Halloween Trivia: 90 Things You Think Know About — and What Actually Happened

Most of what you know about Halloween is wrong. Ancient Celtic thing. Trick-or-treating is centuries old. Salem burned witches. Michael Myers is wearing a Halloween mask. Most of that is wrong. The rest is more complicated than the greeting cards let on - and this book has the ninety questions and the receipts to prove it. What you'll learn: - The oldest Halloween ancestor is Gaelic Samhain - but most of the modern trick-or-treat holiday is younger than Casablanca. - The first known print appearance of "trick or treat" was Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, 1917 - not Alberta 1927. - The Salem witch trials happened mostly in what is now Danvers, Massachusetts - and nobody was burned. Nineteen people were hanged; one was pressed to death. - The world-record pumpkin - 2,819 lb - was grown by twin brothers in Lymington, England. Not America. - The Wicked Witch of the West's green skin was invented in 1939 by MGM to show off Technicolor. Toxic copper makeup put Margaret Hamilton in the hospital. - McKamey Manor advertises a $20,000 prize for anyone who completes the full experience. Nobody has ever won it. Every fact cross-referenced against Britannica, the Smithsonian, National Geographic, the Salem Witch Museum, Guinness World Records, USDA agriculture data, Box Office Mojo, and a specific pile of 1917 Ontario newspaper archives. Ten parts. Nine questions each. Ninety questions total. Then a Score Sheet at the back - from "You Skipped Halloween" to "You Actually Know Halloween." Read it straight through. Skim it. Bring it to the party. Holiday Table Books - Vol. 1 - Christmas Trivia coming Fall 2026.