Halloween evenings west of Washington have historically meant time spent in a ghost town – all punning intended. The holiday is one of the great mysteries of life in Dorchester, particularly for residents living near the east-west demarcation line of Washington Street, where virtually nothing happens on the west side, yet just two streets away on the east side, particularly in Melville Park, Halloween is celebrated as a full-scale event, with thousands and thousands of costumed people, big and small, enjoying the holiday fun.

It is striking how from the quiet on the west, you can easily observe and hear the madness just a few hundred feet away to the east.

So, what gives? And is this something that should change? I, for one, think it’s time for a tweak in how we trick or treat each year.

There’s a uniqueness, it seems, to everything that happens in Dorchester, and the Halloween spectacle on Melville has its own complexities that have little to do with small children smiling about candy while wearing princess dresses or Iron Man masks. As long as I’ve been around, all the children from the West of Washington (WOW) neighborhood migrate in droves from their homes and their streets to Melville Ave. Hundreds, if not thousands of them. I used to watch them before we had small children and wonder where they were all going.

About two decades ago, we heard from other parents about “going to Melville.” They had friends who lived on Melville and one year they invited us and our children over for the spectacle. And so it was that we joined the droves. The early hours of the Melville spectacle are crowded but fun; the little kids enjoy themselves and Melville neighbors are all smiles. Later in the night, things aren’t as palatable, with the witching hour tending to be around 6:30 p.m., when thousands begin descending on the streets, many of them older teens, and some are adults.

The little children get trampled, and frequently get separated from parents and siblings, and the lines get longer and longer in front of residents’ homes every year. Cars going by on the street threaten excited elementary school students running to compare candy stashes with friends while forgetting they are on a major thoroughfare, and while stressed-out police officers try to control the throngs.

Later, the mood is irreverent in general, and the main character isn’t Casper the Friendly Ghost, but rather Casper the Robin Hood – if you know what I mean. I’d say 90 percent of the revelers into the night aren’t from Melville, with a large majority are coming from WOW and other neighborhoods, but some from out of town – maybe former Dorchester residents in town for the night.

I’ve talked to a few Melville Park residents I know, and none of them knew how Halloween as mega-event on Melville started. One neighbor who moved there in the 1980s said it was like this when he arrived. Others on the west side postulated that it was a product of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s when the neighborhoods west of Washington were deemed too dangerous by parents who wanted their kids to enjoy trick-or-treating, and Melville was the closest option at the time. For their part, Melville Park neighbors are kind and generous beyond compare and have been for decades.

Things ratcheted up noticeably right before the pandemic, and the last two Halloweens have been massive on Melville. While neighbors there whom I know are accommodating, there is some quiet burnout going on. Some have been buying more than 2,000 pieces of candy and running out by 7:30 p.m. They are estimating that 3,000 people are coming and going in the neighborhood throughout the night. Some have decided to give out candy bi-annually, while others have said that after 20 years or more of being “open” for Halloween, they’ve begun to protest by leaving for the night.

“Now we shut off the lights and leave and hope that it dies down and the 2,000-plus people move somewhere else,” said one neighbor, who had enthusiastically participated for years beforehand.

Many also expressed displeasure at the number of adults who capitalize on the free candy at the expense of the younger trick-or-treaters. There are fewer houses participating now than there were 20 years ago when we joined the migration from WOW. This isn’t how it should be.

There needs to be some leadership from the city and from civic organizations, particularly on the west side of the neighborhood. In WOW, I suggest it’s time to keep our children on our side of Washington to lessen the masses that migrate and eliminate the “hot spots” around Dorchester. We have our own park now that is only going to get nicer, and we have funding to put on events. There’s no reason we can’t put on our own Halloween show at the park, followed by trick-or-treating using a map of participating homes.

One key thing to note is that there are Caribbean folks in WOW and the aversion to Halloween in the Caribbean culture is a very real thing, so many may not want anything to do with it. But for those who do, things have changed; it’s time for neighbors in our neighborhood to welcome our children on this side of Washington.

Furthermore, the city needs to step up on Melville and all over Dorchester. In the South End, they close off streets and assist neighbors where there are “hot spots” on Halloween night. In Charlestown, neighbors and city leaders shut off huge portions of the neighborhood for a parade and trick-or-treating at participating homes. In the Back Bay, Marlborough Street has a full police contingent, as do areas of Beacon Hill. In South Boston, they’ve designated Broadway as the place to go for Halloween. So why is it that the city leaves Dorchester, the largest neighborhood with the most children, to put up with an increasingly dangerous free-for-all? There’s no sense to this. The bigger effort should be here, not in the places where there really aren’t a lot of children such as the South End and Back Bay. If the city can close off two miles of Dorchester Avenue for the day to have an Open Streets event, they can certainly put those same muscles to work for the neighborhood on Halloween.

Times have changed on the west side of Washington in Dorchester, and with it, so should Halloween. What is supposed to be a happy night should not result in a maddening crush of thousands on one side of the street, and a ghost town just 500 feet away.