BONE UP ON YOUR FRIGHT NIGHT KNOWLEDGE—
HAUNTING TRIVIA TO AMAZE AND DELIGHT…
COSTUMES and TRICK–OR–TREAT
Largest number of people used to create one costume: the Village Halloween parade in 1998, when a large group of folks dressed up as Imelda Marcos’ shoe collection.
The first written mention of trick-or-treat in a national publication dates back to 1939.
Apple Week (1926), Conservation Day (1941), and National Popcorn Week (1951) were all alternative names given to the Halloween season.
In California in 1905, the recommended Halloween treats included sticky molasses taffy and hot green pickles.
PUMPKIN FUN FACTS
Halloween pumpkin: the original junk food? Native Americans taught European settlers how to raise pumpkins. Colonial farmers in New England used them as a junk crop — they planted pumpkins on leftover land and used them to feed the animals.
Fastest pumpkin-carving speed? 16.47 seconds (the Guinness World Record).
The world’s largest jack-o-lantern weighed 666.32 kg (1,469 lb) and was carved in October 2005 (another Guinness World Record).
The largest number of jack-o’-lanterns displayed in one place? 30,581 pumpkins in the City of Keene, New Hampshire on October 19, 2013.
The first pumpkin pie? While Native Americans ate pumpkins, it was the colonists who invented pumpkin pie by slicing off the top, removing the seeds and pulp, filling the inside with milk, spices, and honey and baking it in hot ashes.
HAUNTINGS, GHOSTS & VAMPIRES
A 2005 Gallup Poll found that almost of third of us say we believe in ghosts.
More than 1,700 movies have been made about vampires.
The next full moon on Halloween will be October 31, 2020.
Most active haunted spots in America? According to the American Ghost Society, they include the Bell Witch Cave (Adams, Tenn.), the battlefield at Gettysburg, and Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery (Chicago, Ill.).
PARADES & CELEBRATIONS
The Neewollah — Halloween backwards — Festival in Independence, Kansas claims to have had the first citywide Halloween celebration in 1919.
The oldest, continuous (since 1920) Halloween parade takes place in Anoka, Minnesota.
The National Halloween Committee, formed to encourage Halloween parties for service men and women, boasted 50,000 private Halloween parties in New York City in 1943.
HALLOWEEN AT THE WHITE HOUSE
White House Halloweens: Eisenhower’s 1958 White House was lit with an orange glow for a staff lunch given by the First Lady. Out in Seattle, the Vice President’s daughters were trick-or-treating accompanied by the Secret Service.
Eleanor Roosevelt made the first contribution to the 1960 UNICEF’s Trick-or-Treat for all the World’s Children campaign. Danny Kaye kicked it off in 1965.