Halloween, along with Christmas, is undoubtedly one of the most popular holidays of the year. We dress up, eat more sweets than usual, and carve pumpkins as decoration. But how did Halloween become this? And where does it originate from?
Here are a few creepy and unusual things you didn’t know about Halloween…
Costumes were much more messed up
Halloween dates all the way back to The Celts who lived over 2000 years ago. According to records, it seems that the people of these times were dressing up using animal skin and skulls. It was a tradition that supposedly connected them to the spirits of the dead… Not creepy at all, right?
The Legend Stingy Jack…
Stingy Jack comes from an old Irish tale of a man who made a few dodgy deals with the Devil. Jack asked the Devil to turn himself into a coin so that Jack could pay for a few drinks without spending real money. Jack popped the satanic coin in his pocket along with a silver cross which prevented poor Satan from transforming back into his real form.
Jack promised to free the Devil as long as he never claimed his soul after he died. When Jack finally died, God banished Jack from Heaven, and since the Devil couldn’t claim his soul, his spirit was forced to wonder Earth for eternity with nothing but a burning piece of coal for light… He would put the coal inside a carved turnip (it wasn’t always pumpkins) and from there he became Jack Of The Lantern… Or Jack o’ Lantern. The people of Ireland would carve their own creepy lanterns using potatoes, turnips, and pumpkins to scare off the likes of Stingy Jack.
The forbidden adoption of black cats
It’s a well known theory that black cats are supposedly the cause of bad luck, particularly around Halloween. Whilst there is obviously no evidence that supports this, and it’s more than likely an old wive’s tale, some adoption centres actually refuse to let people adopt black kitties during October. This is because of the fear that they will end up in the hands of the wrong people, people who intend on sacrificing the cat in a ritual… That’s messed up.
Poison candy…
We’ve all heard of the horrific cases where children have been poisoned by the sweets they received over Halloween, and while it was always suspected that some bitter old lady who hated children was the culprit, most cases were the result of a family member… That’s right, sweets that were poisoned or made dangerous were usually because an actual family member had tampered with them.
The story of The Candy Man is a prime example; in 1974 Ronald O’Bryan laced his son’s Halloween candy with cyanide after taking out hefty life insurance on him. He tried to cash in on the murder of his own child!
We hope you learnt something spooky here today, and we hope you have a great Halloween tonight…
