Vintage Halloween Greeting Card with Witch and Mirror, Early 1900s

The decision to position a ghostly wisp rising from the single candlestick next to the mirror immediately makes this divination ritual feel already successful, while floating miniature pumpkins cascade down the right side like the universe's most autumnal loading screen. Peeking around the tall standing mirror with the self-satisfied grin of someone who absolutely rigged the game, this little witch in her polka-dot hat and striped stockings presents what Victorian society apparently considered a totally normal Halloween greeting: a candle-and-mirror ritual involving eating apples alone at midnight. The poem below—in which a 'little maid' is promised she'll see her true love in the mirror, signed off with 'I hope it's like me — not about'—reveals that the witch behind the mirror has been the true love all along, which is either the most progressive Halloween card ever printed or a deeply unhinged confession. The sad jack-o'-lantern wilting on a stalk in the corner clearly represents everyone who received this card and had questions.