Everybody knows that it’s standard protocol in St. Louis for costumed kids to tell corny jokes in exchange for their candy on Halloween, a literal trick-for-treat exchange. Nobody knows why. One theory says that the practice dates back to Irish mummers, who performed in disguise and received rewards for sharing their talents. Some historians claim connections to Christmas traditions of yore or, at the other end of the spectrum, rituals for driving out demons. Sharon Smith of the Missouri History Museum suspects that it started with the frugal “scrubby Dutch” of South City, who wouldn’t give kids chocolate unless they earned it. Others argue that the tradition originated in Des Moines, Iowa, where jokes were added in 1939 as an appeal to innocent fun after vandals and hooligans prompted more than 500 calls to police the previous Halloween.
Most of the jokes involved skeletons or ghosts, but our favorite was one that’s been earning kids extra candy here for years: “Why don’t the Chicago Cubs have a website? Because they can’t put three W’s in a row.”
Likewise, my first Halloween night as a St. Louis homeowner was an unmitigated disaster. My wife and I bought a couple bags of candy, not realizing how popular our block was among 10-year-olds dressed as Ironman. We ran out within a few minutes, turning off our lights and hiding in shame. Even more traumatizing was the first joke we heard. I’ll spare you the gory details, but it involved several monkeys who plunged from a tree to their deaths. The next year, I bought an entire shopping cart of candy. We gave away hundreds of pieces, even though we limited each child to one–unless her joke made my pun-loving wife laugh. Then we’d let her take a handful. Most of the jokes involved skeletons or ghosts, but our favorite was one that’s been earning kids extra candy here for years: “Why don’t the Chicago Cubs have a website? Because they can’t put three W’s in a row.”
