Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween has alliteration, but does the expression make sense? Is Halloween supposed to be happy?

Halloween seems to inspire people to decorate their lawns and steps. Only Christmas inspires people to decorate their houses more. Rensselaer has many inflatable decorations, but few as big and gaudy as the one below.
The decorations below are in the running for biggest. The witch moves up and down in the cauldron.--is she supposed to be cooking herself?
No pumpkin can grow as big as the inflatable kind.
Ghosts and black cats are icons of the holiday, as are bones. There were quite a few of the bones sticking out of the ground that you can see between the ghost and cat.
Here are more cats, pumpkins, and ghost, joined by witches. This yard had even more, but it would not all fit in one photo. And the cat moved its head.
More inflatables. The slumping figure in the back may have been a Frankenstein with bad posture.
Almost all the inflatables are lit at night, but they are a lot easier to photograph during the day.
Just as there are Christmas lights, there are Halloween lights. These are happy ghost lights in a tree with some kind of inflatable spider lurking beneath them.
Pirate-skull lights--close enough for Halloween.
I hope this groteque decoration does not scare away customers from the nail salon. (How many hair, nail, etc. salons does Rensselaer have?)
The ghosts circle may be a home-made rather than a store-bought decoration.
There are still a lot of people who set out the traditional jack-o-lantern. The two below probably were carved quite a while ago because they seem to be warping.
Why settle for two when you have a bunch of stairs to decorate?
However, when you have two trees decorated with autumn orange, you do not need to do much at all to look spectacular. One little pumpkin is all you need.
For Dessert Survivor, the best thing about a candy holiday like Halloween are the candy sales that follow.

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A few years ago a daughter-in-law who worked for the state DNR had the job of judging the Halloween decorations and costumes at the campgrounds at Prophetstown State Park near Lafayette. We went down to visit and see what she was doing, and were introduced to a whole different way of celebrating Halloween. The campground there and in the other state parks was full of campers who make this a yearly outing. A couple of the campers had displays that dwarf anything that I have seen around Rensselaer. Afterward we enjoyed a roaring campfire and smores. I took only a few pictures, and none of the displays. Perhaps some slow day I will find them an do a post on Halloween in the state park campground. It is a reminder of how many little social worlds are exist in our country.