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What Your Neighbors Are Passing Out This Halloween and More Halloween Fun Facts

Wonder what your neighbors will be passing out this Halloween? Hershey Foods did a telephone survey to find out everything you ever wondered about the spookiest holiday of the year. Typically, 73% of American households will hand out chocolate, followed by lollipops, hard candy, bubble gum and gummy candy. Plus:

  • 86% will participate in Halloween festivities
  • 81% of parents will take their kids trick-or-treating in their neighborhoods
  • 46% of all homes will carve a pumpkin
  • 44% will decorate their homes
  • 25% of adults will dress up in a costume
  • 21% will visit a haunted attraction
  • 20% will attend a Halloween party
  • 16% will visit a mall for trick-or-treating

Additionally, 75% of Americans will buy candy treats for Halloween, but only 68% will actually give them to the kids.

HALLOWEEN TRIVIA & FUN FACTS

  • Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.
  • Jack o' Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.
  • Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!
  • Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.
  • Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.
  • The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.
  • Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.
  • Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1.
  • Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.
  • Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the roman harvest festival that honors Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees.
  • Black cats were once believed to be witch's familiars who protected their powers.
  • The fear of Halloween is known as Samhainopobia.

Monster Trivia & Folklore

  • Signs of a werewolf are a unibrow, hair palms, tattoos, and a long middle finger.
  • Vampires are mythical beings who defy death by sucking the blood of humans.
  • In 1962, The Count Dracula Society was founded by Dr. Donald A. Reed.
  • To this day, there are vampire clubs and societies with people claiming to be real vampires.
  • There really are so-called vampire bats, but they're not from Transylvania. They live in Central and South America and feed on the blood of cattle, horses and birds.
  • Many people still believe that gargoyles were created by medieval architects and stone carvers to ward off evil spirits.

Halloween Movie Details

  • "Halloween" was made in only 21 days in 1978 on a very limited budget.
  • The movie was shot in the Spring and used fake autumn leaves.
  • The mask used by Michael Meyers in the movie "Halloween" was actually William Shatner's mask painted white.
  • The character Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis was named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend.
  • While the setting for the story is in Illinois, the vehicles have California license plates.
  • Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago.

Creepy Tidbits

  • If you see a spider on Halloween, it is the spirit of a loved on watching over you.
  • Worldwide, bats are vital natural enemies of night-flying insects.
  • The common little brown bat of North America has the longest life span for a mammal it's size, with a life span averaging 32 years.
  • In about 1 in 4 autopsies, a major disease is discovered that was previously undetected.
  • The Ouija Board ended up outselling the game of Monopoly in its first full year at Salem. Over two million copies of the Ouija Board were shipped.