'Candy Slingshots' to 'drive-thru treats': Americans prep for Halloween amid COVID-19

While the coronavirus pandemic has shadowed Halloween celebrations across the globe, there are many who’ve come up with ‘weirdly safe’ ways to go trick or treating. From dropping candy down a chute to flinging full-size candy bars via mini-catapults, people across America are devising their own gadgets and ways to celebrate the eerie festival in the ‘new normal’. While a church near Cincinnati has offered people to hand treats to drive-by families, a haunted house in San Francisco has modified itself to scare people from the safety of their cars.

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Credits: AP

“I’ve always loved Halloween. This has been a rough year for everyone,” Carol McCarthy, of New Jersey told Associated Press. “I’m going a little more over the top than usual. There’s something about this year that I have to try a little harder to keep the magic going,” she added explaining her idea of making a 7 feet chute to drop candies to kids.

Credits: AP

While McCarthy, is busy cutting down PVC pipe to make chut, in the neighbouring Columbus, Ohio, Julie Schirmer has been practising with her candy slingshot. “It breaks my heart to think that all that fun may not be well-advised this year. So I was thinking about it and trying to be creative,” she reckoned. In addition, she said that the year she has opted for a “front-yard fire pit with socially distanced seating” instead of the usual “potluck dinner.”

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Credits: AP

Drive-thru Haunted House 

Besides individual alterations, there are many haunted houses that are mending their ways to serve customers. According to Associated Press, the “Pirates of Emerson” haunted house in the San Francisco Bay area has become a drive-thru this year. The facility now implies that all the visitors could now maintain social distancing from the safety of their slow-moving cars for a 20- to 25-minute drive.

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