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As the economic opportunities of this annual tradition are exploited more with every passing year, Halloween has become a time of feasting, fun-filled frights, and fancy-dressed festivities. According to the Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries, the origins of All Hallows’ Eve are commonly held to date back around two thousand years to a pre-Christian Celtic festival known as Samhain, or "Summer’s End," held to acknowledge the passing of the season of summer and the approach of the dark winter months. Samhain, pronounced sow-en or saw-win, was usually celebrated on 31st October or 1st November.

‘From the earliest records, Samhain is seen not simply as a day for the dead but when the dead might reach out to the living.’
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We all love a good monster movie, don’t we, even if it’s viewed with just one eye open from behind the safety of our sofas?

Year after year, Hollywood favourites such as Count Dracula and the Wolfman, and other classic fiendish figures continue to draw crowds of eager horror-movie-lovers. But when and where did our preoccupation with the "bogeyman" arise? Is there any basis in truth to the stories of mythical monsters?

Greg McDonald, director of forensic medicine at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, says that like many myths and scary stories, both Dracula and the Wolfman stemmed from a poor understanding of medical maladies.
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You’ve been hearing bumps and unexplained footsteps in the middle of the night, or get the feeling that someone is watching you, but when you turn round there is nobody there. The door opens or closes on its own, the dog is behaving strangely, or you keep having the same dream over and over again. You can smell pipe smoke, but no one in the family smokes, or, inexplicably, you feel an icy chill and goose-bumps on a hot summer’s day.

Do any of these scenario’s sound familiar? If so, you could have an unexpected house guest!
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What makes it so popular? – Halloween 2009 is expected to be a $4.75 billion retail event in the United States. And while that’s down about a billion from last year due to the economy, it still gives retailers hope. Why is Halloween on the rise as a popular American celebration? Researchers think this is due to a greater interest among young adults in the paranormal and supernatural.
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