To Scare or to be Scared?

Halloween facts and trivia galore…

It’s spooky season again and Halloween is just around the corner folks! And while you might be
busy planning the perfect outfit, Halloween is not just about dressing up and going trick or
treating. Like any other age-old celebration, it comes with its fair share of myths, traditions, and
of course hair-raising horror stories. Keep on reading if you dare, for a mish-mash of fun facts,
sinister tales, some myth busting and much more.

Let’s start with the basics…All Saint’s Eve, Hallows Eve, or Halloween as we call it, dates
centuries back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. It was celebrated to mark the pagan New Year
and the festivities were quite gruesome and involved large bonfires and animal sacrifices! And
the masks the Celts wore? Well they were just dead animals.

A gigantic spider web, complete with a spider completes any Halloween decoration. But did you
know that despite many of us hating these creatures, spotting a spider on Halloween night is
considered an omen of good luck. And it’s believed that if you see a spider during Halloween, it
means that a loved one is watching over you. Yet another superstition associated with them is
that if a spider crawls into your pocket, it will bless you with ever lasting wealth. So keep your
eyes peeled for one of these creepy crawlies and good luck will follow! But beware if a spider
falls into a flame or a candle… it means that a witch or two are nearby!

However, Halloween decorations aren’t always fun and games. There have been instances where
real human bodies were purposefully used as Halloween props or have been mistaken for them.
In 2005, a woman hung herself from a tall tree at dawn on a day leading up to Halloween, but no
one realized that it was not a prop until a few days later. And in 2009, there was a corpse
displayed on a man’s porch…the neighbors loved the authentic looking Halloween prop until…
four days later they realized it was their neighbor himself who was dead and rotting on his own
porch with a bullet lodged in his eye socket. Gruesome much?

This one is for the girls… Scottish girls believed that they could see images of their future
husband is they hung wet sheets in front of the fire on Halloween. Try it at your own risk!!
Ever heard of the word Samhainophobia? It’s the intense fear of Halloween. While all of us love
today’s fun, candy-filled holiday, in the past it was believed to be the day when the gates of hell
would open and unleash all the wondering angry spirits. I certainly don’t blame anyone who’s
scared of that.

So you probably won’t be able to go to any Halloween parties this year, but that doesn’t mean
you still can’t celebrate. Get all dressed up, even if there’s nowhere to go, pump up some
Monster Mash tunes and sit down in front of the TV with all your favorite candy and have a
scary movie marathon. Hocus Pocus and Poltergeist are some of the classics but if you’re made
of much sterner stuff give ‘Seven’ a try (Young Brad Pitt woo!). And most importantly, have
fun, stay safe, and stay spooky!

Penned by: Rtr. Kushlani Nagahawatta