53 Frighteningly Fun Halloween Trivia Questions And Answers To Share With Friends
Trick or treat!
Studio Romantic / Shutterstock This year, Halloween falls on a Sunday, and of course, Halloween always falls on October 31 — but have you ever wondered why?
To celebrate the spooky season, we've got some Halloween trivia questions and answers packed full of fun Halloween facts for you — like why people dress up in costumes on Halloween, what door-to-door trick or treating all about, and some weird Halloween traditions.
The questions below make for a great game to play at a Halloween party!
53 fun, weird, and spooky Halloween trivia questions and answers
1. Where did Halloween come from?
Answer: Halloween originated as an ancient Celtic festival. The pagan festival known as Samhain originated from the ancient Celtic spiritual tradition. It was typically celebrated from October 31 to November 1 to "welcome the harvest and usher in the dark half of the year.”
People who participated in the festival believed the barrier between the physical and spiritual world broke down during the festival, allowing for more interactions between humans and spirits.
Samhain was a midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. After the harvest is complete, people join Druid priests for the lighting of a community fire and animal sacrifice. People took fire from the bonfire to light their hearths at home.
2. Why do we associate monsters with Halloween?
Answer: The Celts believed there was a breachable barrier between worlds during Samhain. They prepared offerings for fairies because of this. Since the barrier was permeable, Celts wanted to protect their ancestors who may want to cross over. They dressed up as monsters so that the fairies wouldn't try to kidnap their ancestors.
A shape-shifting creature called the Pukah was associated with the mythology surrounding Samhain and it would the harvest offerings in the field. Another monster would be Lady Gwyn who was a headless woman in white and she would chase night wanderers; her sidekick was a black pig and it'd follow her everywhere.
The Dullahan can appear in various forms. They could come as impish creatures or headless men holding their heads while riding a horse. If anyone were to come across these headless men as they ride "flamed-eyed horses," it would be considered a death omen.
Additionally, the Faery Host — a group of hunters — would kidnap people during Samhain. The Sluagh are similar as they break into people's homes and steal souls.
3. What influence do Christian beliefs have on Halloween?
Answer: According to History.com, the church designated November 2nd as a day to honor the dead. They officially named it All Souls' Day.
Similar to Samhain, All Souls' Day was celebrated with bonfires, costumes, and parades. All Saints' Days goes by a couple of other names, All-hallows or All-hallowmas, which comes from the Middle English word, "alholowmesse."
The night before All Saints' Day was called All Hallows Eve which evolved to Halloween.
4. How were the Irish involved in the creation of Halloween?
Answer: Irish immigrants popularized Halloween. Halloween was largely forbidden throughout colonial America for religious reasons.
When Irish immigrants came to the United States, due to the 1840s potato famine, they brought their Halloween customs with them. In the 20th century, Halloween became a principal holiday throughout the country, especially among children.
5. Where did Jack-o'-lanterns come from?
Answer: Jack-o'-lanterns originated from an Irish myth about “Stingy Jack.”
The myth goes that Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink and he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin instead. Once the Devil did so, Stingy Jack pocketed the coin instead of paying for the drink. Stingy Jack pocketed the coin near a silver cross, preventing the Devil from changing back.
Jack freed the Devil upon one condition: the Devil wouldn’t bother Jack for a year; if Jack died during that year, the Devil wouldn’t be able to claim his soul. Jack tricked the Devil again the next year and managed to get the Devil not bother him for 10 years.
Jack died and God wouldn’t let him into heaven. The Devil was still upset that Jack tricked and would allow him into hell. The Devil gave Jack a lump of burning coal to light his way and sent him off into the night. Jack has been roaming ever since.
The Irish referred to Jack as “Jack of the Lantern,” later to be shortened to “Jack O’Lantern.”
6. Where did the practice of trick-or-treating come from?
Answer: People have been trick-or-treating since Medieval times.
When the church designated a day for All Souls’ Day and Christianity began to blend its celebrations with the pagan holiday, poor people would visit the homes of rich families and receive pastries. In exchange for the pastries, the poor would pray for the souls of the dead family of the homeowners. The process was known as “souling,” and children eventually took it up.
In Scotland and Ireland, people would take part in “guising,” which is when they dress up in costumes and they’d accept offerings from different households.
Trick or treating also has its origins with Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night. On this night, children would wear masks while begging for pennies. Guy Fawkes, a part of a group of Catholics, was executed for his part in the conspiracy to blow up the British parliament.
In the 19th century, children would carry around effigies of Guy Fawkes and they’d ask for “a penny for the guy.”
7. How lucrative is Halloween?
Answer: The business of Halloween is quite lucrative.
In 2019, people in the United States spend about $2.6 billion on candy for Halloween. According to Forbes, people spent about $575 million on pumpkins in 2018. Last year, sales were projected to reach about $8.8 billion which was an increase from the previous decade which totaled only $4.8 billion.
The Halloween industry has boomed in the last couple of decades. There is even an annual convention called ScareLA. The convention premiered in 2013 and it served as the “first fan festival dedicated to the spirit of Halloween.”
ScareLa is in the middle of the summer in Southern California and it has performances by horror theatre companies and musicians. There are screenings of horror films, cosplay, and even interactive experiences. You could say that it’s the Comic-Con of Halloween.
8. What ancient holiday did Halloween originate from?
Answer: A pagan holiday called Samhain.
9. Which culture does Halloween come from?
Answer: Celtic culture.
10. How did Halloween become popular in the United States?
Answer: Irish immigrants brought it with them when they came to the U.S to escape the 1840s famine.
11. How was Sanheim celebrated?
Answer: A festival with bonfires that lasted for two days.
12. How did the Romans celebrate their version of Halloween?
Answer: A festival called Feralia and a festival that celebrated the Roman goddess of fruits and trees, Pomona.
13. Which major religion had some influence on Halloween?
Answer: Christianity.
14. What is the story behind Jack O’lantern?
Answer: “Stingy Jack” fooled the Devil twice and the Devil sent him into the dark with only a lump of burning coal.
15. Who is Guy Fawkes?
Answer: A man who was a part of a conspiracy to blow up the British parliament.
16. What’s the difference between “guising” and “souling”?
Answer: Guising is when people dress up in costumes and accept offerings from various people.
Souling is when the poor would go house to house to receive pastries and they would pray for the souls of the dead relatives of the household owners.
17. How are the Faery Host and the Sluagh different?
Answer: The Faery Host would fully kidnap people while the Sluagh only stole their souls.
18. Out of which vegetable were Jack O’ Lanterns originally made?
Answer: Turnips.
19. Which phobia means you have an intense fear of Halloween?
Answer: Samhainophobia.
20. What was Dracula’s real name?
Answer: Vlad the Impaler.
21. What was the name of Dracula’s sidekick?
Answer: Renfield.
22. Every Halloween, Charlie Brown helps his friend Linus wait for what character to appear?
Answer: The Great Pumpkin.
23. Who wrote the novel, "Frankenstein"?
Answer: Mary Shelley.
24. Transylvania is a region in which country?
Answer: Romania.
25. Is a pumpkin a fruit or a vegetable?
Answer: Fruit.
26. What is the significance of seeing a spider on Halloween?
Answer: It is thought to be the spirit of a loved one watching over the person who finds the spider.
27. According to superstition, a person born on Halloween has what particular ability?
Answer: The ability to see and talk to spirits
28. What’s the body count in the film "Halloween"?
Answer: Five people and a dog
29. Where is the world’s longest haunted house?
Answer: The Haunted Cave in Lewisburg, Ohio, is a whopping 3,564 feet long and located 80 feet underground!
30. How many pounds of candy corn are produced each year?
Answer: 35 million pounds of candy corn is made every year. That's 9 billion pieces.
31. What vegetable is part of a tradition on the night before Halloween?
Answer: Cabbage is often used in pranks on Mischief Night, also known as Cabbage Night. People would leave rotten cabbage near neighbors’ doors.
32. The fountain shown in the background of "Hocus Pocus" is also seen in what sitcom?
Answer: "Friends".
33. What was the original title for Disney’s Hocus Pocus?
Answer: Halloween House which was more of a horror flick than a comedy.
34. Why are black cats associated with Halloween?
Answer: The Puritans associated black cats with witchcraft, which lead to the association with Halloween.
35. What was candy corn originally called?
Answer: Chicken Feed.
36. Why did we start dressing up in costumes for Halloween?
Answer: Europeans, including the Celtics, dressed in costumes to repel evil spirits that they believed came back to Earth on the day we now know as Halloween.
37. Who was the first First Lady to decorate the White House for Halloween?
Answer: Mamie Eisenhower in 1958.
38. Complete this lyric from the hit Halloween song The Monster Mash: “I was working in the lab, late one night…”
Answer: “When my eyes beheld, an eerie sight.”
39. What famous magician died on Halloween?
Answer: Harry Houdini.
40. When is Halloween thought to have originated?
Answer: 4000 B.C.
41. What ancient Roman goddess is said to be honored on Halloween?
Answer: Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees—many believe bobbing for apples on Halloween stemmed from Roman traditions to honor Pomona.
42. Who sang the original version of the song “Monster Mash?”
Answer: Bobby Pickett.
43. Who wrote the classic novel Dracula?
Answer: Bram Stoker.
44. What was The Munsters’ address?
Answer: 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
45. What item is banned in California on Halloween?
Answer: Silly String.
46. How many pieces of candy does the average house give to each trick-or-treater?
Answer: Two pieces.
47. What horror movie was the first American film ever to show a toilet on screen?
Answer: Psycho.
48. One serial killer inspired "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Psycho" and "Silence of the Lambs". Who was it?
Answer: Ed Gein.
49. What is the most popular Halloween candy in America?
Answer: Skittles.
50. What were the first-ever fun-size candy bars?
Answer: Snickers and Milky Way.
51. How did the prop department make the classic Michael Myers mask seen in the Halloween movies?
Answer: They spray-painted a William Shatner mask white.
52. What are Soul Cakes?
Answer: it's a small round cake that is traditionally made for Halloween to commemorate the dead according to Christian traditions.
53. Why did women throw apples behind them on Halloween?
Answer: Because they thought the apples would spell out the initial of their future husband.
Chinyere (pronounced sha-near-ruh) Ibeh is a writer who covers entertainment, pop culture, and news.