By John Dempsey, Staff Writer In the thick of spooky season? There’s no better way to celebrate than a horror movie marathon. And somewhere between Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and The Exorcist, with a giant tub of popcorn and a double-helping of earth-crumbling screams… do you ever stop to think about the titles of these scary movies we love so much? Well, you know we do—we’re …
Halloween is actually just the beginning of a string of otherworldly holidays. The tricks, treats, and customs of Halloween, now mostly secular, are based in part on ancient Celtic and Christian festivals. But did you know that the Halloween customs extend past October 31? In fact, the day after Halloween is a celebrated day in many parts of the world. What is All Saints’ Day? November …
During the fall season, there’s nothing quite like finding a good book, curling up on a cozy couch, diving into the pages, and then… hurling said book across the room in terror! Halloween might be the climax of the spooky season, but scaring each other with ghost stories is something we can enjoy all throughout the year. But first, you’ll need to find something bone-chilling …
Fittingly, everything about Halloween is a bit bizarre. Kids put on costumes and demand candy from strangers. People decorate their houses with spiderwebs and gravestones. Even the word itself sounds weird. Where does Halloween come from? And how did the celebration of all things spooky come to have a history that’s intertwined with an ancient Celtic festival and a Christian holiday in honor of saints? …
Forget Thanksgiving, New Year’s, and Fourth of July—for some people, no other holiday comes close to Halloween. For those who are all about “spooky season,” they’re breaking out the pumpkin spice and brainstorming creepy costumes at the first hint of fall. But are those who savor the haunting side of this holiday all about the terror that ghosts and skeletons bring? Or is it horror …
If you were a ’90s kid, you probably got spooked by R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books. These terrifying books lurked in every library and book fair just waiting to scare unsuspecting readers. But if you were a true Goosebumps fan, your monster blood coursed through your veins, and you knew to be more concerned than usual at the sight of a ventriloquist dummy. (Yikes!) Bravely step …
From fire to the internet, science and technology have shaped and changed the world. But we can imagine so much more. Time travel! Teleportation! Interstellar spaceships! These (at least for the time being) are the realm of science fiction. In this article, we’ll discuss what elements contribute to a story being categorized as sci-fi and provide examples on page and on screen, including “hard sci-fi” …
Whether you love chocolate or hard candies, we all have our favorites. But, have you ever thought about what the name on your favorite candy wrapper means? Here’s the history behind the names of a few popular confections. Snickers Believe it or not, one of the most beloved candy bars is named after a horse. The Mars family named the candy bar Snickers in memory of …
Every October, thousands of Americans scoop out the flesh of a gourd, carefully carve a haunting face into its rind, and stick a candle inside. In fact, pumpkins are so popular near Halloween, that October 26 is National Pumpkin Day. But Halloween pumpkins aren’t just any pumpkins. These creations are called jack-o’-lanterns, and they are proudly displayed on porches and stoops across the country. These …
October is here, and in the Northern Hemisphere, that often means the days are flush with falling leaves, chilling weather, and growing anticipation for the holiday season. The tenth month by our Gregorian calendar, October shares a root with octopus and octagon—the Latin octo and Greek okto, meaning “eight.” According to the original Roman republican calendar, October was the eighth month of the year rather than the …
In 2012, as Halloween quickly approached, a Frankenstorm was sneaking up on the East Coast. Forecasters were calling the hurricane headed for New York, New Jersey, and as far inland as Ohio, “Frankenstorm” because (like the monster in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus) this storm was stitched together from three different weather systems, Hurricane Sandy from the Caribbean, a western early winter …