15 Spooky and Fun Halloween Facts

Ann Landers is responsible for the urban legend of people putting razor blades in children's Halloween candy.

On Halloween 1992, the UK show 'Ghostwatch' purported to show a real haunting which was spreading around the country. Banned for a decade and never re-aired, it was blamed for several traumas, including a suicide.

Samhainophobia is the medical term for the irrational fear of Halloween. The root word is expressive of the ancient Celts who held a ceremony called Samhain in order to honor the harvest cycle.

Only in Des Moines and St. Louis, local Halloween tradition calls for children not to say "trick or treat," but to tell a joke in order to earn candy. This stems from a Depression-era attempt to curb hooliganism.

The abandoned Land of Oz theme park in North Carolina, deserted for decades, reopens just once a year for two days leading up to Halloween.

Americans spend nearly $400 million on Halloween pet costumes each year.

Magician Harry Houdini died on Halloween on October 31, 1926.

The Witchcraft Act 1735 banned pork pastries such as sausage rolls in Britain on Halloween. The law wasn't repealed until the 1950s.

On Halloween in Poland, believers are encouraged to walk through forests whilst praying out loud so that the souls of the dead might find comfort.

Significantly fewer birth rates happen on Halloween as compared to a week before and after, and the opposite is true for Valentine's day.