Looking for a real haunt for Halloween?  Want something more authentic than the neighborhood kids running around screaming boo?  We’ll keep reading…
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As far as history can tell, what we have come to celebrate as Halloween began over 2000 year ago among the Celtics in the British Isles (Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France).

Enter the Romans

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The Romans celebrated Feralia, a festival honoring the dead in October, and on November 1, they honored Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

The Impact of Christianity on Halloween

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. To separate their converts from their pre-Christian beliefs, the church developed a new spin on the nature spirit believed in by the Celts and Romans. They were recast as demons, devils and witches. To distance themselves from such negative images, new Christians abandoned the old festivals and began to celebrate the new holy days the church created. These included All Saints’ Day on November 1 and All Souls’ Day on November 2. The night before these holy days became known as All Hallows’ Eve, All Hallow e’en and eventually Halloween.

Onward to the United States

Halloween was not celebrated in the United States until the mid-19th century when a potato famine drove over a million starving Irish and their folklore across the Atlantic and into America’s port cities. An ocean from home and immersed into a cultural melting pot, their traditions began to change. The huge bonfires shrank to lanterns carved from gourds – the first jack-o’-lanterns. The disguises became the sinister costumes of modern day Halloween.

While the origins of trick or treating are unclear, it is believed that they stemmed from a custom called “souling,” where the poor went from home to home and prayed for the souls of each family’s dead in exchange for small cakes to eat.

By the early part of the 20th century, Halloween gained a foothold as an American tradition. Mass-produced Halloween costumes became commonplace. To appeal to children rather than scare them, ghosts were depicted as friendly and jack-o’-lanterns had smiling faces.

Halloween’s appeal delights children and adults alike. It’s a day to step into costume, gorge on sweets, throw ghoulish parties and scare ourselves and anyone else around silly. The holiday has been transformed into a day when deranged humans (courtesy of Hollywood), rather than spirits, roam the streets with mischievous intent.

Now a multi-billion dollar industry, a few people might nostalgically note that, as a society, we’ve lost touch with the original meaning of Halloween. The earliest celebrations of Halloween were premised on the firmly held belief that the dead came back to earth one night a year to potentially snatch and possess the bodies of the living.

Should you be concerned? Well, if I were you, instead of falling back to sleep when things go bump on Halloween night, be afraid, be very afraid. After all, Halloween just isn’t Halloween without a bit of mischief going around!

On October 31, scary creatures take over your workplace, your home and even show up unannounced at your front door. Neighborhoods are filled with graveyards and bewitching decorations that give you that eerie feeling as you take in the night air. And it doesn’t help that you’ve been watching the Halloween marathon all week long to round things out. It’s no wonder that you jump and feel unsettled when you hear squeaks, creeks and thuds in the middle of the night.

If you are curious as to whether you have a reason to be spooked, keep reading ….

The Origin of Halloween

Most historians trace Halloween to the ancient Celts, who lived 2000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. The Celts were farmers who believed there was one day of the year when the season of life meets the season of death. The day was called Samhain (pronounced sow-in), the Celtic word for summer’s end.

The Celts celebrated Samhain on the night of October 31. On this night, they believed malevolent spirits would rise from their graves and walk amongst the living. Some of these ghosts and spirits wreaked havoc on crops and generally caused mischief, while others were even believed to demonically “possess” the bodies of the living, forcing them to do their bidding.

The Celts thought that the presence of other spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate Samhain, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, to repel and confuse the spirits. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter. It is said that Celts carried the embers from the sacred fire back to their homes in hollowed out turnips, a precursor to the jack-o’-lantern lighting tradition.

The following day, November 1, represented their new year.