Haunting Halloween Lore

Check out the chilling part coins have played in the world of the gruesome.

• Halloween is a very old holiday...but coins are older!  The first coins were probably made more than 2,600 years ago!
• Coins have a place in the graveyard!  In some countries, people put coins on the eyelids of the dead to keep the eyes closed.  Some feared that they would see their own death in the eyes if they were open.
• Ancient Greeks believed there was a ferryman who brought the dead to the underworld across the river Styx.  To make sure the dead people could pay the ferry fee, they were buried with coins in their mouths.
• Starting from back in the Middle Ages, people were worried about their loved ones coming back from the dead.  Coins were put into coffins to pay for any expenses in the afterlife and to repay any debts overlooked before the person died, hoping he or she would rest in peace—for good.  The coins were laid around the necks of the deceased with chains or ribbons, placed under the head or in the hand, made into rings, or left in bags.
• Some say they've seen ghosts of some of the famous people on coins.  Abraham Lincoln (who is on the penny) is said to haunt the White House.  The Lincoln bedroom is the room in which, they say, he foresaw his own death.
• Some also claim that Thomas Jefferson (whose picture is on the nickel) has appeared as a ghost, haunting different places in Virginia. Woooooo!

Costume Quiz

You can help the H.I.P. Pocket Change Pals get dressed up for Halloween!

Each of them has a coin clue that will help you guess his or her costume. Every time you pick the right answer, they put their costume on! Put your cursor on the coins to see the other sides.

Plinky

I picked my costume because of the Queen Isabella quarter.  Our country made this coin in 1893, 401 years after Columbus landed in America.  But since I'm too young to be a queen, I picked the costume of a ______!

  sailor
  princess
  king

1893 Queen Isabella commemorative quarter

Inspector Collector

When I picked my costume, I was thinking of the Smithsonian Institution silver dollar of 1996.  You know how I love museums!  The Smithsonian has a wonderful coin display.  It also has a great dinosaur display!  That made me think of dressing up like a ______ man.

  cave
  mail
  ice cream

1996 Smithsonian Institution commemorative silver dollar

Goldie

I like the coin that honors the people who fought in World War II.  It reminds me of the ladies who served the country back then by working in factories.  That made me want to dress up as a _____________.

  soldier
  construction worker
  fashion model

1991 World War II 50th anniversary commemorative dollar

Flip

I got the idea for my costume from my trip to France in Coins of the World.  A story by Alexandre Dumas about some brave swordsmen takes place in France in 1625...the story of the Three _________.

  Musketeers
  Little Pigs
  Bears

Bill

What got me thinking about my Halloween costume?  It was a fifty-cent coin about saving the Battlefields of the Civil War.  The coin was made to honor the brave men who fought there.  That's why I picked the uniform of a Civil War Union ________.

  cannon
  soldier
  president

1995 Civil War Battlefields Preservation commemorative half dollar

Nero

The idea for my costume came from a dollar coin.  The coin was minted in 2002 to celebrate the birthday of a school for soldiers...a military academy.  The school was 200 years old.  I guess it's natural for a guard dog to want to dress as a West Point _______.

  skater
  cadet
  ballerina

2002 West Point Military Academy 200th anniversary commemorative dollar

Peter

I love the Ohio quarter.  It shows the first airplane and an astronaut.  How far we've come since the days when only creatures with wings could fly!  Although I can fly, I can't fly into space!  So I decided to dress like an __________.

  astronaut
  airplane mechanic
  aerobics teacher

2002 Ohio quarter

Halloween Coin Purses (Instructions For Parents)

Making Halloween coin purses is a fun project you can do with your kids and a neat way to serve up numismatic niceties.

1. Print these pumpkin and ghost shapes on regular or construction paper and cut off the bottom lines.
2. Fold a piece of construction paper in half and put a shape on it with the bottom along the fold.
3. Hold the shape in place.
4. Cut the shape out along the line, but don't cut the fold.  After the shape is cut out, you can make more by tracing the shape onto the construction paper.
5. Glue along the sides, leaving an opening at the top like a coin purse.
6. Decorate the purses with crayons, markers, or more construction paper shapes.  Put a few pennies in each holder and give them as treats on October 31.