The fall weather is lurking, and the winds howl, announcing the arrival of October and bringing the excitement of costumes and trick-or-treating.

With Halloween only a few days away, many people feel the festive, chilly mood approaching.

Today, Halloween is associated with the carving of pumpkins, children running through the neighborhood in costumes, the constant ringing of doorbells, and lots of candy, but do the students here at BSHS know the true origin of this holiday?

When asked about his assumptions on the origins of Halloween, Wesley Gilbert, senior, says, “I think it started from a pagan thing, like All Hallows’ Eve, where people dress up to confuse the demons coming back to earth, I think, but I am not sure. It may be from before the 1800s…I just like celebrating it.” His assumptions for the origin of Halloween are not too far off.

Similarly, Senior Rani Sward replied, “I believe it started as a pagan thing that originally was intended to ward off evil spirits, and then Christianity came and messed with stuff.”

In fact, the origin of Halloween can be traced back over 2,000 years to an ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. During Samhain, farmers sacrificed crops and animals to ward off evil, tame potential spirits passing onto the afterlife, and appeal to the gods.

Over time, the purpose of Halloween has shifted, but people still love to celebrate this spooky holiday.

Rani Sward shared her holiday traditions, saying, “We carve pumpkins. It is quite fun trying to carve them when none of us are particularly good at it. Last year we tried painting plastic pumpkins instead, and it went quite poorly, but in a funny way.”

When asked about his family traditions, Wes Gilbert replied, “Every year, we have pumpkin pie, banana pie, and candy corn, and my best memories are usually not of eating but of baking the pies in our house. We also like to visit a pumpkin patch, get pumpkins, carve them, and paint them.”

Dressing up in costume is a quintessential way to celebrate Halloween. Whether it a cute children’s costumes or stunning full-fledged horror costumes, dressing up for Halloween is a favorite for many people.

Today, people love to dress like their favorite characters from different media: video games to anime, like Demon Slayer.

When asked about his costume, Gilbert said, “I do plan to dress up as an Engineer from my favorite game, Team Fortress 2. I have completed all the costume parts, but I still need to spray-paint some parts.” He explains that “It has taken me about a month to get all the parts, and I am going to print 3D parts that I do not have yet because it is cheap and looks cool.” 

However, some people prefer to create their own original ideas instead of going based on popular media, and Rani Sward plans to do just that.

Sward says, “I plan to dress up and am going to be an elf. I have the outfit planned out, but I still need to think about if I will add makeup.” Sward was lucky to find most of the parts of her costume in her own closet.

Also, in the spirit of Halloween, scary movies and stories begin to come to life. Some students around campus are fans of the nightmarish Saw series, the haunting Conjuring series, and the eerie Lights Out flick, while others prefer Internet shorts like Creepypastas.

Senior Rani Sward says she enjoys Creepypasta’s Ticci Toby the best because she loves “his origin story”.

Many people grew up watching different Creepypasta films, and Ticci Toby is one that is always popular.

Wes Gilbert also admits to enjoying scary tales: “My favorite Halloween monster or cryptid is the urban legend creature from Maryland, The Goatman, who in the 1970s, ate a ton of dogs that went missing. Today, kids in Maryland still talk about him and even graffiti: “Goatman was here”.

During this season, everyone loves a little scare. Some students may seek to find their frightful thrill at the haunted houses. While, others may prefer to reminisce with a childhood tale from Scary Stories to Tell in Dark. 

To keep the thrill alive, we challenged Sward and Gilbert to come up with their own two-sentence horror story.

When faced with this challenge, Wes Gilbert wrote: “I never believed the children’s myth that eating watermelon seeds would cause a watermelon to grow in your stomach, that was, until a vine started to sprout in my skull, and out my eyeballs.”

Yikes! That would certainly be a scary and uncomfortable situation, which would require a trip to the doctor.

When it came to her story, Rani Sward did not hesitate: “I looked out my window, confused at the crescent moon because yesterday it was full. Then a creature turned its head, and two moons stared into my soul.”

After over 2,000-year, the tradition of Halloween remains popular. With Monday, October 31, quickly approaching, it is time to get serious about your spooky preparations. Carve those pumpkins, prep your costumes, and hit the haunted house before it’s too late. Most importantly, always remember to stay safe out there!