Halloween
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188 free Halloween trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
100 free Halloween trivia questions with answers. From its ancient Celtic roots as Samhain to the billion-dollar candy industry, Halloween is a holiday wrapped in mystery, mythology, and a whole lot of sugar. How much do you know about the spookiest night of the year?
30 of 188 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What date is Halloween celebrated each year?
October 31
Halloween is celebrated on October 31st every year, the eve of All Saints' Day (November 1).
Q 02What is the traditional Halloween activity where children go door-to-door asking for candy?
Trick-or-treating
Trick-or-treating is the beloved Halloween tradition where children dress in costumes and go door-to-door collecting candy from neighbors.
Q 03What ancient Celtic festival is considered the origin of Halloween?
Samhain
Samhain (pronounced SAH-win) was an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed the boundary between the living and dead became thin on this night.
Q 04Which confection most associated with Halloween has orange, yellow and white layers?
Candy corn
Candy corn's orange, yellow and white layers mimic a corn kernel; invented in the 1880s, it is sold mostly in autumn and is the confection most tied to Halloween.
Q 05In the 1978 horror film "Halloween," what is the name of the masked killer?
Michael Myers
The 1978 original has Myers stalking teenage babysitters on Halloween night.
Q 06What color cat is traditionally associated with Halloween superstitions?
Black
Black cats are the traditional Halloween omen; European folklore linked them with witches, and in Britain and Ireland a black cat crossing your path was counted as good luck.
Q 07What classic TV special features Linus waiting in a pumpkin patch for a holiday visitor?
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (1966) features Linus spending Halloween night in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, whom he believes brings toys to children.
Q 08In which language variety did the contraction that produced the word 'Halloween' first arise?
Lowland Scots
'Even' is the Scots word for evening, contracted to e'en, so All Hallows' Even became Halloween.
Q 09In Scotland, which sticky baked goods are strung from the ceiling at Halloween beside the dooking tub?
Treacle scones
Treacle scones, smeared with sticky treacle, are hung on strings from the ceiling and eaten hands-free, a Scottish Halloween game played beside dooking for apples.
Q 10In 835, which realm officially adopted 1 November as the date of All Saints' Day?
Frankish Empire
The Frankish Empire adopted 1 November in 835, when Emperor Louis the Pious decreed the feast be kept throughout his realm; English and Irish churches had used that date since the 8th century.
Q 11In Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, from which legendary conqueror does the title vampire claim descent?
Attila the Hun
Stoker's count is a Transylvanian nobleman who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun.
Q 12The name of the phobia for a persistent fear of ghosts derives from a Greek word meaning what?
Apparition
The name comes from the Greek phásma, 'apparition', plus -phobía, 'fear'.
Q 13In the movie "Hocus Pocus," how many Sanderson sisters are there?
Three
There are three Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus: Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy). The 1993 film has become a Halloween classic.
Q 21What is the name of the skeleton-like figure associated with Día de los Muertos?
La Catrina
La Catrina is an elegantly dressed female skeleton figure that has become an iconic symbol of Día de los Muertos. She was originally created by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada around 1910.
Q 22In which decade did going door to door for Halloween candy become widespread in the US?
1930s
Trick-or-treating spread across the United States in the 1930s; it was common enough by 1939 to be described in a national magazine, and boomed again once wartime sugar rationing ended.
Q 23What is the name of the phobia that describes an intense fear of spiders?
Arachnophobia
Q 14Which New York City parade did puppeteer Ralph Lee begin in 1974 with his puppets?
Village Halloween Parade
The Village Halloween Parade began in 1974 as puppeteer Ralph Lee's informal puppet walk for children in Greenwich Village and grew to about 50,000 costumed marchers and two million spectators.
Q 15What are Día de los Muertos home altars laid with the departed's favourite foods called?
Ofrendas
Ofrendas are the home altars of Día de los Muertos, layered with candles, photographs, pan de muerto and the departed's favourite foods and drinks to welcome their spirits back on 1–2 November.
Q 16Punkie Night, when children carry mangelwurzel lanterns in late October, is a tradition of which English county?
Somerset
Punkie Night belongs to Somerset: it is kept in Hinton St George, where legend says wives carved mangelwurzel lanterns to fetch their husbands home from Chiselborough fair.
Q 17Which horror movie features a character named Ghostface?
Scream
Scream (1996), directed by Wes Craven, introduced Ghostface, the hooded killer in a wailing-ghost mask who telephones victims with horror-movie quiz questions.
Q 18Which unusual substance was traditionally poured into water for Halloween fortune-telling in Ireland and Britain?
Molten lead
Molten lead was dropped into cold water and the hardened shapes read as omens; egg whites were used the same way, alongside nut-roasting and mirror-gazing at Halloween.
Q 19Which once-common Halloween handout fell out of favour in the US after rumours of hidden pins and razor blades?
Candy apples
Candy apples, whole apples dipped in sugar syrup or caramel, were a standard Halloween handout until 1960s–70s scares about hidden pins and razor blades made parents reject unwrapped treats.
Q 20What U.S. city is known as the "Halloween Capital of the World"?
Anoka, Minnesota
Anoka earned the nickname by hosting one of the first Halloween parades in 1920.
Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and other arachnids. It's one of the most common phobias worldwide and is often heightened around Halloween when spider decorations are everywhere.
Q 24What famous magician died on Halloween in 1926?
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini died on 31 October 1926, aged 52, of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix, possibly worsened by punches to his abdomen he had taken days earlier in Montreal.
Q 25The mask worn by the killer in the 1978 film 'Halloween' was originally cast from which actor's face?
William Shatner
The mask was a 1975 Captain Kirk mask cast from William Shatner's face; the crew spray-painted it white, widened the eyeholes and teased out the hair.
Q 26In the 1820 Headless Horseman story, from which state does schoolteacher Ichabod Crane come?
Connecticut
Ichabod Crane is introduced as 'a native of Connecticut', a state the tale calls a nursery of schoolmasters; he comes to the Dutch settlement of Sleepy Hollow to teach and court Katrina Van Tassel.
Q 27Approximately how many pieces of its tri-coloured Halloween confection does Brach's make each year?
7 billion
Brach's, the largest candy corn maker, says it produces about 7 billion pieces a year, enough to circle the Earth more than four times laid end to end.
Q 28Which farm figure is a traditional Halloween costume model alongside vampires, ghosts and skeletons?
Scarecrow
The scarecrow joined vampires, ghosts, skeletons and witches as a stock Halloween costume, a harvest-field figure that fits the festival's end-of-harvest roots.
Q 29In the horror film "A Nightmare on Elm Street," what is Freddy Krueger's signature weapon?
A bladed glove
Krueger crafted the metal-clawed leather glove himself in the boiler room where he took his victims.
Q 30Torches lit from the Halloween bonfire were carried around homes and fields in which direction?
Sunwise
Torches kindled from the Samhain bonfire were carried sunwise, or deiseal, around homes and fields, following the sun's course, the lucky direction in Gaelic custom.