138 Fun Facts About Halloween

What date is Halloween celebrated each year?

Halloween is celebrated on October 31st every year, the eve of All Saints' Day (November 1).

What is the traditional Halloween activity where children go door-to-door asking for candy?

Trick-or-treating is the beloved Halloween tradition where children dress in costumes and go door-to-door collecting candy from neighbors.

What ancient Celtic festival is considered the origin of Halloween?

Samhain (pronounced SAH-win) was an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed the boundary between the living and dead became thin on this night.

Which confection most associated with Halloween has orange, yellow and white layers?

Candy corn's orange, yellow and white layers mimic a corn kernel; invented in the 1880s, it is sold mostly in autumn and is the confection most tied to Halloween.

In the 1978 horror film "Halloween," what is the name of the masked killer?

The 1978 original has Myers stalking teenage babysitters on Halloween night.

What color cat is traditionally associated with Halloween superstitions?

Black cats are the traditional Halloween omen; European folklore linked them with witches, and in Britain and Ireland a black cat crossing your path was counted as good luck.

What classic TV special features Linus waiting in a pumpkin patch for a holiday visitor?

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (1966) features Linus spending Halloween night in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, whom he believes brings toys to children.

In which language variety did the contraction that produced the word 'Halloween' first arise?

'Even' is the Scots word for evening, contracted to e'en, so All Hallows' Even became Halloween.

In Scotland, which sticky baked goods are strung from the ceiling at Halloween beside the dooking tub?

Treacle scones, smeared with sticky treacle, are hung on strings from the ceiling and eaten hands-free, a Scottish Halloween game played beside dooking for apples.

In 835, which realm officially adopted 1 November as the date of All Saints' Day?

The Frankish Empire adopted 1 November in 835, when Emperor Louis the Pious decreed the feast be kept throughout his realm; English and Irish churches had used that date since the 8th century.

In Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, from which legendary conqueror does the title vampire claim descent?

Stoker's count is a Transylvanian nobleman who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun.

The name of the phobia for a persistent fear of ghosts derives from a Greek word meaning what?

The name comes from the Greek phásma, 'apparition', plus -phobía, 'fear'.

In the movie "Hocus Pocus," how many Sanderson sisters are there?

There are three Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus: Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy). The 1993 film has become a Halloween classic.

Which New York City parade did puppeteer Ralph Lee begin in 1974 with his puppets?

The Village Halloween Parade began in 1974 as puppeteer Ralph Lee's informal puppet walk for children in Greenwich Village and grew to about 50,000 costumed marchers and two million spectators.

What are Día de los Muertos home altars laid with the departed's favourite foods called?

Ofrendas are the home altars of Día de los Muertos, layered with candles, photographs, pan de muerto and the departed's favourite foods and drinks to welcome their spirits back on 1–2 November.

Punkie Night, when children carry mangelwurzel lanterns in late October, is a tradition of which English county?

Punkie Night belongs to Somerset: it is kept in Hinton St George, where legend says wives carved mangelwurzel lanterns to fetch their husbands home from Chiselborough fair.

Which horror movie features a character named Ghostface?

Scream (1996), directed by Wes Craven, introduced Ghostface, the hooded killer in a wailing-ghost mask who telephones victims with horror-movie quiz questions.

Which unusual substance was traditionally poured into water for Halloween fortune-telling in Ireland and Britain?

Molten lead was dropped into cold water and the hardened shapes read as omens; egg whites were used the same way, alongside nut-roasting and mirror-gazing at Halloween.

Which once-common Halloween handout fell out of favour in the US after rumours of hidden pins and razor blades?

Candy apples, whole apples dipped in sugar syrup or caramel, were a standard Halloween handout until 1960s–70s scares about hidden pins and razor blades made parents reject unwrapped treats.

What U.S. city is known as the "Halloween Capital of the World"?

Anoka earned the nickname by hosting one of the first Halloween parades in 1920.

What is the name of the skeleton-like figure associated with Día de los Muertos?

La Catrina is an elegantly dressed female skeleton figure that has become an iconic symbol of Día de los Muertos. She was originally created by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada around 1910.

In which decade did going door to door for Halloween candy become widespread in the US?

Trick-or-treating spread across the United States in the 1930s; it was common enough by 1939 to be described in a national magazine, and boomed again once wartime sugar rationing ended.

What is the name of the phobia that describes an intense fear of spiders?

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and other arachnids. It's one of the most common phobias worldwide and is often heightened around Halloween when spider decorations are everywhere.

What famous magician died on Halloween in 1926?

Harry Houdini died on 31 October 1926, aged 52, of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix, possibly worsened by punches to his abdomen he had taken days earlier in Montreal.

The mask worn by the killer in the 1978 film 'Halloween' was originally cast from which actor's face?

The mask was a 1975 Captain Kirk mask cast from William Shatner's face; the crew spray-painted it white, widened the eyeholes and teased out the hair.

In the 1820 Headless Horseman story, from which state does schoolteacher Ichabod Crane come?

Ichabod Crane is introduced as 'a native of Connecticut', a state the tale calls a nursery of schoolmasters; he comes to the Dutch settlement of Sleepy Hollow to teach and court Katrina Van Tassel.

Approximately how many pieces of its tri-coloured Halloween confection does Brach's make each year?

Brach's, the largest candy corn maker, says it produces about 7 billion pieces a year, enough to circle the Earth more than four times laid end to end.

Which farm figure is a traditional Halloween costume model alongside vampires, ghosts and skeletons?

The scarecrow joined vampires, ghosts, skeletons and witches as a stock Halloween costume, a harvest-field figure that fits the festival's end-of-harvest roots.

In the horror film "A Nightmare on Elm Street," what is Freddy Krueger's signature weapon?

Krueger crafted the metal-clawed leather glove himself in the boiler room where he took his victims.

Torches lit from the Halloween bonfire were carried around homes and fields in which direction?

Torches kindled from the Samhain bonfire were carried sunwise, or deiseal, around homes and fields, following the sun's course, the lucky direction in Gaelic custom.

Which author wrote the gothic novel "Frankenstein"?

Mary Shelley began Frankenstein at 18, after Lord Byron proposed a ghost-story contest during a rainy summer at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva.

What was the original 1880s name of the tri-coloured, kernel-shaped Halloween confection?

Candy corn was first sold as 'Chicken Feed', in boxes printed with a rooster, because corn was then thought of as animal feed rather than food for people.

In Welsh Nos Calan Gaeaf lore, what did a skull in an unmarried woman's darkened mirror mean?

Seeing a skull instead of a future husband's face meant she would die within the year; Nos Calan Gaeaf was a 'spirit night' when the dead were said to walk.

What is a group of witches called?

A coven is the traditional name for a gathering of witches; the word was rare in English until Margaret Murray's 1921 book The Witch-Cult in Western Europe claimed covens met in groups of thirteen.

Which U.S. state produces the most pumpkins?

Illinois is the top pumpkin-producing state in the U.S., growing roughly 40% of the nation's commercial pumpkin crop. The city of Morton, Illinois, calls itself the "Pumpkin Capital of the World."

In the TV show "The Simpsons," what is the name of their annual Halloween special episodes?

"Treehouse of Horror" is The Simpsons' annual Halloween special, airing since 1990. Each episode features three short horror/sci-fi parodies and is not considered canon to the main series.

In most modern fiction, weapons made of which metal are the werewolf's special vulnerability?

Silver is the werewolf's bane in most modern fiction; silver weapons, from bullets to the silver-headed cane that kills Larry Talbot in 1941's The Wolf Man, destroy what ordinary steel cannot.

What weight set the world record for the heaviest pumpkin in 2023?

The 2023 record of 2,749 pounds (1,247 kg) was set by Travis Gienger of Minnesota at the Half Moon Bay weigh-off in California.

Which infamous 1692 series of witchcraft prosecutions took place in colonial Massachusetts?

The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 with the fits of two girls in Reverend Samuel Parris's household in Salem Village; more than 200 people were accused and thirty found guilty.

What organ did ancient Egyptians remove from the body during mummification through the nose?

Ancient Egyptians removed the brain through the nostrils using a hook-like instrument during mummification. They considered the brain unimportant, while the heart was left in the body as they believed it was the seat of the soul.

What horror movie franchise features a doll named Chucky?

Child's Play (1988) introduced Chucky: serial killer Charles Lee Ray, shot by a detective, uses a voodoo ritual to move his soul into a Good Guy doll.

What is the traditional flower of the dead placed on Día de los Muertos altars?

Marigolds, cempasúchil in Nahuatl ('twenty flowers'), are the flor de muerto; their bright orange petals and scent are said to guide spirits back to the family ofrenda.

Which vampire trait in Dracula is said in folk tradition to reveal a lack of soul?

Casting no reflection marks the soulless vampire: Dracula shows no image in Harker's shaving mirror, though the Greek vrykolakas of folklore cast both reflection and shadow.

Which Stephen King novel features a haunted hotel called the Overlook?

"The Shining" (1977) is set in the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, where the Torrance family serves as winter caretakers. Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation became one of the most iconic horror movies ever made.

What common Halloween decoration was originally placed in windows to ward off evil spirits?

Jack-o'-lanterns, originally carved turnips in Ireland and Scotland, were set on windowsills or carried on All Hallows' Eve to frighten away harmful spirits.

What is the small UNICEF box that some children carry from door to door on Halloween used for?

It began on Halloween 1950 as a local Philadelphia event, with children collecting nickels and dimes in decorated cartons for post-war Europe.

What does Charlie Brown receive at every house while trick-or-treating in the Great Pumpkin special?

Charlie Brown gets 'a rock' at every door in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966), while the other children collect candy, gum and popcorn balls.

The 'were' in werewolf comes from an Old English word meaning what?

Man is the meaning: Old English wer meant 'man' (compare Latin vir), so werwulf is literally 'man-wolf'.

Which 9th-century pope extended the 1 November feast of all saints to the whole Church?

Gregory III had only dedicated an oratory in St Peter's to the relics of all saints.

The 'hallow' in Halloween, as in All Hallows' Day, comes from an Old English word meaning what?

Holy is the sense, from Old English hālig; hallow has been used as a synonym for saint, so All Hallows' Day is simply All Saints' Day.

The killer's mask in the 1978 film 'Halloween' came from a face cast made for which 1975 horror film?

The Devil's Rain (1975) had a life cast of William Shatner's face made for its melting-face effects; a Captain Kirk mask from that cast, painted white, became Michael Myers's face.

Per the OED, when was 'jack-o'-lantern' first used to mean a lantern rather than a will-o'-the-wisp?

Before that the term described the ignis fatuus, the strange lights flickering over peat bogs also called will-o'-the-wisps.

Which TV couple were mobbed by Halloween callers on a 1952 episode of their show?

Ozzie and Harriet Nelson were mobbed by trick-or-treaters in a 1952 episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, their ABC sitcom about the real Nelson family.

In European witch lore, what are the small-animal spirit helpers said to serve witches called?

Familiars were the witch's animal-shaped spirit servants in European lore; cats, rats, dogs, ferrets, birds, frogs, toads and hares were all recorded forms at English witch trials.

In 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated which building in Rome to 'St Mary and all martyrs'?

Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon as the church of St Mary and the Martyrs on 13 May 609, a date already kept as a feast of all martyrs in 4th-century Edessa.

In the Irish folk tale, what trade did the shrewd Stingy Jack, who trapped Satan with a cross, practise?

Stingy Jack, also called Jack the Smith, was a blacksmith; barred from both heaven and hell, he roams the earth with a coal inside a hollowed turnip to light his way.

From roughly which century did Christians share soul-cakes at Allhallowtide ('souling')?

Souling is recorded from at least the 15th century, when groups went door to door at Allhallowtide in Britain, Flanders, southern Germany and Austria taking soul-cakes in return for prayers for the dead.

What two colors are most traditionally associated with Halloween?

Orange and black are Halloween's traditional colours, orange for the autumn harvest and black for darkness and death; purple is sometimes counted as a third.

Hop-tu-Naa, a 31 October lantern festival, belongs to which island?

Hop-tu-Naa is the Isle of Man's Halloween; its name comes from a nonsense refrain in a Manx Gaelic song sung while children carry turnip lanterns round the houses.

Who directed 1978's 'Halloween', the slasher that sent Michael Myers after babysitters?

Carpenter co-wrote it with Debra Hill; the 1978 stalk-the-babysitters plot became the slasher template.

The tri-coloured Halloween confection was invented in the 1880s by George Renninger of which firm?

George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy Company in Philadelphia created candy corn in the 1880s; the Goelitz Confectionery Company, later Jelly Belly, began mass-producing it in 1898.

Halloween skull imagery draws on which Latin tradition of reminders of mortality?

Memento mori and vanitas compositions use the skull as 'a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life'; in Brittany, children once set candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors.

Which enslaved woman in Samuel Parris's household was among the first accused at Salem in 1692?

Tituba, enslaved in Reverend Samuel Parris's household, was one of the first three women accused in February 1692, alongside Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne; her confession fuelled the panic.

Which Aztec goddess called the 'Lady of the Dead' is a root of Día de Muertos?

Mictecacihuatl, the Aztec queen of Mictlan who guarded the bones of the dead, presided over an ancient festival of the dead that fed into today's Día de Muertos.

In 19th-century Brittany, what was poured on kinfolk's graves at Allhallowtide for returning souls?

Milk was poured as a libation on the graves of kinfolk in 19th-century Brittany; elsewhere food was left overnight on the dinner table for the dead, as in Tyrol and parts of Italy.

In Ireland and Newfoundland, which phrase, named for a fruit game, means Halloween itself?

Snap Apple Night is an old name for Halloween in Ireland and Newfoundland, after the game of snapping at an apple swung on a string or floating in water.

Costumes at the Gaelic festival of Samhain may have disguised people from which folklore beings?

The aos sí, the fairy folk of Gaelic lore, were thought to roam freely at Samhain; disguising oneself may have been a way to hide from or imitate them.

In which century did Irish and Scottish immigrants bring many Halloween customs to North America?

Mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century, especially after the 1840s Famine, carried Halloween customs to North America, from which they later spread worldwide.

The word 'bonfire' is thought to come from ancient festival fires that burned what?

John Mirk's Book of Festivals describes a Saint John's Eve fire that 'was clene bones & no wode & that is callid a bone fyre'.

What traditional Irish fruitcake, baked with charms inside, is eaten at Halloween?

Barmbrack is a traditional Irish fruitcake, often associated with Halloween, where small charms or objects are baked inside to predict the eater's future.

Which Roman goddess of fruit is sometimes credited with Halloween's apple games?

Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and orchards, is sometimes credited by folklorists with Halloween's apple customs, though the link to her festival is unproven.

When was the interjection shouted by costumed children at doors first printed, in Ontario?

The earliest print use appears in The Sault Daily Star of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; the term reached the United States in 1928.

At which Irish hill was the Samhain fire lit from which every hearth was rekindled?

Tlachtga, the Hill of Ward in County Meath, was where the druids lit the Samhain fire; Geoffrey Keating wrote that all Ireland's hearths were quenched and rekindled from it.

Which February Roman festival of the dead may have influenced All Saints' and All Souls' days?

Parentalia involved a commemorative meal at relatives' graves, a custom Christian Romans extended to saints and martyrs.

Giles Corey refused to plead to 1692 Massachusetts witchcraft charges; how did he die?

Corey was pressed under stones: peine forte et dure piled ever heavier weights on the accused to force a plea, and he died after two days, reportedly saying 'More weight'.

In Scotland and Ireland, children who went house-to-house in costume for treats were traditionally called what?

Guising goes back at least to the 16th century, and North America's earliest recorded instance was in Canada in 1898.

Which famous author wrote 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' featuring the headless horseman?

Washington Irving penned 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' a timeless tale that introduced the iconic Headless Horseman, a popular Halloween figure.

Which Irish dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage was traditionally served on All Hallows' Eve?

Colcannon, mashed potato with cabbage or kale, was the Irish All Hallows' Eve supper; charms such as a ring or coin were hidden in it and portions served at random.

The earliest North American record of Halloween guising, in 1898, comes from which province?

The 1898 record comes from Vancouver, British Columbia, where a newspaper noted children going guising on Halloween; the next known report, from Kingston, Ontario, followed in 1911.

What is the name of the traditional Halloween game involving apples floating in water?

Apple bobbing is a popular Halloween party game where participants try to retrieve apples floating in a tub of water using only their mouths.

What supernatural being is a reanimated corpse craving human flesh?

The word entered English from Haitian folklore, where the zombi is a corporeal revenant.

In some ancient traditions, why were bonfires lit at the Gaelic 1 November festival?

Torches lit from the fire were sometimes carried sunwise around homes and fields.

Outside North America, what is the usual name for the whole-fruit Halloween treat rolled in syrup?

Toffee apples is the British and Commonwealth name; whole apples are dipped in hard sugar syrup, while North Americans call them candy apples or caramel apples.

Which 1922 German silent film turned Dracula into Count Orlok without Stoker's estate's permission?

Nosferatu (1922), F. W. Murnau's unauthorised adaptation, turned Dracula into Count Orlok; Stoker's widow sued and a court ordered all prints destroyed, though copies survived.

The first purpose-built haunted attraction, the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, opened in 1915 where?

The Orton and Spooner Ghost House opened in 1915 at Liphook, Hampshire, England, as a fairground attraction; later haunts have used abandoned asylums, prisons and old ships.

The term 'lycanthrope' comes from Ancient Greek words meaning what?

Lycanthrope joins Greek lykos, 'wolf', and anthropos, 'human', giving wolf-human; it is the learned twin of the Old English werewolf.

What year did the animated Disney short 'Trick or Treat' featuring Donald Duck first release?

Trick or Treat, released in October 1952, has Witch Hazel help Huey, Dewey and Louie get their Halloween candy from a stingy Donald Duck.

How many people were hanged in the 1692–93 witchcraft prosecutions of colonial Massachusetts?

Fourteen women and five men went to the gallows, and at least five more died in jail without trial.

Which medieval allegory, enacted with people dressed as corpses, may be the origin of Halloween costume parties?

The danse macabre, an allegory of Death leading all ranks to the grave, was acted out at village pageants with people dressed as corpses, a possible root of Halloween costume parties.

Which element is commonly used in horror stories and is said to be a weakness for vampires?

In Europe, mustard seeds were also sprinkled on roofs to keep vampires away, and in Romania garlic could be placed in a corpse's mouth.

During which period did American Halloween haunted houses first emerge as a community pastime?

Haunted houses spread in the United States during the Great Depression, as parents and civic groups organised spooky attractions to keep young pranksters out of mischief on Halloween.

Which Halloween film dropped Michael Myers for a plot about deadly Silver Shamrock masks?

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) abandoned Michael Myers for a story about Silver Shamrock masks rigged to kill children; the franchise brought Myers back in 1988.

Skeletons personifying death since the Middle Ages may stem from a vision in which biblical book?

Bruegel's 1562 Triumph of Death shows a whole army of skeletons raiding a town.

In Ireland and Scotland, Halloween masks were traditionally known by what name?

An 1890 account from Ayr describes boys 'rinning aboot wi' their fause-faces on' carrying lanterns.

In which region is the Brittonic 1 November festival called Kalan Gwav, 'first day of winter'?

Kalan Gwav is the Cornish name, marking the first day of winter in Cornwall; the Welsh equivalent is Calan Gaeaf and the Breton Kalan Goañv.

'Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus' was first published in which year?

Frankenstein first appeared in 1818, published anonymously in three volumes by Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones in London; the revised 1831 edition carried Mary Shelley's name.

Which monstrous humanoid of folklore haunts graveyards and feeds on human flesh?

The word comes from Arabic ghūl, a demon-like being that haunts graveyards and devours the dead.

Which Scottish poet published a poem titled 'Halloween' in 1785?

It was influenced by John Mayne's 1780 verse noting Halloween pranks and 'bogles', or ghosts.

The mask worn by the killers in Wes Craven's 1996 slasher was created by which costume company?

Fun World, the New York costume company, sold the mask from 1991 as 'The Peanut-Eyed Ghost' in its Fantastic Faces line; Scream's makers licensed it for Ghostface.

In which Massachusetts town are the Sanderson sisters resurrected in Hocus Pocus (1993)?

Hocus Pocus is set in Salem, Massachusetts, where Max lights the Black Flame Candle and revives the Sanderson sisters, played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy.

Who directed the stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)?

Tim Burton's name is in the title, but Selick directed from Caroline Thompson's script.

What title does Jack Skellington hold in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, its ruler and star; bored with scaring, he stumbles into Christmas Town and becomes obsessed with Christmas.

Who plays the 'bio-exorcist' Betelgeuse in Tim Burton's 1988 comedy Beetlejuice?

Michael Keaton plays Betelgeuse, the crude 'bio-exorcist' ghost, in Beetlejuice (1988), alongside Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara.

Who sang 1984's chart-topping 'Ghostbusters' theme?

Ray Parker Jr. wrote and sang 'Ghostbusters', which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 1984; Huey Lewis later sued over its resemblance to 'I Want a New Drug'.

Halloweentown (1998), starring Debbie Reynolds, was which number Disney Channel Original Movie?

Halloweentown was the fourth Disney Channel Original Movie, after Under Wraps, You Lucky Dog and Brink!; Duwayne Dunham directed it.

What is the name of the burlap-headed trick-or-treating demon linking the stories in Trick 'r Treat?

Sam, short for Samhain, is the burlap-masked child-demon who appears whenever someone breaks a Halloween rule in Michael Dougherty's 2007 anthology Trick 'r Treat.

How many films made up the Halloween slasher franchise by the end of 2025?

Laurie Strode, mostly played by Jamie Lee Curtis, keeps trying to stop Michael Myers; Halloween Ends (2022) was the thirteenth.

On what tiny budget was John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) made?

Halloween was made for about $300,000 and grossed some $70 million worldwide, one of the most profitable independent films ever; Carpenter also composed the score.

Michael Myers stalks babysitters in which fictional Illinois town?

Haddonfield is where he had murdered his teenage sister on Halloween 15 years earlier, the crime that got him committed.

Producer Debra Hill cast Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween partly because of whose horror fame?

Leigh's Oscar-nominated Psycho role made her a horror icon.

David Gordon Green's 2018 slasher sequel ignores every entry in its franchise except which one?

Halloween (2018) is a direct sequel to the 1978 original only, retconning every other entry; Jamie Lee Curtis returned as Laurie Strode, and Danny McBride co-wrote it with Green and Jeff Fradley.

Which 1975 musical comedy is the longest-running theatrical release in film history?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, released in 1975, has never left cinemas; it became a cult midnight movie at New York's Waverly Theater in 1976 and holds the record for longest theatrical run.

Which veteran horror actor performs the spoken-word rap on Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'?

Vincent Price delivers the spoken-word sequence; Rod Temperton wrote the song and Quincy Jones produced it.

Who directed the 'Thriller' music video, the first ever selected for the US National Film Registry?

John Landis, director of An American Werewolf in London, directed the 14-minute 'Thriller' video; the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2009.

Who recorded the 1962 novelty hit 'Monster Mash'?

Bobby 'Boris' Pickett, doing his Boris Karloff impression, recorded 'Monster Mash' with the Crypt-Kickers; it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week before Halloween 1962.

The Ouija board was named in 1890 in which US city?

The Ouija board was named in Baltimore in 1890, at the Kennard Novelty Company, by medium Helen Peters Nosworthy; Elijah Bond's patent followed in 1891.

What is the name of Michael Myers's psychiatrist in the 1978 film Halloween?

Dr. Sam Loomis, played by Donald Pleasence, is the psychiatrist who hunts his escaped patient Michael Myers; Carpenter borrowed the name from John Gavin's character in Psycho.

Which US city was so plagued by 'Devil's Night' arson in the 1980s that citizens formed patrols?

Devil's Night is Detroit's name for Mischief Night, the evening before Halloween.

Who directed the 1931 Universal Dracula starring Bela Lugosi?

Tod Browning directed Universal's 1931 Dracula, the first sound-film adaptation of Stoker's novel, with Bela Lugosi reprising his Broadway role as the Count.

Who created Boris Karloff's monster makeup for Frankenstein (1931)?

Jack Pierce, Universal's makeup chief, built Boris Karloff's flat-headed, bolt-necked monster over weeks of experiments; James Whale directed.

Who wrote the 1941 film The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr.?

Curt Siodmak wrote The Wolf Man, inventing much of modern werewolf lore including the pentagram and the 'even a man who is pure in heart' rhyme; George Waggner produced and directed.

Who directed The Exorcist (1973)?

William Friedkin directed The Exorcist, fresh from The French Connection; William Peter Blatty adapted and produced his own 1971 novel and won the adapted-screenplay Oscar.

Cassandra Peterson found fame hosting which weekly Los Angeles B-picture show?

Elvira's Movie Macabre, launched on Los Angeles station KHJ-TV in 1981, made Cassandra Peterson's Elvira, Mistress of the Dark a Halloween icon.

Casper (1995) was the first feature film whose lead role was played by what?

Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman star alongside the ghosts.

In what year did Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights begin, as a three-night event?

Halloween Horror Nights began in 1991 as Universal Studios Fright Nights, a three-night event at Universal Studios Florida, and took its current name the following year.

Which California event is called the first, largest and longest-running theme-park Halloween event?

It takes place at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park.

Where did George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead premiere on October 1, 1968?

Night of the Living Dead premiered at Pittsburgh's Fulton Theater on 1 October 1968; Romero shot it around Evans City, Pennsylvania, and directed, photographed and edited it.

The 2009 stop-motion film Coraline is based on a novella by which author?

Neil Gaiman's 2002 novella Coraline won the Hugo and Nebula awards; Henry Selick wrote and directed the 2009 stop-motion adaptation for Laika.

In which year did Scholastic publish Welcome to Dead House, the first Goosebumps book?

Welcome to Dead House, the first Goosebumps book, was published by Scholastic in July 1992; R. L. Stine went on to write more than 60 books in the original series.

Which confectioner makes Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, created by H. B. Reese in 1928?

Hershey makes Reese's Peanut Butter Cups; H. B. Reese, a former Hershey dairy farmer, created them in 1928 and Hershey bought his company in 1963.

Per a 2018 National Retail Federation report, how much would Americans spend on pet costumes?

The NRF's 2018 survey projected $480 million on pet costumes, with roughly 30 million Americans planning to dress up a pet, out of $9 billion total Halloween spending.

How many 'happy haunts' does the Ghost Host say live in Disney's Haunted Mansion?

The Ghost Host says 999 happy haunts live in the Haunted Mansion, 'but there's room for a thousand'; the Disneyland ride opened in August 1969.

In It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, the Great Pumpkin rises in the patch of whom?

Linus explains this to Sally as they wait through Halloween night; the special aired in 1966.

The Blair Witch Project's students hike near which Maryland town?

The students vanish in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, the town once called Blair; Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez wrote and directed the 1999 found-footage hit.

In The Conjuring (2013), the Warrens help which family in a Rhode Island farmhouse?

James Wan directed the film based on the case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Per the National Retail Federation, roughly how much did Americans spend on Halloween in 2023?

The National Retail Federation put 2023 Halloween spending at a record $12.2 billion, over $10 billion for the third straight year, led by costumes, decorations and candy.

Pangangaluluwa, a rural children's custom on All Hallows' Eve, is a form of souling in which country?

Children drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and sing for alms, echoing the medieval soul-cake tradition.

Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay, introduced in 2001, is themed to which film?

Haunted Mansion Holiday, first staged at Disneyland in 2001, re-dresses the ride with Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas from Halloween through the New Year.