- The final Halloween facts for Halloween day!
If you didn’t read Uncommon Halloween Facts For Tomorrow’s Holiday: Part One, follow the link and enjoy! Because this is part two.
- Pumpkins are typically orange but they can also be green, white, red, and grey, even though we don’t see them very often.
- Pumpkins are berries.
- In 2014, the US produced over 594 million kg of pumpkins.
- 745 million pounds of pumpkins are grown in Illinois every year and 192 million in California.
- 99% of pumpkins sold in the UK are for carving jack’o lanterns at Halloween.
- The biggest pumpkin came in 2016 weighing 2,624 pounds, about half as heavy as a giraffe.
- The fastest pumpkin carver in the world is Steven Clarke. In 2013, he carved a jack’o lantern face, including eyes, nose, mouth, and ears into a pumpkin in 16.47 seconds. Do you think you could carve a pumpkin this fast for a holiday?
- Clarke also holds the record for fastest time to carve a ton of pumpkins. It took him only 3 hours, 33 minutes, and 49 seconds. He did it two days before Halloween in 2008.
- The most jack’o lanterns on display at once took place in Keene, New Hampshire. The date was October 19th, 2013. There were 30,581 jack’o lanterns lit around town at the same time
- One suspicion about Halloween is that if you wear your clothes inside out and walk backwards on Halloween, you would see a witch at midnight.
- Apple bobbing was used to predict future romances.
- If you peel an apple on Halloween before throwing it over your shoulder and it formed a letter when it landed, that is the initial of your future spouse. Or so some say.
- Legend has it that if you see a spider on Halloween night, it means that a loved
one is watching over you. - There are some superstitions about people born on Halloween.
- Famous people born on Halloween are Willow Smith, Rob Schneider, and Vanilla Ice.
- The first place in America to celebrate Halloween was Anoka MN in 1920. The town did this to stop local kids from pranks like tipping outhouses and letting cows out of their enclosures.
- The Village Halloween parade in New York has 50,000 participants and an audience of over 2 million people each year.
- In the 1940s, they stopped trick or treat because of sugar rationing during WWII. What a sad time for this holiday.
- Belleville officially banned trick or treating for kids older than 12, with a $1000 fine and trick or treaters need to be done by 8 pm.
- The use of silly string banned in LA in 2004, as it costed more than $200,000 for the city to clean up. The use or sale penalty of $1000 or 6 months in prison goes with silly string in LA.
- In Alabama, it’s illegal to dress up as priest, nun, or rabbi. There is a $500 fine or a year in jail penalty.
- Missouri, Florida and Nevada order sex offenders to post signs on their doors stating no candy or treats at this residence.
- Dia day Los Muertos is a day Mexican people dress like skeletons as a way to remember departed loved ones.
- Germans hide all knifes in the house to prevent spirits from hurting
themselves on Halloween. - Iceland doesn’t celebrate Halloween but something that is close on Ash Wednesday. They dress up in costumes and sing for sweets, thought they aren’t really related as far as religion.
- The night before Halloween is known as the night for pranks. It’s called Mischief Night, Devil’s Night or Cabbage Night.
- Children are more than twice as likely to be killed by a car on Halloween than any other night of the year.
- In 2000, trunk or treating was created.
- Halloween is the second highest grossing holiday in the US after Christmas. We spend $7-8 billion on Halloween. In 2017, the United States went Halloween crazy, spending a whopping $9.1 billion.
- 86% of Americans decorate for Halloween holiday.
- Each American spends $74.34 on Halloween for costumes and decor.
- 25% of all sales on sweets is specifically for Halloween.
Hope you enjoyed these Halloween facts for the holiday! Let me know your favorite in the comments and Happy Halloween!