Halloween Facts: 22 Fun Facts About Halloween

Halloween Facts From History

Halloween grew out of a Christian feast, a Gaelic seasonal festival and a lot of migration.

1. “Halloween” means saints’ evening The word comes from the Lowland Scots form of All Hallows’ Eve, the evening before All Hallows’ Day. “Even” was contracted to “e’en”, so All Hallows’ Even became Hallowe’en. ↳ Halloween: etymology
2. November 1 was fixed as All Saints’ Day in 835 Churches in Ireland and Northumbria were already marking all saints on November 1 by about 800. In 835 the Frankish Empire officially adopted the date, with the endorsement of Pope Gregory IV, which made October 31 its eve. ↳ Halloween: history
3. Samhain marked the start of winter The Gaelic festival of Samhain has been celebrated on 31 October to 1 November in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Because the Celtic day began at sunset, the festival started on the evening before November 1. Its Welsh, Cornish and Breton cousins have names meaning “first day of winter”. ↳ Halloween: Gaelic and Welsh influence
4. Some Irish tombs line up with the Samhain sunrise Several Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise around the times of Samhain and Imbolc, including the Mound of the Hostages at the Hill of Tara. ↳ Samhain
5. Immigrants brought Halloween to North America Halloween was celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries. Irish and Scottish immigrants brought its customs to North America in the 19th century, and American influence then spread them to other countries by the late 20th and early 21st centuries. ↳ Halloween
6. A Minnesota town calls itself the Halloween Capital of the World Anoka, Minnesota, uses the nickname because in 1920 it hosted one of the first Halloween parades. It still holds several parades every year. ↳ Anoka, Minnesota

Fun Facts About Halloween Traditions

Most Halloween customs are older than the candy, and many started in Ireland, Scotland and England.

7. The first jack-o’-lanterns were turnips Before pumpkins, jack-o’-lanterns were carved from root vegetables such as turnips, rutabagas and mangelwurzels. The name comes from the flickering lights over peat bogs, also called will-o’-the-wisps, and the Oxford English Dictionary dates its use for a carved lantern to 1837. ↳ Jack-o’-lantern
8. Shakespeare mentioned an early version of trick-or-treating Souling, going door to door for soul cakes around All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day, was reported as early as 1511. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593) Shakespeare wrote of “pulling like a beggar at Hallowmas”. ↳ Soul cake: souling
9. “Trick or treat” first appeared in print in Canada The earliest known printed use of the phrase is from 1917, in The Sault Daily Star of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Children were recorded going door to door in costume, or guising, in British Columbia as early as 1898. ↳ Trick-or-treating
10. World War II paused trick-or-treating Trick-or-treating spread across the United States but stalled during sugar rationing, which began in April 1942 and lasted until June 1947. ↳ Trick-or-treating: spread
11. In Scotland, apple bobbing is called dooking Players try to catch floating apples with their teeth, often with their hands tied behind their back. In Ireland and in Newfoundland and Labrador, “Snap Apple Night” is another name for Halloween. ↳ Apple bobbing
12. An Irish Halloween bread hides a ring Barmbrack, a fruit bread associated with Halloween in Ireland, has an item baked inside, often a ring. Whoever finds it is considered fortunate. ↳ Barmbrack
13. Store-bought costumes arrived in the 1930s Costumes used to be homemade. In the 1930s, as trick-or-treating became popular, firms such as A. S. Fishbach and Ben Cooper began mass-producing Halloween costumes for stores. ↳ Halloween costume
14. Trick-or-treaters have raised money for UNICEF since 1950 Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF started as a local event in Northeast Philadelphia in 1950 and went national in 1952. Children are estimated to have collected more than $118 million through it. ↳ Halloween: Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

Halloween Facts About Candy, Films and Music

15. Candy corn was first called Chicken Feed George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy Company in Philadelphia invented it in the 1880s, and Wunderle first produced it in 1888. As of 2016, the United States made about 35 million pounds a year, almost 9 billion pieces, mostly sold for Halloween. ↳ Candy corn
16. Michael Myers wore a $1.98 Captain Kirk mask For the 1978 film Halloween, Tommy Lee Wallace bought a Captain Kirk mask for $1.98 on Hollywood Boulevard, widened the eye holes and spray-painted it bluish white. The film cost $300,000 and grossed $70 million. ↳ Halloween (1978 film)
17. The War of the Worlds broadcast was a Halloween show Orson Welles’s radio drama aired on October 30, 1938 as a Halloween episode. Newspapers reported a nationwide panic, but historians now say the panic was greatly exaggerated. Welles signed off: “If your doorbell rings and there’s nobody there, that was no Martian; it’s Halloween.” ↳ The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)
18. “Monster Mash” hit number one just before Halloween Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s novelty song topped the Billboard Hot 100 on October 20–27, 1962. In 2021, nearly 60 years later, it re-entered the chart at number 37. ↳ Monster Mash
19. Harry Houdini died on Halloween The escape artist died on October 31, 1926. The bronze casket he had built for an escape stunt was used to carry his body from Detroit to New York. ↳ Harry Houdini

Halloween Facts About Pumpkins and Money

20. The heaviest pumpkin weighed 2,749 pounds The record, set in October 2023, is 1,246.9 kg (2,749 lb). Ordinary Cucurbita pepo pumpkins generally weigh between 3 and 8 kg (6 to 18 lb); giant varieties can pass a tonne. ↳ Pumpkin
21. Pumpkins are older than Halloween by thousands of years The oldest evidence of the pumpkin species Cucurbita pepo is fragments found in Mexico, dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC. ↳ Pumpkin: history
22. Americans spend more than $10 billion on Halloween The National Retail Federation projected $12.2 billion of US Halloween spending in 2023 and $13.1 billion in 2025, with about $4.3 billion on costumes. Pets get costumes too: an estimated $480 million in 2018, and the most popular pet costume was a pumpkin. ↳ Halloween: cost

Day of the Dead Is Not Mexican Halloween

One more Halloween fact that is really about its neighbour: the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is a separate holiday, traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, when families gather to remember people who have died. UNESCO added it to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008 (source: Day of the Dead). Children in some cities do go door to door for a calaverita, a small gift, but without the “trick”. For more, read our Day of the Dead facts.

How to Use These Fun Facts About Halloween

Read one Halloween fact between costumes, turn the list into a party quiz, or ask everyone to guess which facts are true before you reveal the source. Each takes 15 to 30 seconds to read aloud. Telling stories on Halloween night? Mix these facts with our Halloween countdown stories or Halloween poems. For true facts with more chill, read creepy facts that sound fake but are true. Planning ahead? Our Thanksgiving facts and Christmas facts are sourced the same way.

How We Checked These Halloween Facts

Every fact links to the source we checked it against on October 22, 2026, a Wikipedia article that cites the historical record. Where the record is disputed, such as how much panic The War of the Worlds caused, we say so. Spending figures are projections by the National Retail Federation, as reported in that source. If you spot an error, tell us through the contact page.

Halloween Facts — FAQ