Halloween 2019 is here and while most of us will take part in some kind of Halloween activities, nearly 20-percent of Minnesotans will keep their lights off this year.

That's right, nearly 1 in 5 of our neighbors both here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and across the country say they're choosing to keep their porch lights off and not take part in any Halloween activities this year. At least that's if we believe the results of a new YouGov survey.

It asked a group of just over  2,500 people the question, "If a group of children came to your house to trick-or-treat, what comes closest to what you would normally do?" And while the majority (around 65 percent) responded with "Give them some sweets," the second-largest percentage of respondents said, "Pretend not to be home."

Six percent said they'd give them something else, while three percent said they'd answer the door but not give them anything. (Who are THOSE people, btw?!? You'd answer the door but then not hand anything out? That's just ASKING to get your windows soaped or your trees toilet-papered, isn't it?!?)

I can identify with that group that says they're going to keep their lights off this year, though. Our dog, Asher, goes NUTS when the doorbell rings and tries to run outside when we open the door. We haven't had many trick-or-treaters the last few years anyway, so we'll probably keep ours off this year too.

I should have done that about 10 years ago when I lived back in Wisconsin. My house was way out of town, east of Chippewa Falls near Lake Wissota, if you know where that is. I never really had many trick-or-treaters stop by, so I never really bought any candy to hand out.

But one year a group of kids I knew from down the road (who used to stop by and play with my four dogs) rang my doorbell. Because I never got many trick-or-treaters, I didn't have ANY candy in the house, but I felt bad just hiding in my living room not pretending I was home. So I opened the door and handed out the only thing I could think of: a couple cans of tuna fish. And maybe a can of black beans too. Halloween fail! (I should have joined that 20-percent and kept my light off...)

Listen to Curt St. John from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5
and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 103.9 The Doc

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