10 Creepy and Thrilling Facts About Halloween

Pumpkins, costumes, fears and candy. Halloween is right around the corner and everyone has their traditions, though do you know everything about the wildly popular celebration? These are some intriguing facts you might not have known before.

1. Halloween is seriously old.

There’s speculation exactly how long ago people began celebrating the holiday but it began at least a couple thousand years ago.

2. What are we dressing up for?

Halloween has a tradition of wearing scary costumes, which originates for the ancient Celts. In Halloween’s origin, people believed that dressing like demons and other supernatural beings would confuse or ward them off.

3. Not the holiday for you?

There’s a name for your deep hatred for Halloween – Samhainophobia. Samhainophobia is the medical term for a pathological fear of Halloween.

4. Jack-o-lantern

The jack-o-lantern has a legend of its own. According to Celtic legend, an old man used to play tricks on the devil and in result was denied entrance to heaven and hell. This old man was condemned to wander the Earth with only his lantern, which he used to lead people astray.

5. Sugar Rush

Kids consume approximately 7000 calories on Halloween, not to mention the number of pounds they eat in candy.

6. A big hoot.

Owls are said to be one of the great symbols of Halloween. In medieval times they were said to be witches whose hoots signified that someone was about to die.

7. Black Cats

Black cats are said to be bad news, or bad luck that is. In medieval times black cats were seen as familiars of witches and haven’t been able to shake the reputation since.

8. Tricks over treats

As a precursor to modern trick-or-treating, on All Soul’s Day on November 2nd, the poor would knock on doors of the wealthy in hopes to be given pastries. Young people seemed to prefer pranks to treats and would frequently damage property. The younger generation’s favoring of pranks lead to organized trick-or-treating.

9. Orange and black

The holiday is traditionally associated with colors orange and black: orange for the fall harvest and black for darkness and death. Fitting, considering the holiday is a celebration of the boundary between life and death.

10. Money talks

Halloween is second only to Christmas in commercial holiday grossing. Americans spent approximately 8 billion USD in 2016 on the festivities.

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