128 Fun Facts About Halloween Trivia for Kids

Halloween falls on the last day of which month?

Halloween is 31 October, the evening before the Christian feast of All Hallows' Day.

The word Halloween is a shortened form of which older name?

It comes from the Scots form of All Hallows' Eve, where 'even' means evening. So the name means saints' evening.

Why did people once set carved lanterns on their windowsills?

Carved lanterns were believed to ward off evil spirits, which is why they ended up facing outward at windows.

Botanically speaking, a pumpkin counts as which of these?

A pumpkin is a berry, a kind called a pepo, the same botanical trick that makes cucumbers berries too.

The record pumpkin weighed in October 2023 came closest to which figure?

The record was set in October 2023 at 1,246.9 kg, which is about 2,749 pounds — roughly the weight of a small car.

Wild pumpkins and the first farmed ones came from which continent?

Pumpkins are native to what is now northeastern Mexico and the southern United States, and were farmed thousands of years ago.

What do costumed children call out at the door on Halloween night?

Children shout 'Trick or treat', a playful threat politely delivered; going door to door in costume for sweets was standard across North America by the 1950s.

Which cakes were handed out to people who went door to door at Allhallowtide?

Soul cakes were given in exchange for prayers for the dead, and the custom is a likely ancestor of trick-or-treating.

The Halloween call children make at the door was first recorded in print in which country?

The phrase was first printed in Canada: it appeared in Canadian newspapers in the 1920s, including Alberta's Blackie Herald in 1927, before it spread across the United States.

In apple bobbing, how are players supposed to get an apple out of the water?

Players must grab an apple using only their teeth, with hands kept behind their backs; apples float, so heads get wet. The game is centuries old in Britain and Ireland.

Bats are the only mammals that can do which of these?

Flying squirrels only glide. Bats are the sole mammals capable of true, sustained flight.

Bats belong to which order of animals?

Chiroptera comes from Ancient Greek for 'hand-wing', which is exactly what a bat's wing is — a webbed hand.

How do most bats find insects and obstacles in the dark?

Echolocation means sending out ultrasonic squeaks and reading the echoes that bounce back, building a sound picture of the dark.

Candy corn is made in white, orange and which third colour?

The yellow, orange and white bands are meant to look like a kernel of corn on the cob, or the colours of the fall harvest.

Mexico's Day of the Dead is traditionally held on which dates?

Día de los Muertos runs on 1 and 2 November; in many towns 1 November honours children and 2 November adults, though celebrations can begin on 31 October.

What is an ofrenda?

Families build a private altar holding the favourite food, drink and photographs of relatives who have died.

Brightly decorated sugar skulls are known in Spanish by which name?

Calaveras are painted in bold colours to celebrate the personality of the person being remembered.

Which country's films, TV and shops spread Halloween customs worldwide in the late 20th century?

The United States exported Halloween everywhere else through its movies, television and stores, long after the customs began in the British Isles.

In a 2025 US survey, which Halloween activity was the most popular of all?

Two out of three people said they would hand out candy, ahead of dressing up and decorating, both on 51%.

Roughly what share of Americans said they would celebrate Halloween in 2025?

About three-quarters of Americans, 73 per cent, told the National Retail Federation's 2025 survey they planned to celebrate Halloween, a big number for a holiday with no day off attached.

Which company makes Reese's Peanut Butter Cups?

Reese's has been a Hershey brand for decades and is one of the best-selling sweet brands anywhere.

Which advertising slogan belongs to Skittles?

'Taste the rainbow' was coined for Skittles in 1994 by the New York agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles and has stuck to the brand ever since.

In which decade were Halloween costumes first mass-produced for shops?

Firms like Ben Cooper began making shop-bought costumes in the 1930s, just as trick-or-treating took off.

All Saints' Day, the feast right after Halloween, falls on which date?

All Saints' Day is 1 November; Halloween on 31 October is its eve, which is where the holiday's name comes from in the first place.

Which day comes immediately after All Saints' Day?

All Souls' Day commemorates the faithful departed and completes the three-day season of Allhallowtide.

Which ancient Gaelic festival, marking the start of winter, is usually said to be the root of Halloween?

Samhain, held around 1 November, marked the end of harvest and the start of winter across the Gaelic world, including the Isle of Man, a night when the otherworld was thought to draw near.

Immigrants from which two countries carried most Halloween customs across the Atlantic in the 1800s?

Ireland and Scotland supplied the immigrants who carried Halloween to North America, especially after the Great Famine of the 1840s sent more than a million Irish across the Atlantic.

Before pumpkins, what vegetable did Halloween pranksters in Ireland and Britain hollow out for lanterns?

Turnips were hollowed out and carved with faces in Ireland and Britain; the larger, softer pumpkin took over once the custom reached North America.

What are the traditional colours of Halloween?

Black and orange are the traditional pair: orange for autumn leaves and pumpkins, black for night and death, with purple sometimes sneaking in as a third colour.

Which animal, long linked with witches, is a common Halloween symbol?

In UK folklore they are actually thought to bring good luck.

What is the old Scottish name for going house to house in costume for treats?

Guising, going about in disguise, is recorded in Scotland from the 19th century; children performed a song or verse at each door to earn their reward.

What was candy corn originally called when it went on sale in the 1880s?

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

What kind of plant is a pumpkin?

A pumpkin is a winter squash, a Cucurbita fruit harvested mature with a hard rind; there is no strict botanical definition, so many round orange squashes get called pumpkins.

Which character waits in the pumpkin patch in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?

The special aired every year on broadcast TV from 1966 to 2020.

In which town do the Hocus Pocus witches come back to life?

The witches return in Salem, Massachusetts, where the film opens in 1693 and then jumps 300 years to Halloween night 1993.

The Halloween song Monster Mash was recorded in 1962 by which singer?

Bobby 'Boris' Pickett recorded Monster Mash with the Crypt-Kickers in 1962 and kept performing it for decades, until his death in 2007.

Why did the BBC ban Monster Mash from the radio in 1962?

The BBC judged the song too morbid for airplay in 1962; the ban was lifted for its 1973 re-release, when it reached the UK top three.

By one old explanation, why did people wear masks and costumes on Halloween night?

People dressed up so wandering ghosts would not recognise them, since souls of the dead were believed to roam until All Saints' Day looking for old enemies.

Which sticky Halloween treat is made by dipping a whole piece of autumn fruit in sugar syrup or caramel?

Toffee apples are called candy apples in North America, and they were once handed out to trick-or-treaters.

Where were children first recorded going door to door in costume in North America, in 1898?

A Vancouver, British Columbia newspaper reported children in disguise on Halloween in 1898, the earliest known North American record of the custom.

What is a carved, glowing pumpkin with a face called?

The name comes from strange flickering lights once seen over peat bogs, also called will-o'-the-wisps.

In the Irish tale of Stingy Jack, whom did Jack trick into climbing a tree?

Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree, then carved a cross into the trunk so the Devil could not come down until he promised never to take Jack's soul.

What is a group of witches traditionally called?

A coven is the traditional name for a group of witches; the word was popularised by Margaret Murray's 1921 book, which claimed covens had thirteen members.

Who wrote the 1820 story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?

Washington Irving published it in 1820 in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., the same collection that contains Rip Van Winkle.

What is the job of Ichabod Crane in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?

Ichabod Crane is the lanky, superstitious schoolteacher of Sleepy Hollow, boarding with his pupils' families in turn and courting the heiress Katrina Van Tassel.

What is the name of the borrowed horse Ichabod rides to the harvest party?

Gunpowder is the broken-down plough horse Ichabod borrows from the farmer Hans Van Ripper to ride to the Van Tassels' party.

Who invented candy corn in the 1880s?

George Renninger, a candymaker at the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia, created candy corn in the 1880s; the Goelitz company began making it in 1898.

Which company was the biggest maker of candy corn in the early 2020s?

Brach's makes about 7 billion pieces a year.

On what date is National Candy Corn Day?

National Candy Corn Day is October 30, the day before Halloween, at the peak of the season in which most of the year's candy corn is sold.

What nickname is given to the red-and-green Christmas version of the classic tri-colour candy?

Brach's sells the red, green and white Christmas version as Reindeer corn; the Valentine's version, in red and pink, is Cupid corn.

When did trunk-or-treating, with candy handed out from car boots, begin?

Trunk-or-treating began in the 1990s, when churches in the United States organised it in their car parks as a safer, shorter alternative to going door to door.

Where was the first full-size corn maze said to have been cut, in 1993?

Corn mazes are called maize mazes in the United Kingdom.

What do people in the United Kingdom call the farm attraction cut through a cornfield?

Britons call it a maize maze, because in British English 'corn' means any cereal crop and the American plant is called maize.

Which apple is the classic choice for caramel apples because it is tart and crisp?

Granny Smith is the classic caramel apple: its sharp, firm green flesh balances the sweet coating, and a caramel apple rolled in nuts is sometimes called a taffy apple.

What are candy apples called in France?

Candy apples are pommes d'amour, 'apples of love', in France, sold at fairs and Christmas markets with a hard red sugar shell.

Why do apples float when you bob for them?

Apples are less dense than water because about a quarter of their volume is air trapped between the cells, so they bob at the surface.

What is apple bobbing called in Scotland?

Scots call it dooking, meaning ducking, while in Ireland 'Snap Apple Night' is another name for Halloween.

In which cartoon does Mr. Krabs swallow an apple while bobbing in a Halloween episode?

The episode is season one's 'Scaredy Pants'.

Hulled pumpkin seeds are sold under which Spanish-derived name?

Pepitas, from the Spanish pepita de calabaza, are hulled pumpkin seeds; roasted and salted, they are a classic by-product of pumpkin carving.

Pumpkins, beans and corn were grown together by Native Americans in a method called what?

In the Three Sisters method, corn gives the beans a pole to climb, beans fix nitrogen for the soil, and the sprawling pumpkin leaves shade out weeds and keep the ground moist.

Besides orange, which other colours can pumpkins be?

White and green pumpkins are common: Casper and Lumina are white varieties, while kabocha, the Japanese pumpkin, has dark green skin.

Which spice is NOT usually in pumpkin pie spice?

Paprika is a pepper powder, not a sweet spice; the blend is cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves or allspice.

Which cat breed is always black?

The Bombay was bred in 1950s Kentucky by crossing a Burmese with a black American Shorthair to look like a miniature black panther; only black coats are accepted.

In the UK and Ireland, a black cat crossing your path is thought to be what?

In British and Irish folklore a black cat crossing your path brings good luck, the opposite of the American superstition; sailors' wives kept black cats to bring their husbands home safely.

How far can an owl turn its head?

An owl can turn its head about 270 degrees in either direction, thanks to 14 neck vertebrae (humans have seven) and extra-roomy arteries that keep blood flowing.

What is a group of owls called?

A parliament of owls: the collective noun was popularised by C. S. Lewis, whose Narnia book The Silver Chair features a parliament of owls.

Which is the smallest owl in the world?

The elf owl, about 13 centimetres long and 40 grams, is the world's smallest owl; it nests in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti of the American Southwest and Mexico.

How many legs does a spider have?

Spiders have eight legs, one of the marks of an arachnid; insects have six legs and antennae, which spiders lack.

What do spiders use to make silk?

Spinnerets, small nozzle-like organs on the spider's abdomen, spin liquid silk from up to six kinds of glands into thread.

Which is the only continent with no spiders?

Antarctica has no spiders; its largest land animal is a wingless midge, while more than 50,000 spider species live on every other continent.

How many bones are in an adult human skeleton?

An adult has 206 bones, more than half of them in the hands and feet; the smallest, the stapes in the middle ear, is about 3 millimetres long.

Newborn babies have roughly how many bones?

A newborn has over 270 bones, many of them still partly cartilage; skull plates and long bones fuse through childhood to leave 206 in adulthood.

What is a hard outer skeleton, like a crab's shell, called?

An exoskeleton is a rigid outer shell that holds up an animal's shape, while our inside skeleton is an endoskeleton.

Roughly what share of all mammal species are bats?

About 20% of all mammal species are bats, and they are the only mammals that can truly fly.

Which is the smallest bat in the world?

Kitti's hog-nosed bat, also called the bumblebee bat, is about 3 centimetres long and 2 grams, living in limestone caves in Thailand and Myanmar.

Which are the biggest bats?

The giant golden-crowned flying fox is the heaviest of all.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire novel Dracula was published in which year?

Dracula was published in 1897 by Archibald Constable and Company in London, while Stoker was business manager of the Lyceum Theatre.

Where is Count Dracula's castle in Bram Stoker's novel?

The castle stands in Transylvania, in the Carpathian mountains near the Borgo Pass, from where Dracula ships himself in boxes of earth to Whitby in England.

Which strong-smelling food is famous in folklore for keeping vampires away?

In Romania, garlic was even placed in the mouths of the dead as a precaution.

Who wrote the 1818 novel that introduced Frankenstein's monster?

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, begun at 18 during the rainy 1816 summer at Lake Geneva and published anonymously in 1818; the monster is never named, Frankenstein is his creator.

Which actor's 1930s films gave Frankenstein's monster his famous flat-headed look?

Bobby Pickett imitated Karloff's voice to sing Monster Mash.

The word 'werewolf' comes from Old English words meaning what?

Werewolf means man-wolf: Old English wer meant 'man' (as in Latin vir) and wulf 'wolf', and the compound werewulf is recorded around the year 1000.

In modern films, what usually makes a werewolf transform?

The full moon as the trigger is largely a movie invention, spread by Universal's 1930s and 1940s werewolf films; older folklore blamed curses, magic belts or potions.

Zombie stories originally come from the folklore of which country?

Zombies come from Haitian Vodou folklore, where a sorcerer (bokor) was said to revive the dead as mindless workers; the word reached English in 1819 via Robert Southey's History of Brazil.

Which pop star's 1983 music video famously featured dancing zombies?

Michael Jackson's 14-minute Thriller video, directed by John Landis and released in December 1983, has Jackson leading a troupe of dancing zombies.

Ancient Egyptians made mummies of more than a million of which animals?

Cats (sacred to Bastet) and ibis birds (sacred to Thoth) were mummified by the million as offerings; the Saqqara ibis catacombs alone hold an estimated 1.75 million birds.

In which year did It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown first air?

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown first aired on CBS on 27 October 1966, the third Peanuts special, a year after A Charlie Brown Christmas.

What does Charlie Brown get in his trick-or-treat bag instead of candy?

Charlie Brown gets rocks — 'I got a rock' — at every house, because his ghost costume is a sheet with far too many eye-holes cut in it.

Who dresses as a World War I flying ace in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?

He imagines his doghouse is a Sopwith Camel fighting the Red Baron.

Which character stays with Linus in the pumpkin patch because she has a crush on him?

Sally, Charlie Brown's little sister, waits all night with Linus out of devotion, then berates him for making her miss trick-or-treating: 'You owe me restitution!'

What is the family name of the three witches in Hocus Pocus?

The Sanderson sisters — Winifred, Mary and Sarah — are hanged in Salem in 1693 and return 300 years later on Halloween night.

In Hocus Pocus, which zombie do the witches raise from the Salem graveyard?

Billy Butcherson, Winifred's former lover, is raised from the Salem graveyard by the witches; she had poisoned him and sewn his mouth shut in 1693, and he turns on them to help the children.

What does Max light in Hocus Pocus that brings the witches back?

Max lights the Black-Flame Candle, which legend says will raise the witches if lit by a virgin on Halloween night during a full moon.

What is Jack Skellington's title in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, bored of frights, who stumbles into Christmas Town through a door in a tree and decides to run Christmas himself.

What does Jack Skellington mistakenly call Santa Claus?

Jack calls him 'Sandy Claws', mishearing the name as something suitably clawed, and has Santa kidnapped so he can deliver the presents himself.

Which trio is sent to kidnap Santa in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Lock, Shock and Barrel, Oogie Boogie's trick-or-treating henchmen, kidnap Santa in their walking bathtub and, disobeying Jack, deliver him to Oogie Boogie.

How was The Nightmare Before Christmas animated?

The Nightmare Before Christmas is stop-motion: puppets were moved frame by frame over three years of shooting, with hundreds of swappable heads for Jack's expressions.

Who provided Jack Skellington's singing voice?

Elfman also wrote all the songs; Chris Sarandon spoke Jack's lines.

Casper the Friendly Ghost has how many wicked uncles?

They are known as the Ghostly Trio.

According to Joe Oriolo, why was Casper created?

He hung a cardboard friendly ghost in a tree to show her not all ghosts are bad.

How high did Monster Mash climb on the US singles chart just before Halloween 1962?

Monster Mash reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 20 October 1962 and stayed there for two weeks, straddling Halloween.

What was the title of Bobby Pickett's Christmas follow-up to Monster Mash?

Pickett followed up with Monsters' Holiday in December 1962, a Christmas sequel that reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Which dance craze inspired the 'Mash' in Monster Mash?

The Mashed Potato, the 1962 dance craze behind Dee Dee Sharp's hit 'Mashed Potato Time', inspired the 'Mash', done here with stiff Frankenstein-style arm gestures.

In Halloweentown, Marnie finds out she is a witch on which birthday?

Without training before 13, she would lose her powers.

How do the kids in Halloweentown get to the town of monsters?

Marnie, Dylan and Sophie sneak onto the magical bus that carries their grandmother Aggie back to Halloweentown after she leaves their house.

In Coraline, what do the 'Other' parents have instead of eyes?

The Other Mother and Other Father have shiny black buttons sewn where their eyes should be, and the Other Mother wants to sew buttons onto Coraline's eyes too.

Who wrote the book Coraline is based on?

Gaiman's novella came out in 2002; the stop-motion film followed in 2009.

In Monster House, what is scary about the house across the street?

The house is alive, possessed by a spirit, and it swallows toys, pets and anyone who steps onto its lawn; the film is set in the run-up to Halloween.

What is the name of the grumpy old neighbour in Monster House?

Mr. Nebbercracker, voiced by Steve Buscemi, snatches any ball, bike or kite that lands on his lawn — to protect the children from the house, it turns out.

In Frankenweenie, what kind of pet does Victor bring back to life?

Victor's dog, a bull terrier, is killed by a car and brought back to life with lightning in the attic, in homage to Frankenstein.

What is the name of Victor's dog in Frankenweenie?

Sparky, Victor's bull terrier, is revived with lightning; the 2012 stop-motion film remakes Tim Burton's own 1984 live-action short of the same name.

Where do the Ghostbusters run their ghost-catching business?

The Ghostbusters work out of a disused firehouse in New York City; the exterior is Hook & Ladder 8 in Tribeca.

Which giant food mascot stomps through the city at the end of Ghostbusters?

Ray lets the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man into his head when Gozer demands they choose the form of the destructor — 'something that could never, ever possibly destroy us'.

Who sang the hit Ghostbusters theme song?

Ray Parker Jr.'s 'Ghostbusters' spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1984; Huey Lewis later sued over its resemblance to 'I Want a New Drug'.

In Beetlejuice, what book helps the Maitlands realise they are ghosts?

The Handbook for the Recently Deceased appears on their table after the car crash into the river; Adam complains it 'reads like stereo instructions'.

Who plays Betelgeuse in the 1988 film Beetlejuice?

Michael Keaton plays Betelgeuse, on screen for only about 17 minutes, and returned for Tim Burton's 2024 sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

What are the names of the Addams Family children?

Wednesday and Pugsley are the Addams children; Wednesday's name comes from the rhyme 'Wednesday's child is full of woe'.

What is Thing in the Addams Family?

Thing is a disembodied hand, usually popping out of a box; in the 1960s TV series the hand belonged to Ted Cassidy, and in the 1991 film it scampered around on its own.

What is the name of the Addams Family butler?

Lurch is the towering, groaning butler, played by Ted Cassidy in the 1960s series, who answers the gong with 'You rang?'

Which 2022 Netflix series follows a teenage Addams at Nevermore Academy?

Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega and produced by Tim Burton, premiered on Netflix in November 2022 and follows Wednesday Addams as a pupil at Nevermore Academy.

In Room on the Broom, which three animals join the witch and her cat?

A dog, a bird and a frog each return something the witch has dropped — her hat, her bow and her wand — and are rewarded with a seat on the broom, until it snaps in two.

Who wrote the picture book Room on the Broom?

Julia Donaldson wrote Room on the Broom in 2001 with illustrator Axel Scheffler, her partner on The Gruffalo; it became an Oscar-nominated animated short in 2012.

What kind of dog is Scooby-Doo?

Scooby is a Great Dane; designer Iwao Takamoto drew him as the opposite of a prize-winning Dane — bowed legs, small chin, sloping back — after quizzing a breeder.

What is the name of the van the Scooby-Doo gang drives?

The Mystery Machine is the gang's flower-painted van, in teal, green and orange, that carries them from one haunted spot to the next.

Which charity have trick-or-treaters collected coins for since 1950?

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF began in 1950 in Philadelphia, when children collected coins in decorated milk cartons; the first year raised about $17.

Which Disneyland ride, opened in 1969, made spooky houses an American icon?

The Haunted Mansion opened at Disneyland in August 1969 with its 999 'happy haunts'; Walt Disney had announced it years earlier and it was finished after his death.

On what date do people in Britain light bonfires for Guy Fawkes Night?

Bonfire Night is 5 November, the date in 1605 when Guy Fawkes was caught guarding gunpowder beneath the House of Lords in the failed plot to blow up Parliament.

Which orange flowers decorate Day of the Dead altars in Mexico?

Marigolds, called cempasúchil in Mexico, are the 'flower of the dead'; their bright orange petals and scent are said to guide spirits back to the family altar.