From my location, Halley’s was only visible with unaided eyes very near the horizon. It was like a faint, smudged star.
I was away from the city light pollution and it was still barely visible.
Yep. I was in Savannah, GA and so we probably had a better view if you are further north. One night, my Astronomy Club had a viewing at Ft. Pulaski, which is/was very dark back then, and had a GREAT Southern horizon. We expected a few hundred to show up, but, somehow the local news got hold of the story and we had 4000 people show up.
They were all pretty relaxed about the whole thing until the news truck showed up and turned on a spotlight. They were lucky to get out alive. But, the year before, it was overhead and I could see it easily in my front yard, even with the street light going.