Ghosts, ghouls, and candy: what’s not to like about it? Halloween is the spookiest night of the year. Some say spirits can wander the earth freely, and others say their children can wander the neighbourhood unattended, trick-or-treating or causing havoc.
Who doesn’t want to get into the spooky spirit by dressing up as their favourite character? As Hallow’s Eve approaches, it’s also that perfect time for spooky night-in flicks of haunted houses, with creaking doors and menacing apparitions.
Welcome to Nutty’ Infotainment. YAYS! Today’s bizarre Halloween special is anything, but boo-gus. 
The supernatural celebration has indeed deep pagan roots and a long history. Trick-or-treating has been around for a long time. According to ancient Roman records, tribes located in today’s Germany and France, traditionally wore costumes of animal heads and skins. The tradition continued into modern day celebrations of Samhain, a sacred festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year. Most of these early trick-or-treaters were poor and actually needed the money, but wealthy children also joined in the fun.
The first Jack-O’-Lanterns was actually made from turnips. The Jack-O’-Lantern comes from an old Irish tale about a stingy farmer, Jack. Based on a myth, the Irish started carvinh scary faces into turnips, beets and potatoes to scare away stingy Jack.
Teng Chieh or the ‘Lantern Festival’ is a Halloween festival in China. People hang dragons and animals-shaped lanterns. Halloween celebrations in Hong Kong are known as Yue Lan or the ‘Festival of the Hungry Ghosts’ during which fires are lit and food and gifts are offered. 
According to popular belief, witches held one of their eight meetings on Halloween night. Black cats, spiders, and bats are all Halloween symbols because of their spooky history and ties to Wiccans. In medieval times, owls were believed to be witches, and if you heard the call of an owl, it meant that someone was about to die.
Black cats were once believed to be witch’s familiars who protected their powers. Various animal shelters refuse to let people adopt these cats in the lead-up to the festival.
From its vampy costumes and sweet treats to spooky outdoor decor, Halloween is a big business and the second-largest commercial holiday in the US, with Christmas being the only one to surpass it in sales.


Let’s start with some related phobias. ‘Phasmophobia’ is the fear of ghosts, ‘wiccaphobia’ is the fear of witchcraft and ‘nyctophobia’ is the fear of darkness. What is ‘Samhainophobia’?
Fear of Halloween


Name the most famous and mysterious magician who died on Halloween night in 1926.
Harry Houdini


Though a common trope in horror movies and Halloween decorations with witches flying across it, a full moon on Halloween is extremely rare. The most recent Halloween full moon was in 2001. When is this event expected next?
October 31, 2020


What does ‘Hindi’ mean in Turkish language?
The bird ‘Turkey’


What common ‘pukish’ behaviour connects horses, rabbits and rats?
They cannot vomit


The Treaty of Lausanne, a peace treaty signed on 24 July 1923, led to the international recognition and creation of which country on October 29, 1923? 
Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became its first president.
If you are eating a fruit from a tree named ‘Malus Pumila,’ what fruit would it be?
Apple


Born this day (October 28) in 1914, he discovered and developed one of the most successful vaccines. He didn’t directly profit from this because he didn’t file a patent for it. When a journalist asked him who owned the patent, he responded, “The people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” Identify this American medical researcher and virologist, who was also the stepfather of Pablo Picasso’s children. 
Jonas Salk.


Name the close low-cut shoe which gets its named from a character created by Richard Felton Outcault for his comic strip, Buster Brown, first published in 1902? 
Mary Jane


Identify this “Pretty” girl who is celebrating her 51st birthday today. 


(Answer next week. Answer to last week’s photoquiz: The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length movie with synchronised dialogue. It marked the ascendancy of “talkies” and the end of the silent-film era.)