The candles are lit, the goblets are poured, and nobody at this table is entirely alive. Our first Halloween display of the year is up at Pollyanna’s Antiques, and we will warn you now: we went darker this season. Sinister, even. A witch in black lace presides over a dinner that has plainly been waiting a very long time for its guests.
Look closer and the details keep arriving. Black plates rest on a spiderweb lace cloth draped over rough burlap, ruby goblets catch the light of the chandelier, and a coal-black pumpkin sits at the center of it all. A second witch has already taken her seat at the head of the table. Two small vampires share a wingback chair in the corner, dressed for dinner and in no hurry. Behind them, a castle looms out of a fog-drowned wood, its bare limbs reaching over the whole scene. Up on the china cabinet, a spider the size of a house cat has settled in among the silver.
Halloween is one of the top two favorite times of year in our shop, and this display is how we kick it off. In past seasons we leaned toward the playful side of October: glowing pumpkins, whimsy, a wink. This year the shop feels like a page torn from an old ghost story. The candles flicker a little too much. The shadows in the corners stay put when you turn to look at them.
Everything in the scene is the kind of thing we love to hunt down: vintage silver serving pieces, ruby glass, dark wood cabinets, and the odd curiosity that looks like it walked out of a haunted manor on its own. Halloween is the one season when a hundred-year-old object gets to be a little unsettling, and we are not going to waste it.
So come by and see it in person. And don’t worry: your favorite friendly staff are here, as always, to protect you from the ghouls and ghosts while you shop this amazing Halloween season. We’re open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 to 4, at 287 North Avenue in downtown Mt. Clemens. Bring a friend. It’s easier to be brave in pairs.