Halloween on Long Island and NYC through the years

Jean Irmscher, left, dressed as Death Destiny, talks to her daughter Kristine, dressed as a leprechaun, at the St. James Halloween Parade on October 30, 1988.

Nicole Apton, Elisabeth Apton, Jackie LeDoux, Becky Otis and Laura Harrington go trick-or-treating on Tulip Grove Drive in Lake Grove on Halloween, 1978.

Paul Wicks, 13, of St. James helped to set up the Halloween display at Wicks Farms on September 21, 1990.

A "monster" from an Oyster Bay "horror house" tries to frighten a trick-or-treater on October 31, 1989.

Jimmy Garvey, 9, of the Pulaski Road School in East Northport, at the school's Pumpkin Patch Celebration on October 25, 1991.

Hundreds of trick-or-treaters including the Sassone family of Stony Brook, from left, Mary and Joe with Daniel, 2, visit the Stony Brook Village Center on Oct. 31, 2000, when most of the merchants were handing out goodies to all the little ghosts and goblins.

Whitney Pierre, 4, and from the Dryden Street School in Westbury, picks out a pumpkin on a class trip on Oct. 28, 2000, to the Hicks Nursery in Westbury.

Children participate in a Halloween parade on Oct. 31, 1998, at the Nassau County Museum of Art.

Jalisa Feaster, 4, of Wyandanch dressed as a princess for Halloween on Oct. 31, 1998.

Dorothy Bell, 85, a retired teacher from the West Islip school system, talks with a group of kids from St. Peter's by-the-Sea school in Bay Shore about Halloween on Oct. 13, 1995.

The Brooklyn Children's Museum's Monster Mash, 1994.

Costumed children at Tullamore Park in Garden City in 1994.

Rebecca Pickell, then 10, laughs at her father Ken Pickell, who chose a Bob Hope mask for a 1993 party.

John Franklin is at the wheel of his 1939 Buick hearse, his wife Lori wears a Miss America sash, and their friends join them for this 1993 photo.

Lauren Goodwin, then age 2, listens to a ghost story the Babylon Yacht Club 1993 Halloween party.

Nick Mazza of Floral Park, then age 9, holds up a Beavis and Butt-Head mask on Oct. 14, 1993. He chose to wear Butt-Head for Halloween.

Paul Blum, owner of Abracadabra, a costume magic and novelty shop, displays some of his best-selling masks in New York City, 1992.

Tony Freeman, then age 2, of Glen Cove gets his face painted at the Make-A-Wish Foundation Metro New York's Halloween Party in Oyster Bay, 1992.

Sean Flynn of Garden City, then age 4, dressed as Thomas the Tank Engine, which won for most original costume in the 1992 Halloween party at Tullamore Park.

Two girls run from Dracula, Marco Destefano, at the House of Horrors Hampton St. School Halloween party, 1991.

A jack-o'-lantern modeled after a personal computer, 1991.

Jodi Baldassano, of New Hyde Park, then age 11, wears a windmill costume as she marches down Jericho Turnpike in 1990.

Julia Schulman, dressed as a recycling plant, won the Macy's Halloween Spooktacular Costume contest in 1990.

Students from PS 182 dressed in their Halloween costumes in Jamaica's Rufus Kings Park in 1990.

Alexandra Krummenacker, then 20 months old, adjusts her mop of yarn hair as she waits in her potato sack costume in Glen Cove in 1989.

Kaye Glidden sports her Halloween makeup sitting on the No. 6 subway, 1989.

Ranser Rick Garcia as the headless horseman in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 1988.

Nicole Turturro, then 6, dressed as a gift, leads her mother Laurie Turturro, cat, and little sister Casondra Turturro, then age 4, who is dressed as dice in the 1988 St. James Halloween parade.

Nicole Anderson, then age 5, and 'The Great Packer Pumpkin' cross Madison Ave. in 1988.

Rick Garcia dresses as a headless horseman for Halloween in this 1988 photo.

Aelysche Maher, then age 12, Kenny Maher, 6 and Kerry Maher, 9, dress up as a box of Q-Tips for the 1988 St. James Halloween parade.

Stephen Castagneto

Joseph Janisch, dressed as a pirate, at the 1988 Halloween parade in Levittown.

V. Richard Haro

Kirsten Bond of St. James, then age 1, dressed as a shaggy dog at the 6th annual St. James Halloween parade in 1988.

A shot from the 1986 Halloween parade in Manhattan.

Eric Fabiano of Valley Stream, then 6, as Kermit the Frog gets the business from his sister, Stacey, then 9, in this 1982 photo.

Brothers Michael and Anthony Robson, then age 8 and 7, on their trick or treat rounds dressed as Batman and King Kong, in Queens Village, 1977.

Stacy Wagner of Levittown, then age 7, dressed as Minnie Mouse in a 1976 Halloween costume contest.

Leonard Feldman, owner of Hempstead Flag Co., wears a Richard Nixon mask in 1974.

Ferne Tita, owner of House of Costumes, holds up Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon masks on Oct. 18, 1974.

Michael Bettis, then age 4, poses in the mummy costume his mother made him for Halloween in 1974.

House of Costumes window display in Mineola, 1974.

Watching the 1973 Ralph Osgood Elementary School parade in Kings Park are Christopher Antonello, then age 2, Shannon Ciago, 1, and Barbie Natale, 3.

Christine Harlambou of Farmingville, then 3, and her dad Larry Haralambou in a 1972 photo.

A decorative witch hangs from a wire over a fruit and vegetable stand run by David F. Wicks on North Country Road in Smithtown on Oct. 13, 1966.