities is that she has the largest collection of Halloween postcards in the world. She has funeral ornaments, folk art face jugs — a woman after my own heart! — and antiques and collectibles. A notable copper sculpture on a coal shute door must have frightened many a child over the years.
We spent hours browsing in the postcard shop and came away with some great finds, including the c. 1915 patriotic Canadian silk postcard seen below. You can learn more about silk postcards on our reference page, in the postcard history section.
And then alas, it was time to wend our way east, bearing in mind the saying underneath the neon Halloween pumpkin, “Never confuse hospitality with endurance.” Enjoy browsing the Halloween postcards at our website.
Read about the search for an old postcard for a dying man.
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