The Halloween Tree

The narrator Ray Bradbury guides us into one small American town where the air grows thick with anticipation for Halloween night. Four friends step into the evening dressed for the occasion: Jenny Annie Barker as a witch, Ralph Alex Greenwald as a mummy, Wally Andrew Keegan as a monster, and Tom Skelton Edan Gross as a skeleton. They are buzzing with excitement to meet their best friend Pip, but he doesn’t show. When they hurry to Pip’s house, they find him being loaded into an ambulance, his parents riding along, and a note left behind explaining that Pip is headed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy — and that they should celebrate Halloween without him. The ache of not starting the night with Pip weighs on them, so they decide to follow the ambulance to the hospital, hoping for a quick reunion.

From the hospital they take a risky shortcut through a dark ravine, a place that feels almost alive with whispers of the past. The group spots a translucent shape they take to be Pip running along the path, and Tom leads the charge, convinced Pip has cooked up a clever ruse. The chase ends abruptly when Pip vanishes near a towering, shadowed mansion, leaving the friends with more questions than answers.

Inside that mansion, a tall figure steps forward: Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Moundshroud. He greets them with a calm, patient persistence and reveals a truth that unsettles them — he is after Pip’s ghost. Pip, for his part, has already sought and stolen a pumpkin bearing his own carved face from Moundshroud’s Halloween Tree of jack-o’-lanterns. Tom pleads to be allowed to go with them and help bring Pip back, but Moundshroud offers a challenge instead: if the kids can keep pace with him before dawn, they might retrieve the pumpkin and rescue Pip, while also setting out on a scavenger-hunt-like journey to learn the deeper meaning behind their costumes and the spirit of Halloween itself.

With a sense of wonder and urgency, the children join him on a journey that will carry them back through time. They rip posters from an old barn to construct a giant October Kite, using themselves as the weighted tail, and thus begin a voyage across four ages that align with the meanings of their outfits.

First, they arrive in Ancient Egypt for the Feast of the Ghosts, where mummification and the afterlife loom large. Pip slips through a moment of danger while Ralph and the others watch as the priests prepare Pip for embalmment. Ralph steps forward by pretending to be a mummy, distracting the priests long enough for Pip to slip away again, and yet Pip’s pumpkin’s magic keeps pulling them forward in the chase. When Moundshroud confronts Pip, the pumpkin’s power creates a moment of escape, and the group resumes the pursuit through time.

Next, the scene shifts to England’s Dark Ages, at Stonehenge in the heart of Celtic rituals. The four learn about a world where druids and villagers marked the turning of the year with mystic rites. Pip briefly appears as a black cat, teasing the group; they glimpse a harvest field where brooms are made and witches celebrate the New Year. Moundshroud helps the children slip past an angry mob by making the brooms fly, but he also knocks Pip from a broom in a bid to seize the pumpkin. Jenny catches Pip, yet fear grips her — Pip encourages her to stay strong, and then he darts away again, leaving the friends to press onward.

Their journey carries them to France, arriving at the unfinished Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Here they glimpse gargoyles and demons that loom over the grand edifice. With Moundshroud’s magic, they help finish the cathedral in a stroke of collaborative ingenuity, and Wally climbs toward a Pip-shaped gargoyle that clutches Pip’s pumpkin. Pip pleads for strength, but once more, he bolts and the chase continues.

Finally, they reach Mexico during Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. In the catacombs Pip appears wan and weak; Tom confronts a personal guilt, admitting he once wished for something bad to happen to Pip so he could lead the group for a change. Pip forgives him, and the two reconcile, but Pip’s spirit begins to fade, turning to dust. The weight of the journey settles over them as they face the truth that Pip’s path is fraying before dawn.

Moundshroud explains that the dawn has come and Pip is now under his control. The children offer something drastic in return: a year from the end of each of their lives in exchange for Pip’s return. The deal is sealed, and each child receives a piece of a sugar candy skull bearing Pip’s name to eat, signaling the bargain. Pip’s spirit revives, and with a joyful, defiant spark he snatches his pumpkin back from Moundshroud and takes flight. In an instant, they are returned home to present-day America, their four-thousand-year odyssey complete.

The four friends hurry to Pip’s house to discover him safe and sound, freshly returned from the hospital. At the mansion, Moundshroud extinguishes his pumpkin’s candle, then dissolves into smoke, leaving the Halloween Tree to be buffeted by strong winds that scatter the pumpkins to the night air. All pumpkins vanish except Pip’s own, which remains intact because the children’s sacrifice preserved him. Back in their familiar streets, the friends savor the reality that their voyage happened, feeling a renewed sense of Halloween’s meaning — a reminder that costumes carry histories, that friendship can bridge time, and that even the oldest legends can become as real as the friends who tell them.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:28