Anoka author wrote the book on Halloween Capital of the World

Although she grew up in Oak Grove, Roxy Orcutt hasn't missed a Halloween parade in Anoka for as far back as she can remember.

The holiday is big in her family — "on par with Christmas," she says — so she naturally had an interest in the "Halloween capital of the world," as Anoka calls itself. She likes the drama of it all, but "what I enjoy most about the parade in Anoka is the strong sense of community," seeing people from all backgrounds represented, she said.

That's what motivated Orcutt, 31, who lives in Anoka with her husband and two children, to pen "History and Hauntings of the Halloween Capital," a 116-page book released by North Star Press on Sept. 1.

In it, Orcutt draws from often-repeated ghost stories, current events and her personal experiences. She'll talk about the book at the Anoka County Historical Society on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m.

Orcutt, who calls herself the Halloween Honey on her blog, sat down for an interview in advance of the event.

Q: What made you decide to write a book about Halloween in Anoka?

A: I was looking for an outlet to get out of the "mom zone" every once in a while. I'm a stay-at-home mom. The blog helped me write about what I loved and really connect with people who shared the same interests, that is, Halloween and the paranormal.

Q: How did Halloween become such a big deal in Anoka? What started it all?

A: There's a great story from a 1950s issue of the Reader's Digest about a Halloween prank in Anoka that went bad. In 1919, kids released farmers' cows that made their way into town, the jail and the school. The cows chewed on everything.

Halloween pranks were getting so out of hand that people started to arm themselves.

To put a stop to it, the townspeople said they needed to have an event on the 31st. George Green, a developer, and his business associates mounted the first city celebration in 1920. They said to the people of Anoka, 'You need to show up to this.' It did the trick, that one distraction. The first parade drew 500 people.

By 1930, you would be hard pressed to find a business or individual that didn't participate. Even in the Depression, the celebration didn't slow down. … It was suspended for two years during World War II but that's it. Now it's such a big thing that if you're not there by noon on Saturday for the grand parade, you're out of luck. You can't find a place to sit down, much less park. It's crazy.

A: The most vivid memory I have is certainly Halloween of 1991, like any good Minnesotan, and the snowstorm. My mom made me change out of my witch costume because it was too thin for the cold. I had to wear my cousin's thick jester costume, since it was warmer. He wore it the previous year. I was really annoyed about wearing a boy's costume. It was three sizes too big for me. I was flopping around in it in the snow.

Also, after we went out trick-or-treating, we were stranded at my Aunt Carla's house in Anoka for three days. It was like a mini-vacation.

Q: How did the city get the title of Halloween capital of the world?

A: Harold Blair, my favorite person in the book, was a paperboy for the Minneapolis Journal. He won a trip to Washington, D.C., for selling the most subscriptions. City leaders in Anoka wanted to take the opportunity to claim the title of Halloween capital for the city. So, they sent off Harold with a nice outfit and a fancy letter to present to the state congressman. Harold did as he was told, and the lore is that Congress declared the city the Halloween capital of the world.

There are mixed reports about that, though. A bunch of newspaper articles called Anoka the Halloween capital of "the U.S." and then out of nowhere there was this changeover to "the world." I can maybe see a congressman indulging a child and saying, "the world," perhaps? It must've been a whirlwind experience for a 12-year-old kid. Harold died in World War II at the age of 18. He truly was an American hero. I went to his grave site and I really felt honored to see his final resting place.

A: One story I tell is about the redheaded woman at Billy's Bar & Grill. … In the 1930s, gangster Tommy Banks was running alcohol and women through the hotel. Supposedly, a redheaded prostitute from Minneapolis was brought in to Anoka on the weekends. The cabdriver, a young man, had liked her. She wasn't there one Sunday and whomever he asked about it said something like 'we don't talk about her anymore.' Rumor has it that she never left the hotel. People say they've seen her in the second-floor window. A staffer once saw her reflection in an ice machine. Billy's has all kinds of ghost stories. It leaves the lights on when they close so things don't get too "messed up" overnight.

Q: What lends this ghostly backdrop to Anoka?

A: Anoka, one of the oldest towns in the state, was always very industrious, with the river, the railroad, the state hospital there and potato and shoe factories. You can still feel it. It's an energetic city.

Some from the paranormal community say the town was destined to be the Halloween capital because of its structure. It speaks to the Limestone Theory that claims that limestone traps energy. Anoka was built on top of limestone. Another theory says that water does the same thing — spirits can't cross over flowing waters — and Anoka has the riverfront.

Q: As you did your research, did you discover anything unexpected or surprising?

Q: How has the book affected you? What's next for you?

A: The book has certainly made me appreciate my surroundings a lot more. I like being able to drive by something and know why it was named for that, or who that person was or to just tell a quick story about a certain corner in town.

I just signed on for a second book with North Star Press. It's a novel about the witches of the Halloween capital. It's kind of satirical. It's not so research-intensive, but more labor-intensive. It's been a lot of fun to write so far.

Anna Pratt is a Minneapolis freelance writer. She can be reached at annaprattjournalist@gmail.com.