30 Fun and Fascinating Halloween Facts

1/ Halloween is thought to have originated around 4000 BC, which means it has been celebrated for more than 6,000 years.

2/ Ireland is believed to be the birthplace of Halloween.

3/ The tradition of Halloween comes from Samhain, an ancient pagan festival celebrated by Celtic people to mark the end of the harvest season and the end of the Celtic calendar year.

4/ The Celts believed that during Samhain, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and ghosts visited the earth.

5/ To keep wandering spirits at bay, the Celts took part in certain rituals including placing food and wine outside their homes to ward off ghosts.

6/ In the 8th century, the Christian church adopted Samhain and turned it into All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Hallows’ Eve was celebrated the night before (October 31), which is where the modern term, Halloween, comes from.

7/ Dressing up as ghouls and other spooks originated from the Celtic tradition of townspeople disguising themselves as demons and spirits. The Celts believed that disguising themselves this way would allow them to escape the notice of the real spirits wandering the streets during Samhain.

8/ Scarecrows, a popular Halloween fixture, symbolise the ancient agricultural roots of the holiday.

9/ Halloween is the second most-expensive day in the year after, you’ve guessed it, Christmas.

10/ Because the 1978 movie Halloween was made on a tight budget, they had to use the cheapest mask they could find for the character Michael Meyers, which turned out to be a William Shatner Star Trek mask. Shatner initially didn’t know the mask was in his likeness, but when he found out years later, he said he was honoured.

11/ Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween. This fear can also present itself in these other types of phobias such as phasmophobia which is the fear of ghosts, wiccaphobia, the fear of witchcraft and the fear of darkness, hyctophobia.

12/ The owl is a popular Halloween image. In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl's call meant someone was about to die.

13/ The word ‘witch’ comes from the Old English ‘wicce’, meaning ‘wise woman’. In fact, Wiccan were highly respected people at one time. According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main meetings, or sabbats, on Halloween night.

14/ According to Irish legend, Jack O’Lanterns are named after a stingy man named Jack who, because he tricked the devil several times, was forbidden entrance into both heaven and hell. He was condemned to wander the earth waving his lantern to lead people away from their paths.

15/ Halloween lanterns were originally made from turnips, not pumpkins.

16/ A child born on Halloween is said to have the ability to talk to spirits.

17/ According to tradition, if a person wears his or her clothes inside out and then walks backwards on Halloween, he or she will see a witch at midnight.

18/ Legend has it that if you see a spider on Halloween night, it means a loved one is watching over you.

19/ During the celebration of Samhain, bonfires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often Druid priests would throw the bones of cattle into the flames and, hence, ‘bone fire’ became ‘bonfire’.

20/ Scottish girls believed they could see images of their future husband if they hung wet sheets in front of the fire on Halloween. Other girls believed they would see their boyfriend’s faces if they looked into mirrors while walking downstairs at midnight on Halloween.

21/ Bobbing for apples is a popular Halloween tradition. Apples are thrown into a tub of water, and you endeavour to catch one in your mouth as they bob around.

When you have caught one, you peel it carefully, and pass the long strip of peel three times around your head; after which you throw it over your shoulder, and it falls to the ground in the shape of the initial letter of your true love's name.

22/ The bonfires that the ancient Celts built to celebrate Samhain would often attract bats. They were feared as people thought that witches would turn into the creatures on All-Hallows Eve.

23/ Halloween is traditionally associated with the colours orange and black: orange because of its link to the autumn harvest, and black because of its connection to darkness and death.

24/ Trick-or-treating dates back to early All Souls’ Day parades on November 2 in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called ‘soul cakes’ in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as ‘going souling’ was eventually taken up by children who would visit houses in their neighbourhood and be given food and money.

25/ Mexico celebrates the Days of the Dead (Días de los Muertos) on the Christian holiday All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day instead of Halloween. The townspeople dress up like ghouls and parade down the street.

26/ Halloween celebrations in Hong Kong are known as Yue Lan or the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts during which fires are lit and food and gifts are offered to placate potentially angry ghosts who might be looking for revenge.

27/ In Italy they have a traditional Halloween recipe, which is kind of an oval cookie a bit like a macaron. It's called Fave dei Morti, which roughly translates as Beans of the Dead.

28/ Harry Houdini was one of the most famous and mysterious magicians who ever lived. Strangely enough, he died in 1926 on Halloween night as a result of appendicitis brought on by three stomach punches.

29/ Every year since 1927, a séance has been held in the hopes of making contact with Houdini. Houdini had given a code word to his wife Bess before he died and told her he would use it if he were able to cross over from the other world. Bess participated in the séance for 10 years until finally declaring that he wasn’t coming back. The séance, however, continues today without her.

30/ The most popular Halloween costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, the bumble bee and in fourth place, the spider.