57 Halloween Facts That Are Wicked Good

Facts from the original

• Heidi Klum hosted her very first Halloween bash in 2000.
• Halloween Horror Nights was originally called 'Fright Nights' and debuted in 1991 at Universal Studios Florida.
• California is the biggest candy producer in the U.S.
• A small Minnesota city, Anoka, is believed to have hosted the first Halloween parade in 1920.
• Kyle Richards appeared in the 1978 horror film 'Halloween' and returned in 'Halloween Ends' (2022).
• The Pumpkin Capital of the U.S. is in Morton, Illinois, where Libby's Pumpkin canning plant produces roughly 75% of the country's canned pumpkin.
• According to a 2019 YouGov poll, four out of 10 Americans believe that ghosts, demons, and other supernatural entities exist.
• Bobby 'Boris' Pickett released 'Monsters' Holiday' after 'Monster Mash' in 1962.
• 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is based on a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982.
• In 2022, the city of Conway, South Carolina rebranded itself as the 'City of Halloween' for the month of October.
• According to the Library of Congress, black and orange are the colors of Halloween because ancient Celts believed black symbolized the 'death' of summer and orange symbolized the fall harvest.
• Celebrities born on Oct. 31 include Dan Rather, Peter Jackson, Rob Schneider, Dermot Mulroney, Larry Mullen Jr., and Willow Smith.
• Bats are the only mammal that can fly and save billions of dollars annually in pest control.
• Michael Jackson's song 'Thriller' was originally written as 'Starlight' by Rod Temperton.
• The largest Halloween parade in the U.S. takes place in New York City's Greenwich Village, drawing nearly 2 million spectators.
• According to a 2021 YouGov poll, 21% of Americans pretend they aren't at home on Halloween night.
• Jason Voorhees is immortalized at the bottom of a Minnesota lake in Crosby.
• U.S. Destinations with spooky names include Scarville City, Iowa; Slaughter Beach, Delaware; Tombstone, Arizona; Bad Axe, Michigan; Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina; Sleepy Hollow, New York; and Munster, Indiana.
• 'The Conjuring' is based on the real-life case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
• The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain is considered the origin of modern-day Halloween, and it is correctly pronounced 'SAH-win'.
• 'Belsnickeling' is an old German-American tradition that might have preceded trick-or-treating.
• Pumpkins are botanically classified as fruits because they start as flowers and have seeds.
• Keene, New Hampshire holds the world record for most lit jack-o'-lanterns on display (30,581) during its annual Pumpkin Fest in 2013.