Warning: These Vintage Halloween Costumes May Give You Nightmares

We apologize in advance for what you’re about to see.

ByMichele Debczak|

Poster for a horror movie, or cute family photo from Halloween 1960? — Poster for a horror movie, or cute family photo from Halloween 1960? | Delilah Jenkins, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Modern trick-or-treating as we know it originated in North America in the early 1900s. The custom of kids in costume going door-to-door on October 31 has largely stayed the same, but the aesthetics have evolved in the last century or so. Today it’s easy to pick up a mass-produced costume from your local Spirit Halloween. The DIY Halloween looks of yesteryear were much less polished—and much more disturbing.

Below you can see photos of terrifying costumes from Halloweens past. Many of the pictures date back to the 1950s—the decade when trick-or-treating exploded in popularity following the sugar rationing of World War II. There’s something uncanny about the dead-eyed, vintage masks every kid seemed to wear in the mid-20th century. The fact that the photos are in black-and-white also adds to the horror movie vibe.

Farm Frights
Corny and Creepy
Unintentionally Terrifying Kid Costumes
A Family Fright
Scary Witches
A Haunting Horror
Beware the Bunnies ...
... Seriously, Beware the Bunnies
Mummy Mayhem

Farm Frights

This unsettling scene was captured on a farm in New Jersey in the 1910s. — Circa 1910. | Richard, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

This unsettling scene was captured on a farm in New Jersey in the 1910s.

Corny and Creepy

photo of a person covered in cornstalks — Circa the 1950s. | Richard, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

In real life, covering yourself in cornstalks probably looks very silly. In an old photograph from the 1950s, it’s terrifying.

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Unintentionally Terrifying Kid Costumes

This photo from the 1950s is further proof that children make everything creepier. — Kids in costumes in the 1950s. | David, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

This photo from the 1950s is further proof that children make everything creepier.

A Family Fright

Whatever's going on with the baby's face is just one horrifying element of this 1949 photo. — A strange sight from 1949. | Richard, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Whatever’s going on with the baby’s face is just one horrifying element of this 1949 photo.

Scary Witches

This joke group costume from 1950 comes off more terrifying than these guys intended. — From 1950. | George Pickow/Stringer/Getty Images

This joke group costume from 1950 comes off more terrifying than these guys intended.

A Haunting Horror

If we found this undated picture in a family photo album, we'd burn the whole thing. Maybe the house, too. — Nightmare fuel. | simpleinsomnia, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

If we found this undated picture in a family photo album, we’d burn the whole thing. Maybe the house, too.

Beware the Bunnies ...

Bunny costumes—just as scary on Halloween as they are on Easter. — These kid costumes are not cute. | simpleinsomnia, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Bunny costumes—just as scary on Halloween as they are on Easter.

... Seriously, Beware the Bunnies

In case that last rabbit costume wasn't frightening enough, here's one from 1955. — Circa the 1950s. | Hulton Archive/Stringer/Getty Images

In case that last rabbit costume wasn’t frightening enough, here’s one from 1955.

Mummy Mayhem

Whatever the costume in this 1935 photo is, we hate to see it. — The 1930s kept things spooky. | Imagno/Getty Images

Whatever the costume in this 1935 photo is, we hate to see it.

A version of this story originally ran in 2022; it has been updated for 2025.