Booyah...Yeah - Boo!

What can I say? I love Halloween, can you tell? I mean, who doesn't? Is there anyone who doesn't enjoy dressing up as someone, or something else for a day? Or watching those tiny witches, pirates and princesses working their way tentatively up your front walk past the spooky trees and other ghoulish house decor, trying to be brave and get to the door for that reward of treats?

This is such an ancient holiday, not always the one we recognize today but a special date on our calendars nonetheless.

Yet, I wonder how much people really know about this day and date? Don’t think of this as a test – think of it as just a fun quiz. That’s all it is, no need to fear doing badly. You won’t be visited by three ghosts in the witching hour – you've got the wrong holiday. Sadly though, I can’t give you chocolate or candy kisses if you get them all right either, but you can still feel good about doing well. Alright, ready?

1. Wiccaphobia (not to be confused with Wikipedia) is a fear of witches and witchcraft. Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders. Catoptrophobia is a fear of mirrors. What is Selenophobia?
(a) A fear of the moon
(b) A fear of the dark
(c) A fear of Selena
(d) A fear of light flashes.

2. Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of
(a) Guy Fawkes Day
(b) The Day of the Dead
(c) Oktoberfest
(d) Samhain
3. It was once believed that if an unmarried girl kept a silver sixpence and a rosemary herb beneath her pillow on Halloween night, she would likely dream of what?

(a) The way she would die
(b) How well her garden would do through the winter
(c) Her future husband
(d) The spirits of dead female relatives

4. Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger, Nightmare on Elm Street) starred in what 1977 movie with Henry Fonda and Susan Sarandon?

(a) The Rocky Horror Picture Show
(b) The Last of the Cowboys
(c) Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West)
(d) The Satan Murders

5.Dean Koontz didn't write Something Wicked This Way Comes, so who did?

(a) Edgar Allen Poe
(b) Mary Shelley
(c) Ray Bradbury
(d) Bram Stoker

6. On October 31, 2005 in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania, Scott Cully set what world record?

(a) Carved a Jack o'lantern the fastest
(b) Won the pumpkin pie eating contest
(c) Grew the world's largest pumpkin
(d) Carved the largest Jack-o-lantern

7. The Irish tradition of carving a lantern is centuries old. But since the Irish don't grow pumpkins, what did they originally use?

(a) Petrified wood
(b) Turnips and potatoes
(c) Large clumps of peat from bogs
(d) Watermelons and Cantaloupe

8.Who died on October 31st?

(a) Boris Karloff
(b) Bram Stoker
(c) Edgar Allen Poe
(d) Harry Houdini

9. Which of these is not a real place?

(a) Skull Creek, Nebraska
(b) Transylvania, Romania
(c) Black Forest, Germany
(d) Death Valley National Park
(e) Devils Den, California

10. Which one of these urban legends is true?

(a) Razors have been found in apples.
(b) Halloween is the second-biggest holiday in terms of retail sales.
(c) Ohio's famed "Chimera House" is a haunted attraction that's so scary, no one has ever completed the tour.
(d) The Blair Witch Project is based on footage shot by three student filmmakers who mysteriously disappeared while making a documentary about the legend of the Blair Witch.

Tattle tales from the crypt:-

1.(a) - Selenophobia is a fear of the moon.

2. (d) - Samhain was celebrated by the Celts. They lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. They celebrated their new year on November 1.

3. (c) - She dreamt of her future husband. It was also believed that if a girl carrying a lamp in her hand went to a spring of water on Halloween night, she would see the reflection of her life partner in water. There was also the belief that if an unmarried girl carried a broken egg in a glass and took it to a spring of water, she would be able to catch the glimpse of not just her future husband, but also her future children.

4.(c) - The Last of the Cowboys a rather eclectic B road movie.

5.(c) - Ray Bradbury published Something Wicked This Way Comes in 1962.

6. (d) The world's largest Jack o'lantern was carved by Scott Cully (USA) from the world's largest pumpkin on October 31, 2005 in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania, USA. The pumpkin was grown by Larry Checkon (USA) and weighed 666.32 kg (1,469 lb) at the Pennsylvania Giant Pumpkin Growers Association Weigh-off, on October 1, 2005.


7. (b) - They used turnips and potatoes.

8.(d) - Harry Houdini died October 31, 1926

9. - Would you believe…they're all real? They are indeed –spooky huh?

10. (a) – sadly, razor blades have been found in apples. The other legends have now all been proven wrong. And oh for the day when as a society, we are well, and this will be added to the others as no longer true.

Pumpkins have been grown in North America for five thousand years. They are indigenous to the western hemisphere. And for anyone afraid of that piece of pumpkin pie, leave off the whipped cream and you’ll be okay. Pumpkins are low in calories, fat, and sodium and high in fiber. They are good sources of Vitamin A, Vitamin B, potassium, protein, and iron.

Happy haunting, everyone!