What do you think of when you hear Halloween?

Maybe you think about spooky ghost stories, carving pumpkins, trick or treating adventures or classic Halloween movies you can binge watch as you pass out candy. Halloween traditions are what makes the holiday special to so many people, but do you know how most traditions came to be?

Spooky ghost stories can set the scary mood for Halloween and really give you a fright. The first ghost story was made in 1824 during the start of the Gothic writing style. The way Gothic stories were told created a path for people to create their own scary stories to tell friends and family. Most scary stories have life lessons embedded into them, but the ones that don’t can give you the chills and a good terror you’ll remember for many days.

Pumpkin carvings are on every porch during Halloween season. This Halloween tradition originated in Ireland. Irish people would tell their children the story of “Stingy Jack”. Stingy Jack invited the devil to drink with him, however, Jack did not want to pay for the Devil’s drink. Jack’s stinginess angered the Devil and the Devil doomed Jack to carry one burning coal for an eternity. Jack put the coal into a carved turnip to light the rest of his life, thus creating the term Jack O’ Lantern. The tradition came from children hearing the tale and creating their own Jack O’ Lanterns to scare away Stingy Jack. Eventually, the tradition made its way to America and pumpkins were used.

Trick or Treating started in the 1920’s during the Great Depression when there were little rations of food in homes. Children would take to the streets and ask for food or money on Halloween. This tradition continued to World War II, but it was not until after the war when the baby boom boosted the popularity of Halloween Trick or Treating. Food rationing was no longer a problem in the new booming economy, so candy companies launched national advertising for new candies such as Starbursts, Now & Laters and Sweetarts, making this a popular holiday.