Halloween, which dates back to Celtic rituals thousands of years ago, is celebrated today by wearing costumes, trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, and going to haunted houses and parties.
Here are some frighteningly fun facts and figures about the pagan tradition turned modern celebration:
- Jack-o'-lanterns come from the Irish tradition of carving out potatoes and turnips.
- The value of pumpkins harvested from the top six pumpkin-producing states—Illinois, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan—was $113 million in 2011.
- There were 41 million trick-or-treaters across America last Halloween.
- Some places around the country that may put you in the Halloween mood are:
- Devils Elbow, CA (population unknown)
- Tombstone, AZ (population 1,396)
- Transylvania, LA (population 743)
- Pumpkin Center, NC (population 2,222)
- Hell, MI (population 266)
- Skull Creek, NE (population 268)
- Consumers will spend an estimated $2.4 billion on candy for Halloween this year, the most popular holiday for candy sales.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SpecialityFood.com
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