Do you know how to avoid possession by evil spirits, why we wear fancy dress or the real meaning behind the name ‘Dracula’? You better get clued-up quick as the scariest night of the year is on its way.
The 31st of October has long been a date when the veil between worlds is thinnest and everything from ghouls and evil spirits to Satan himself can climb through and wreak havoc. On a night like this, nothing is quite what it seems so it’s best you are prepared with everything you need to know, whether you’re fighting off a ghost or wrestling the competition at the local pub quiz.
Halloween is the best time to pack your bags and scarper off to the dark fringes of society for a scary staycation to remember. Beware, be wicked and be very, very nervous as we spring this box of spooky, strange and plain ugly bag of wickedness over your head. We've got Halloween facts for kids, Halloween facts for adults, and just plain spooky facts.
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Spooky facts to tell the kids
Gory facts not to tell your kids
Spooky Halloween facts to tell the kids
Historical
- Halloween is one of the world’s oldest traditions, it began in Ireland and dates back 2,000 years to the Celts, who called it Samhain.
- The Halloween costume actually had a practical purpose – the Celts would dress up in order to blend in with spirits. Our printable masks for Halloween make for some great costume ideas.
- In the Celtic calendar, 1st November was the start of the new year, and they celebrated their version of New Year’s Eve known as All Hallows Eve. They believed that in the transition between years, on the night of October 31st, the human and spiritual worlds become less secure and spirits that died recently would rise up and roam the earth.
- When All Hallow’s Eve was co-opted by Christians, the new tradition became to dress up as the devil in the belief that Satan would flee when he saw people mocking him and attacking his pride.
- Witches used to be honoured and were known as ‘the crone’ amongst the Celts until fear of older women, particularly those who didn’t marry, spread and the kindly figure of the crone morphed in the popular mind into a cackling evil witch.
- The name ‘witch’ comes from the old Saxon word ‘wica’ and it means ‘wise one’.
- The last legal witch hangings in England took place in Bideford, Devon and the last in Scotland took place in Dornoch, Sutherland.
- The name Dracula means ‘son of the Dragon’ and was taken from a bloodthirsty 16th-century conqueror called Vlad Dracula, better known as Vlad the Impaler.
- During World War II when sugar was rationed, trick or treating began to disappear; luckily today it’s back and bigger than ever!
Traditions and traditional things
- Many of the games traditionally played at Halloween including bobbing apples date back to the ancient Roman festival of Pomona.
- The tradition of adding pranks into the Halloween mix started to turn ugly in the 1930s and a movement began to substitute practical jokes for kids going door to door collecting sweets…
- …But trick or treaters used to receive fruits and nuts, not chocolate and sweets. Would you traipse up and down the road knocking on doors for a couple of apple slices?
- Orange and black, the traditional colours, are believed to have originally represented the harvest (orange) and death (black).
- A pumpkin is just a type of squash that grows orange in time for Halloween. But they aren’t only orange, they also come in white, blue, green, purple and even black. Why not get creative this Halloween?
- Jack o’ lanterns are named after the phenomenon of a ghostly light flickering over peat bogs that are believed to guide lost travellers home. Originally, they were carved from turnips, not pumpkins!
Just for fun
- The Sesame Street Count is called the Count simply because he counts stuff. It’s surprising how this fact was lost on so many of us until adulthood.
- Fear of Halloween is called: Samhainophobia. This persistent dread can cause nausea, sweating, panic and dizziness.
- A useful precaution on Halloween is to hold your breath when walking past a graveyard so you don’t get possessed by an evil spirit. Also, you should turn out your pockets so you don’t accidentally carry a ghost home!
- Another way to keep those pesky evil spirits at bay is to light a bonfire. Spirits are terrified of the light and heat created by fire, and would much rather skulk around in the dark.
- The largest gathering of zombies on record took place in October 2014 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. It was a zombie pub crawl that numbered 15,458 of the living dead as recorded by Guinness World Records. Imagine walking into that lot on a dark night!
- Here we have another Guinness World Record: The fastest 100 metres paddled in a pumpkin was 2 min 0.3 sec. The achievement was set by Dmitri Galitzine who sat in a carved-out pumpkin (that weighed 272.16kg/600lb) and used a kayak paddle to travel those 100 metres in the waters of Trafalgar Wharf, Hampshire, in 2013.
- The star sign for people born on Halloween is Scorpio (Oct 23rd – Nov 21st).
Gory Halloween facts not to tell your kids
Historical
- Other names for Halloween are All Hallows Eve, All Hallowtide, All Saints' Eve, The Feast of the Dead, The Day of the Dead, Calan Gwav, and Nos Calan Gaeaf.
- Halloween folklore deems that if you see a bat fly around a house three times or more, someone inside will die.
- The origins of Halloween costumes came about so that revellers could blend in with the spirits when attending pagan festivals. This was to frighten demons away when they saw that mere mortals were mocking their appearance, or to trick ghosts into believing the costume wearers were fellow spirits.
- European immigrants took Halloween to North America with them. They used to sing, share ghost stories and tell fortunes – the holiday celebrations soon caught on and then everybody was at it.
- People used to believe owls were witches in disguise.
- The hour between 3am and 4am is called the ‘witching hour’ or the ‘devil’s hour’.
- There is a folktale behind the famous jack-o-lantern. It so claims that a man called Jack was plagued with temptation all his life so he tricked the Devil into making a deal that would end his obsession. Because of this he was denied entrance to heaven because of his evil ways and denied access to hell because of the Devil’s grudge. Instead, he is forever doomed to wander the darkness carrying his lantern, carved with a tormented face.
- A Ouija board’s name is derived from a combination of the French and German for the word ‘yes’. Disappointingly unspooky or what?
- The number 13 has a history. It is deemed unlucky because of its association with Judas Iscariot, who was the 13th person to sit at the table at the Last Supper. He was, according to Christians, the disciple who betrayed Jesus to the High Priest Caiaphas for 30 pieces of silver. Also, in Norse mythology, 12 gods were having a meal in Valhalla and Loki, the god of mischief, arrived uninvited to crash the party.
Traditions and traditional things
- Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a celebration that takes place in Mexico. Although it’s often compared to Halloween, this tradition is not a spooky, scary night but a celebration where festivals are held in honour of people who’ve died.
- When you spill salt, pick it up and throw it over your left shoulder to blind the devil.
- Clowns are top of most people’s creep lists. This is down to their exaggerated physical characteristics, strange voices, their cologne, and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’.
- American-style Halloween really took off in the UK after children saw how it was done from scenes in Steven Spielberg’s film, ET.
Just for fun
- Never, ever, ever, ever answer the first knock at the front door on Halloween. Ever.
- There is hardly ever a Room 13 or a 13th floor at a hotel. It is highly unusual to find one. But if you’re on the 14th floor, you know what floor you’re really on…
- Triskaidekaphobia is what you have if you're afflicted with a crippling fear of the number 13.
- The art of applying fake blood is known as moulage; there isn’t a name for the art of applying real blood!
- Ring a bell at Halloween to scare evil spirits away, and the bell must be real - it won’t work with an iPhone app!
- In 2017, the police in the town of Lilitz in Pennsylvania responded to over 20 reports of red balloons tied to drain covers by twisted fans referencing the popular horror hit, ‘It’.
- There are ten sequels/reboots/remakes to the classic horror flick, Halloween, featuring the unstoppable undead murderer, Michael Myers. He has been played by 12 different actors.
- The terrifying mask that Michael Myers wore was actually an altered Captain Kirk mask that the film’s production designer bought for a couple of dollars prior to filming.
- Stephen King's horror books are the biggest sellers in the genre, and there have been 48 film adaptations, as well as 30 TV movies, series and miniseries. He also writes under the pseudonym, Richard Bachman.
- As of 2022, there have been nearly 8,000 zombie movies made around the world.
- Filmmaker, George A Romero is credited with inventing the popularised version of the zombie that we all know and love/fear.
Open if you dare!
Where do mummies go for a swim? To the dead sea
Where do vampires go for a swim? The undead sea
What type of crisps do ghosts love? Ghoula hoops
What do ghosts love to eat for breakfast? BOO! Berries and Dreaded Wheat
What do ghosts wear when it rains? A Ka-Ghoul
What do you call a ghost who eats curry? A Balti-geist
Where does Dracula keep his money? In a blood bank
Why didn't the skeleton go to prom? He had no body to go with
Why are ghosts so bad at lying? You can see right through them
What do ghosts grow in their gardens? Ceme-Trees
Carve out your perfect Halloween holiday
So, now you are prepared to face the ghosts and ghouls head-on: make sure to dress up in your scariest costume so you’re camouflaged when the dead rise; hold your breath if walking by any graveyards and be aware of any bats you see flying around your abode, whether it's a haunted house or not.
If you're looking for a place to hide out from the gory goings-on outside, our holiday properties will welcome you and your ghastly brood. Take shelter from fright night in one of our cosy cottages on howling, windy moorlands or how about a luxurious country pile down a creepy country lane, or a sleek apartment in a spooky city with a secret?
Find a cottage for October half term