.. HALLOWEEN  ..    Halloween,   is also known as Hallowe'en,   a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening",   or All Hallows' Eve,   or All Hallows' Even ('evening').    ..   It is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31st,   the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints) ..     ..   According to scholars,   Halloween can be traced back about 2,000 years  to pre-Christian European harvest festivals  and festivals of the dead  with possible pagan roots held around the end of summer,   particularly the Celtic Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"),   which means "summer's end" in Gaelic     Samhain was an annual communal meeting at the end of the harvest year,   a time to gather resources for the winter months and bring animals back from the pastures.     .. .. .. ..     Today,   the holiday is associated with ghosts,   costumes  and candy.     It has long been thought that Halloween is the one day of the year the dead can return to earth.       Halloween is the number two holiday in terms of commercial success.     It's no surprise that Christmas is number one.     Over four billion dollars is spent annually during the Halloween season.     The majority of that money is spent on costumes,  candy,  parties,  and decorations.     ..     Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"),   attending costume parties,   carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns,   lighting bonfires,   apple bobbing,   visiting haunted attractions,   playing pranks,   telling scary stories,   and watching horror films.     ..     Trick-or-treating and Dressing in costumes may have originated from the practice of "mumming" and "guising,"   in which people would disguise themselves and go door-to-door,   asking for food.     The practice may also be related to the medieval custom of "souling" in Britain and Ireland,   when poor people would knock on doors on Hallowmas (November 1st),   asking for food in exchange for prayers for the dead.     ..     Trick-or-treating didn't start in the United States until World War II, but American kids were known to go out on Thanksgiving and ask for food (Thanksgiving begging).     ..     Black Cats, Often used as symbols of bad luck, are common Halloween decorations.     The black cat's bad reputation dates back to the Dark Ages,   when witch hunts were commonplace.     Elderly,   solitary women were often accused of witchcraft,   and their pet cats were said to be their "familiars,"   or demonic animals   that had been given to them by the devil.     ..     The stereotypical image of the haggard witch  with a pointy black hat  and warty nose stems from a pagan goddess known as "the crone,"   who was honored during Samhain.     The crone was also known as "the old one"  and the "Earth mother,"  who symbolized wisdom,  change,  and the turning of the seasons.       The pagan Celts believed that after death,   all souls went into the crone's cauldron,   which symbolized the Earth mother's womb.     There,   the souls awaited reincarnation,   as the goddess' stirring allowed for new souls to enter the cauldron   and old souls to be reborn.         One old superstition held that if a spider falls into a candle-lit lamp   and is consumed by the flame,   witches are nearby.     If you spot a spider on Halloween it means that the spirit of a deceased loved one is watching over you.     ..     Bats are described in Medieval folklore as witches' familiars,   and seeing a bat on Halloween was considered to be quite an ominous sign.     It was believed that if a bat was spotted flying around one's house three times,   someone in the house would soon die.     ..     Pumpkins,   a regular symbol of halloween,   are members of the gourd family are native to Central America and Mexico,   but now grow on six continents.     In 1584, after French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence region of North America, he reported finding "gros melons." The name was translated into English as "pompions," which has since evolved into the modern "pumpkin." A carved pumpkin illuminated by candles is known as a 'jack-o-lantern'.     The tradition is believed to have come from Ireland,   where they used to carve faces into turnips,  beets,  and other root vegetables  as part of the Gaelic festival of Samhain. Pumpkin seeds should be planted between the last week of May and the middle of June. They take between 90 and 120 days to grow and are picked in October when they are bright orange in color. Their seeds can be saved to grow new pumpkins the next year. The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.     ..     Apples are associated with Halloween, both as a treat and in the game of bobbing for apples, a game that since the colonial era in America was used for fortune-telling. Legend has it that the first person to pluck an apple from the water-filled bucket without using his or her hands would be the first to marry.     ..     Candy corn was invented in the late 1880s and began to be mass-produced in the early 1900s. The original process for making candy corn was cumbersome and time-consuming, as each color of syrup had to be heated up in large vats and carefully poured by hand into specially shaped molds.     ..     Another Halloween ritual involves looking in a mirror at midnight by candlelight.     A future husband's face was said to appear.     A modern variation of this later became the "Bloody Mary" ritual familiar to many schoolgirls.         ..     The Moon is another common Halloween Theme.     There will not be a full moon on Halloween until the year 2020.     ..     In Ireland ..   customs include lighting bonfires,   and having firework displays.     .. .. .. .. Halloween is also popular in North and South America,   Australia ..   New Zealand ..   Most of continental Europe ..   Japan ..   and other parts of East Asia.     ..     All Hallows Eve precedes All Saints' Day on November 1st,   also known as All Hallows,   Hallowmas   or Hallowtide.     All Saint's day in turn precedes All Souls' Day on November 2nd.   The two days together are known as The Day of The Dead,   a major observance in Latin America.     .. ..     Halloween is proceeded by Mischeif Night,   an informal holiday on which children and teens engage in pranks and minor vandalism.   Some refer to the night as Pumpkin Night or Mischeif Night.     ..     Mischeif Night is known as Devils Night in Detroit, Michigan ..   but had escalated to major vandalism and arson.     ..     The escalation prompted the creation of Angel's Night in which up to 40,000 Detroiters volunteer to patrol keep the city safe on these nights.     Angels Night has been very successful in reducing crime of all kinds.   ..             .. SAMHAIN .. Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season   and the beginning of winter,   or the "darker half" of the year.     Most commonly it is held on October 31st   and/or November 1st,   and November 2nd in the Northern Hemisphere.     April 30th and/or May 1st   and May 2nd in the Southern Hemisphere.     Which is halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice for both hemispheres.     Along with Imbolc,   Beltane,   and Lughnasadh   it makes up the four Gaelic seasonal festivals.     It is observed in Ireland,   Scotland,   and the Isle of Man.         In other Celtic areas,   related festivals are observed,   like the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (Wales) ..   Kalan Gwav (Cornwall) ..   and Kalan Goañv (Brittany) ..     Samhain is also celebrated my modern Neo-Pagans ..   and it is New year for Wiccans ..
 

murder mystery game change to chalk outlines who dunnit butler maid mrs englewood sir brimcourt.
door knocker
horror movie trivia
name that spooky quote

scary sounds from scroll files (babadook)

Ghoul Friday

get your fortune
tarot cards
mind reader
Psychics, mediums, or clairvoyants

Ouija board

ghost meter, ghost radar, EMF reader

Ambient temperature by an infrared temperature sensors

Infrasound monitoring equipment electronic voice phenomena (EVPs), to detect disembodied voices.

a Gallup poll conducted on June 6–8, 2005 showed that one-third (32%) of Americans believe that ghosts

Geiger counter to measure fluctuations in radiation
ultrasonic motion sensors to to detect possible anomalous movement

.. HALLOWEEN  ..    Halloween,   is also known as Hallowe'en,   a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening",   or All Hallows' Eve,   or All Hallows' Even ('evening').    ..   It is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31st,   the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints) ..     ..     According to many scholars,   it was originally influenced by western European harvest festivals   and festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots,   particularly the Celtic Samhain.     .. .. .. ..     Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"),   attending costume parties,   carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns,   lighting bonfires,   apple bobbing,   visiting haunted attractions,   playing pranks,   telling scary stories,   and watching horror films.     ..     In Ireland ..   customs include lighting bonfires,   and having firework displays.     .. .. .. .. Halloween is also popular in North and South America,   Australia ..   New Zealand ..   Most of continental Europe ..   Japan ..   and other parts of East Asia.     ..     All Hallows Eve precedes All Saints' Day on November 1st,   also known as All Hallows,   Hallowmas   or Hallowtide.     All Saint's day in turn precedes All Souls' Day on November 2nd.   The two days together are known as The Day of The Dead,   a major observance in Latin America.     .. ..     Halloween is proceeded by Mischeif Night,   an informal holiday on which children and teens engage in pranks and minor vandalism.   Some refer to the night as Pumpkin Night or Mischeif Night.     ..     Mischeif Night is known as Devils Night in Detroit, Michigan ..   but had escalated to major vandalism and arson.     ..     The escalation prompted the creation of Angel's Night in which up to 40,000 Detroiters volunteer to patrol keep the city safe on these nights.     Angels Night has been very successful in reducing crime of all kinds.   ..             .. SAMHAIN .. Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season   and the beginning of winter,   or the "darker half" of the year.     Most commonly it is held on October 31st   and/or November 1st,   and November 2nd in the Northern Hemisphere.     April 30th and/or May 1st   and May 2nd in the Southern Hemisphere.     Which is halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice for both hemispheres.     Along with Imbolc,   Beltane,   and Lughnasadh   it makes up the four Gaelic seasonal festivals.     It is observed in Ireland,   Scotland,   and the Isle of Man.         In other Celtic areas,   related festivals are observed,   like the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (Wales) ..   Kalan Gwav (Cornwall) ..   and Kalan Goañv (Brittany) ..     Samhain is also celebrated my modern Neo-Pagans ..   and it is New year for Wiccans ..