HALLOWEEN TRIVIA

Halloween candy sales average about two billion dollars per year.

Black cats were once thought to protect witches.

Some people believe that if you see a spider on Halloween, it is the spirit of a loved one watching over you.

The world's record for biggest pumpkin is currently held by a gigantic gourd weighing  1,385 pounds.

Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

In the movie 'Three Men and a Baby', the supposed ghost is actually a poster behind the curtain. You can see them carrying it later on somewhere in the movie.

The infamous Black Plague in Europe was due in part to the fact that people believed those with cats were witches. So all the cats were rounded up, caged and burned, leaving the rats (with their disease causing parasites) to run free and multiply.

If you see a spider on Halloween, a deceased loved one is watching over you.

Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is the color of Fall, of harvest and black stands for death, decay and darkness.

The 2nd most commercially successful holiday in the US calendar after Christmas is Halloween.

According to superstition, if you stand in front of a mirror at midnight on Halloween, you will see your future spouse over your left shoulder.

Michael Myers' mask is a Captain Kirk mask painted white with ruffled hair.

Up until the Blair Witch project, Halloween was the highest grossing independent movie ever made. It was made with a tiny budget of $310 000, but made $50,000 000, at the box office.

In Irish tradition, jack-o-lanterns were the poor man's gargoyle. The Irish would hollow out turnips and place candles inside to keep wandering spirits from the house. Irish immigrants who came to America during the potato famine continued this custom, but also used pumpkins, which only grew on this continent. Tradition says that an Irish man named Jack, too wicked for heaven and expelled from hell for playing tricks on the devil, was condemned to walk the earth with a lantern forever, and that's why they're called jack-o-lanterns. Other legends about the jack-o-lantern also refer to a scoundrel named Jack.

This staple of Halloween comes out of Scottish tradition. The Scots saw Halloween as the night when the dead walked among the living, and feared that the dead might steal their souls. To confuse them, the living would dress as the dead.

In Ireland Halloween is also called Pooky Night after a mischievous spirit in Irish folklore called the púca.

In the UK, particularly England, Halloween was sometimes called Nutcrack Night or Snap Apple Night because families would eat nuts and apples in front of the fire whilst telling stories.

In parts of Africa people hold a Dumb Supper where no one speaks during the meal. The idea is that the silence will encourage spirits to come to the table. It is also celebrated by some African Americans.

It’s said that ringing a bell on Halloween scares the ghouls away.