31 Spooky Halloween Facts

31. Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved out of turnips and potatoes.

30. Ireland is widely regarded as the birthplace of Halloween.

image credit: https://www.halloweenexpress.com/halloween_facts.php

29. Danny Lloyd, the six year-old actor who played Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had no idea he was filming a horror movie.

28. This man is likely the reason parents still check their kids’ Halloween candy to this day.

27. Daylight Savings Time w as extended until November to sell more candy.

26. There is a good chance that you could be attacked at a Halloween Haunted House.. if you work there.

25. The movie “Halloween” was shot on a small budget, so they used the cheapest mask they could find for Michael Meyers, which was a  Star Trek Capt. Kirk mask.

24. After Christmas, Halloween is the second highest retail-driven holiday.

23. The CDC, military and police see value in training for a zombie apocalypse.

22. Last year, a Russian man dug up 29 corpses and displayed them as human dolls around his apartment. (don’t worry, no images)

21. The most popular male Halloween costume in 2012 is a vampire, and female is a witch.

20. Although horror movies are notorious for their mostly female victims, everyone killed in the original “Saw” movie was male.

19. One Halloween season, a Delaware woman hung herself from a tree near a busy road. She hung for over 24 hours before authorities were called, as most passersby dismissed it as a decoration.

18. In the 19th century, verification of death was not an exact science, thus the chances of being buried alive were so real that many invested in coffins that were equipped with a means of communicating to the living world if they found themselves buried underground.

17. The cast and crew of The Exorcist believe the film was cursed. Nine people died during filming (some directly involved, some family members). Years later, the son of the actress who supplied the demon’s voice killed his family and himself.

16. Courteney Cox actively sought the “bitchy” role of Gale Weathers in Scream in hopes of avoiding being forever typecast as her “nice” Friends character Monica.

15. Halloween was originally a Celtic celebration to mark the end of summer.

14. The first ever trick-or-treaters were poor Europeans, and they were given “soul cakes” when they went door to door asking for food.

13. Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926. He suffered a ruptured appendix as a result of letting someone punch him in the belly as hard as he could three times.

12. Vanilla Ice was born on Halloween, along with Piper Perabo, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Rob Schneider & Diedre Hall:

11. Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween.

10. Once Alfred Hitchcock secured the movie rights to the book Psycho was based on, he bought up all the copies he could find in an attempt to prevent people from knowing the ending.

9. Some say bobbing for apples used to be a way to predict the identity of your true love.

8. Serial killer John Wayne Gacy dressed up as a clown to entertain children at birthday parties.

7. Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess of Hungary, was said to have killed more than 600 young peasant girls and bathed in their blood.

6. The first wrapped candy: Tootsie Rolls.

5. Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for his role in “Silence of the Lambs“. He was on screen for roughly 16 minutes.

4. Every year, over $4 billion is spent on costumes, candy and decorations for Halloween.

3. The first U.S. city to officially recognize Halloween was Anoka, Minnesota, in 1921.

2. The “Chucky” doll’s full name is Charles Lee Ray, named after Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald & James Earl Ray.

1. Halloween is the third biggest party night of the year. Hit the comments to guess which nights are #1 & 2!