More Halloween Traditions
The color orange is associated with the harvest, and this color is associated with the night and death.
What is black?
This 1982 Tobe Hooper-directed, Steven Spielberg-produced movie features a family fighting off spirits that communicate through their television.
What is Poltergeist?
This reality show, featuring the TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) team, was one of the first major paranormal investigation shows on television, starting in 2004.
What is Ghost Hunters?
This theme song is often identified by its simple, repetitive, piano-driven 5/4 time signature.
What is the theme from Halloween?
The two colors traditionally associated with Halloween, symbolizing harvest/fire and death/darkness.
What are orange and black?
The original purpose of wearing costumes on Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival, was to disguise oneself from these roaming entities.
What are ghosts or evil spirits?
The crew of the spaceship Nostromo encounters a terrifying alien creature in this 1979 Ridley Scott film.
What is Alien?
In the series Ghost Adventures, lead investigator Zak Bagans famously owns and curates this unique museum in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.
What is the Haunted Museum?
The 1982 Michael Jackson song that, at 13 minutes 42 seconds, is one of the most famous horror-themed music videos of all time.
What is "Thriller?"
This creature's association with witches and bad luck made it a Halloween symbol, specifically a black one.
What is a cat?
This mythological figure, forced to wander the Earth with a burning coal inside a carved root vegetable, is the namesake of the jack-o'-lantern.
Who is Stingy Jack?
This 2017 film by Jordan Peele, which explores racial horror, features the terrifying concept of the Sunken Place.
What is Get Out?
This equipment, often seen on paranormal shows, is an acronym for Electronic Voice Phenomenon.
What is EVP?
This 1962 novelty song by Bobby Pickett is a "graveyard smash" that features a Wolfman, Dracula, and his son.
What is "Monster Mash?"
According to legend, seeing one of these animals on Halloween meant a loved one's spirit was watching over you.
What is a spider?
This medieval Christian practice of the poor going door-to-door on All Souls' Day to pray for the dead in exchange for cakes is an inspiration for trick-or-treating.
What is souling?
In The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter famously enjoys this food and a nice Chianti, even though the quote in the movie omits the Chianti.
What are fava beans?
All major paranormal shows, including Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures, use this device to detect fluctuations in the electromagnetic field, which they believe indicates a spirit's presence.
What is an EMF meter?
This song by Rockwell is about an overwhelming feeling of being watched and includes vocal cameos from Michael and Jermaine Jackson.
What is "Somebody's Watching Me?"
This term, meaning a gathering or assembly of witches, is a common symbolic image of Halloween.
What is a coven?
The original jack-o'-lanterns in Ireland and Scotland were carved not from pumpkins, but from this root vegetable.
What is a turnip (or a beet/potato)?
In the 1973 film The Exorcist, the possessed girl is named Regan; this is the name of the demon possessing her, a figure from Assyrian mythology.
What is Pazuzu?
On Ghost Adventures, this tool is often used to get electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) and is said to communicate by using a database of words or phonetic sounds.
What is an Ovilus (or Spirit Box)?
This Warren Zevon song, a massive hit in 1978, is about a well-dressed, hard-drinking man from London who becomes the subject of a pack of hounds.
What is "Werewolves of London?"
In ancient Rome, the Roman goddess of fruit trees and orchards, whose holiday is believed to have contributed to the tradition of bobbing for apples.
Who is Pomona?