Halloween

Other Names For Halloween: All Hallows Eve Samhain All Hallowtide The Feast of the Dead

Jack-o-lantern- This came from an 18th century Irish folktale in which a man named Jack convinced the Devil to climb an apple tree. When he did this, Jack, cut a cross into the tree which trapped the Devil within the branches. When he died he was not allowed into heaven for this cruelty and the Devil would not let him into Hell. So he was forced to walk the earth for infinity. The Devil felt sorry for him and gave him a piece of coal to light his way. Jack then put this into a turnip that he had been eating.

Halloween was called All Hallows Eve. This meant the evening before all saint's day. Hallow is an English word for saint so it was shortened to Halloween.

Halloween is the holiday for the most candy sold and the third largest party occasion.

Los Dios de Los Muertos(The Days of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico between Oct. 31st and Nov. 2nd to remember their deceased loved ones. They display everything that the dead had liked when they were living. Favorite foods, beverages, ect. in hopes that they will return home that night. After the celebrations they go to the cemeterys as the spirits leave them once more, but they know that next year they will be able to be with them once more.

The Celts often believed that Oct. 31st was the day that the dead walked the Earth.

Halloween is also during Harvest season when the crops were picked and the fields were left to dry and wither away which... I guess somehow made people remember their dead loved ones.

People began having costume parties which included games like bobbing for apples in the 1800s.

In the 1930s the streets were overcrowded and people resorted to vandalism as a way to vent. Every Halloween so much damage was done that they made a proposition to have their children go door to door asking for candy as a better alternative.

Horror through History

The horror genre is most often identified with tales of the unnerving, and of inhuman specters that lurk in the darkness. Thrill seekers love horror because of its high-tension and uncertainty. Through eerie thriller novels, Old Time Radio, and film the horror genre continues to leave its audience in suspense.

Tales of ghosts, monsters, and murders all fall under horror fiction. These books are written with the intention of scaring the reader. Horror fiction is sometimes categorized under speculative fiction or supernatural fiction. In the late 18th century Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto (1764) and Anne Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Uldolpho (1794) were two popular horror novels. The year 1818 would bring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. These novels would later become quite popular on-screen. One of the early horror writers was Edgar Allan Poe. Some of his works include The Tell Tale Heart, The Raven, The Black Cat, and The Pendulum. He is now considered to be one of the masters of horror fiction. Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows is recognized as one of the best ghost stories. One of the accomplished horror novelists of today is Stephen King. He is well-known for his work on such novels as Carrie and Pet Sematary.

From the 1920s through the 1950s the most popular form of entertainment was Old Time Radio (OTR). This featured American radio programs which included many horror, mystery, and thriller shows. Some of these shows include The Creaking Door, The Hermit’s Cave, and Murder at Midnight. One of the first horror programs was Lights Out. This would later become adapted into a television show in 1949. Escape, another horror show, was very popular for Vincent Price’s narrations. His haunting voice set the mood for “Three Skeleton Key”. This was a tale about three men who found themselves trapped in a lighthouse by thousands of rats. It is said to be Escape’s most famous recording. Old Time Radio also opened the door for pranks, such as the eventful night of October 30, 1938. The Mercury Theater on Air played out a dramatization of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds. This episode would create panic and make news headlines.

Between 1896 and 1930 German filmmakers would produce the first horror movies. Georges Méliès’ The Devil’s Castle in 1896 was possibly the first horror movie produced. Movies that would soon follow are The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Nosferatu (an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula). The universal monsters would be introduced between 1930 and 1950. Dracula and Frankenstein were filmed in 1931, The Mummy in 1932, and The Wolf Man in 1941. Movies in the 1950s generally focused on alien invasions and horrific mutations to people, plants, and animals. The ‘50s also featured Edgar Allan Poe themed movies that starred Vincent Price. The 1960s brought about psychological horror. Movies such as Psycho in 1960 showed that people can be monsters too. One of the most popular movies of this decade was George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Horror in the 1970s is often called the occult genre. The ‘70s included gory, satanic movies with sexual overtones. Movies such as Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen clearly illustrate this. The end of the decade would mark the beginning of the overproduction of teen slasher films. This would begin with Halloween in 1978. This would later bring about the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series in the 1980s, and the Scream series in the ‘90s. Today the horror film industry focuses on the adaptation of video games to film. Two instances of this are Resident Evil in 2002 and Silent Hill in 2006. Some movies such as House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects are 1970s themed. Currently, The Omen remake is playing in theaters.

Through eerie thriller novels, Old Time Radio, and film, the horror genre continues to leave its audience in suspense. All of these elements through history have succeeded in making the art of horror what it is today.