Top 10 spooky facts about Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner and the team at Click4Assistance is already having lots of fun. We've been very hard at work integrating chatbot into website whilst preparing for the upcoming spooky season and have uncovered a load of mysterious facts about this haunting holiday. Find them below - and prepare to be amazed...

Witches are very wise

"Witch" actually comes from an Old English word "wicce" which loosely translates as "wise woman". Despite being feared and burned at the stake, witches were once considered very wise and intelligent people.

Turnips are the true Halloween hero

Pumpkins get all the love, but did you know that Jack-o-lanterns were originally made from turnips? It's hard to imagine them having the same effect now that pumpkins have stolen the show. Speaking of which...

The largest pumpkin is 1,226 kg in size

An Italian farmer currently holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest pumpkin, growing an absolute brute that weighed 1,226 kg. It was achieved in 2021 - reckon you could do any better?

Halloween was created to ward off spirits

The earliest reports of Halloween date back to Celtic history when people dressed up in costumes and lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits at the end of Summer. They did this as they believed this was when the veil between life and death was at its thinnest.

Irish settlers spawned America's Halloween craze

Halloween is a huge event in the US, though ironically this is because of Irish immigrants. They took old Celtic traditions across the Atlantic and everyone seemed to love it.

Jack-o-lanterns come from the tale of Stingy Jack

We won't recite the whole tale (you can read it here) but legend has it a man called Stingy Jack tricked the devil and has been wandering undead ever since. He carried a burning coal inside a turnip, which inspired the first jack-o-lanterns.

Trick or treating is a medieval past time

While they wouldn't ask for sweets, medieval kids would often dress up in costumes and knock on doors requesting treats or tricks. The tricks in question weren't as sinister as they sound and usually involved displaying different talents - like singing or dancing.

Halloween is oddly romantic

Weirdly, some Halloween habits are deeply rooted in love and romance. Bobbing for apples was a game women played where the winner was acclaimed as the first to get married. The original Bloody Mary concept of standing in front of a mirror saying the name three times stemmed from girls doing this in the hope that their future husbands would appear in the reflection!

Bonfires or bone fires?

Bonfires in Celtic times were actually called bone fires as they'd throw the bones of animals or people on the fires to help ward off evil spirits. Halloween bonfires are common now, but thankfully we didn't keep this tradition.

Full moons are rare (sorry werewolves)

Full moons are synonymous with Halloween and the spooky season because of their link to werewolves. Perhaps slightly disappointingly, it's very rare to see a Halloween full moon. They happen almost once every 20 years, and the last one was a couple of years ago so we won't see it again for decades!

Halloween continues to be a popular holiday where people can dress up however they like and have fun. It's got some pretty sinister roots and scary past, but modern Halloween is much more of a celebration!