Random Thursday

It's the last Thursday of the month! Halloween is just 4 days away!! EEK!! This last round of factoids brings us to the end of the article I found 40 Spooky Facts About Halloween by Karin Lehnardt! 

And as promised here is the link to the article in full! You'll get the full sentences and whatnot besides how I tried my best to shorten and give you the gist of said factoids! A very fun and intriguing article! If you have time, definitely take a look at it!


31. 40.1% of those surveyed planned to wear a Halloween costume in 2010 according to the National Retail Federation. In 2009 it was 33.4% and apparently 33% will throw or attend a party! -->sadly I am usually not in any of these percentages. There's never any parties going on and no one to come. Plus it's been during the week for soooo long, and as adults, we have to work the next day. Ugh.

(image borrowed from cardstore.com)

32. The National Retail Federation surveyed that 72.2% will hand out candy in 2010, 46.3% will carve a pumpkin, 20.8% will attend a haunted house, and 11.5% will dress up their pet! -->we generally hand out candy, though in the past years it's been mostly too old teenagers coming for the candy. So we close shop earlier and earlier! Haven't carved a pumpkin in ages, and we would dress up our two littler dogs years ago, but after they passed and we got big dogs, we just didn't bother. There's no way either one would keep it on for more than 3 seconds! LOL!

33. Apparently, Halloween is thought to have originated around 4000 BC. -->daaannng!

(image borrowed from the Lala)

34. China has what's called Teng Chieh or Lantern Festival; this is their Halloween festival. They hang lanterns in shapes of dragons and other animals to help guide spirits back to their earthly homes. Food and water is left out for their deceased loved ones in order to honor them. -->so amazing how different cultures have similar traditions!

35. In Hong Kong Halloween celebrations are known as Yue Lan or "Festival of the Hungry Ghosts". They celebrate by lighting fires and leaving out offerings of food and gifts to placate any angry ghosts who might be looking for revenge. -->this gave me chills! So creepy!

36. There are many countries, such as France and Australia, that see Halloween as an overly commercialized American holiday. -->yeah I can see that. But I like learning about the older versions of it when it was more meant to honor our deceased loved ones. 

(image borrowed from SmartSign)

37. On Halloween night, children are more than twice as likely to be killed in a pedestrian/car accident than any other night. -->the truly scary part of Halloween! Be sure to wear reflective lights or something protective so that you can be seen by cars if you and little ones are going out on Halloween! Flashlights too! 

 (image borrowed from Wikipedia)

38. Salem, Massachusetts and Anoka, Minnesota are the self-proclaimed Halloween capitals of the world! -->Salem, yes, but Anoka?! Where is this place?! Other than Minnesota! Must research!

(image borrowed from MassVaction)

39. Boston, Massachusetts has the world's record for most lit Jack O'Lanterns at once, which is 30,128! -->whoa!!!

(image borrowed from halloween-nyc.com)

40. The largest Halloween parade in the United States is The Village Halloween parade that takes place in NYC. There are 50,000 participants and over 2 million spectators!