Halloween Trivia

Question: What is Des Moines, Iowa's pre-Halloween festivity called?

Answer: In Des Moines, the night before Halloween is called Beggar's Night, in which kids go door-to-door telling jokes, reciting poems or dancing in exchange for sweets.

Question: What is the most commercially successful horror movie of all time?

Answer: It

Question: Who was the first First Lady to decorate the White House for Halloween?

Answer: Mamie Eisenhower in 1958

Question: Why did people start dressing up in Halloween costumes?

Answer: Many Europeans, including the Celtics, dressed in costumes to repel spirits that they believed came back to Earth on what we now know as Halloween.

Question: What medieval English tradition inspired trick-or-treating?

Answer: On All Souls Day, the poor would go "souling," knocking on doors offering prayers for residents' deceased loved ones in exchange for food.

Question: Which film in the Paranormal Activity franchise was the most commercially successful?

Answer: Paranormal Activity 3

Question: What ancient Roman goddess is said to be honored on Halloween?

Answer: Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees—many believe bobbing for apples on Halloween stemmed from Roman traditions to honor Pomona.

Question: What horror movie was the first American film ever to show a toilet on screen?

Answer: Psycho

Question: What two countries popularized Halloween costumes for trick-or-treating?

Answer: Scotland and Ireland

Question: What item is banned in California on Halloween?

Answer: Silly String

Question: What is the most popular Halloween candy in America?

Answer: Skittles

Question: What were the first-ever fun-size candy bars?

Answer: Snickers and Milky Way

Question: What was the original Halloween movie's working title?

Answer: The Babysitter Murders

Question: What was the first horror movie to be nominated for an Academy Award?

Answer: The Exorcist earned a whopping 10 Oscar nominations in 1974, including a Best Supporting Actress nod for then-15-year-old Linda Blair.

Question: Where is the world's longest haunted house?

Answer: The Haunted Cave in Lewisburg, Ohio, is a whopping 3,564 feet long and located 80 feet underground!

Question: What was used before pumpkins to make jack o'lanterns?

Answer: The Irish, who started the tradition, first used potatoes and turnips for jack o'lanterns before finding that pumpkins were actually much easier to carve. In England, large beets were sometimes used.

Question: Why are black cats associated with Halloween (and bad luck)?

Answer: The Puritans associated black cats with witchcraft, leading to the onyx-colored felines' association with Halloween. In many other cultures, black cats are actually signs of good luck and are revered!

Question: Where does the term "jack o'lantern" come from?

Answer: The term "jack o'lantern" originates from an Irish folktale about a cheap man named "Stingy Jack" who made a deal with the devil. Get the full, fun story here.

Question: Why did women look in mirrors while walking downstairs at midnight on Halloween?

Answer: To see their boyfriends

Question: What candy was given to soldiers in battle in the Korean War?

Answer: Tootsie Rolls

Question: How many pieces of candy does the average house give to each trick-or-treater?

Answer: Two pieces

Question: What did Scottish women hang to see their future husbands on Halloween?

Answer: Wet sheets in front of a fire

Question: What is Hong Kong's Festival of Hungry Ghosts called?

Answer: Yue Lan

Question: What was the original title for Disney's Hocus Pocus?

Answer: Hocus Pocus was initially called Halloween House—and it was more horror than comedy.

Question: How much did Americans spend on Halloween in 2019?

Answer: $2.6 billion

Question: What was The Munsters' address?

Answer: 1313 Mockingbird Lane

Question: When was Trick or Treat for UNICEF founded?

Answer: 1950

Question: When is Halloween thought to have originated?

Answer: 4000 B.C.

Question: How many pounds of candy corn are produced each year?

Answer: A whopping 35 million pounds of candy corn is made every year—amounting to about 9 billion pieces.

Question: How many calories are in an average trick-or-treater's Halloween stash?

Answer: About 11,000: Question: What classic horror movie creature's shape was based on the Oscar statuette?| Answer: The Creature From the Black Lagoon

Question: In what American state is it illegal to be a priest or nun for Halloween?

Answer: Alabama doesn't take clergy costumes lightly: According to Section 13A-14-4, "Whoever, being in a public place, fraudulently pretends by garb or outward array to be a minister of any religion, or nun, priest, rabbi or other member of the clergy, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500.00 or confinement in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment."

Question: What connection does Christianity have with Halloween?

Answer: All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls Day (November 2) were created to integrate sacred pagan traditions that usually took place on or around October 31 into Christianity in hopes of getting pagans to convert.

Question: Where was the first city-wide Halloween celebration in the United States?

Answer: Anoka, Minnesota

Question: When was Halloween first celebrated in the United States?

Answer: Around the 1840s when there was a flood of Irish immigrants fleeing from the potato famine

Question: What sort of mask does Michael Myers wear in the original Halloween?

Answer: Because the studio had such a small budget, they had to use the cheapest mask they could find. It was a $2 William Shatner mask that they spray painted white.

Question: Why did some women throw apple peels behind them on Halloween?

Answer: Because they believed it would land in the shape of the first letter of their future husband's name.

Question: Where did the real Ichabod Crane live?

Answer: Believe it or not, it wasn't Sleepy Hollow, New York, but actually Staten Island.

Question: Who sang the original "Monster Mash?"

Answer: Bobby Pickett

Question: What vegetable is part of a tradition on the night before Halloween?

Answer: Cabbage is often used in pranks on Mischief Night, sometimes referred to as Cabbage Night. People would sometimes leave stinky, rotten cabbage near neighbors' doors.

Question: What was candy corn originally called?

Answer: Chicken Feed

Question: Only one holiday surpasses Halloween in annual consumer sales. What is it?

Answer: Christmas actually takes the cake!

Question: What was Count Dracula's original name in the Bram Stoker classic?

Answer: Count Wampyr

Question: Who was Wes Craven's first choice to play Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street?

Answer: David Warner

Question: One particular serial killer inspired Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho and Silence of the Lambs. Who was it?

Answer: Ed Gein

Question: What Celtic tradition led to modern-day trick-or-treating?

Answer: For the celebration of Samhain, people would put treats or food out to pacify evil spirits.

Question: What is the most commercially successful horror franchise of all time?

Answer: Godzilla

Question: What is the "correct" spelling of Halloween?

Answer: Halloween was originally spelled "Hallowe'en," a contraction of "All Hallows Even."

Question: What famous magician died on Halloween?

Answer: Harry Houdini