Halloween Fact or Fiction

​Spooky History Myths: Fact or Fiction?

By Emily Earp

​What's a spooky story, myth, or legend you've heard before?

Multiple Choice

European doctors once prescribed ground-up mummy dust as a cure for illness.

• Fact

• Fiction

In the 1500–1600s, people believed powdered mummies contained healing powers. Apothecaries actually sold it as medicine!

By Emily Earp

Multiple Choice

The original jack-o'-lanterns in Ireland and Scotland were carved from turnips, not pumpkins.

• Fact

• Fiction

The tradition began with turnip and potato lanterns in the UK and Ireland. When the tradition came to North America, they switched to the more readily available and easier-to-carve pumpkin!

By Emily Earp

Multiple Choice

In some European folklore, people believed that throwing a handful of mustard seeds on the ground could stop a pursuing vampire.

• Fact

• Fiction

While people did believe in scattering things to deter a vampire, it was poppy seeds or sand, not mustard seeds, that the creature would supposedly be compelled to stop and count.

By Emily Earp

Multiple Choice

The modern practice of trick-or-treating is a direct continuation of a medieval European custom called "souling," where the poor would go door-to-door to beg for food.

• Fact

• Fiction

"Souling" involved people singing and offering prayers for the dead in exchange for "soul cakes." This, along with the Scottish and Irish custom of guising (going door-to-door in costume), helped evolve into the trick-or-treating we know today.

By Emily Earp

Multiple Choice

The traditional depiction of a witch flying on a broomstick originated from a European legend that witches used the handles of farm tools to apply a hallucinogenic flying ointment.

• Fact

• Fiction

Records from 15th and 16th-century witch trials suggest that certain hallucinogenic herbs were absorbed transdermally (through the skin) using a stick or tool handle—a possible origin for the common image of the flying witch.

By Emily Earp

Multiple Choice

The association between black cats and bad luck started in ancient Egypt, where they were seen as symbols of the dark god Set.

• Fact

• Fiction

Black cats were actually revered in ancient Egypt, seen as sacred to the goddess Bastet. The negative association began in the Middle Ages in Europe, linking them to witchcraft and the devil.

By Emily Earp

Multiple Choice

A full moon actually has a strong enough gravitational effect on a person's brain chemistry to trigger a mental state that mimics the transformation into a werewolf.

• Fact

• Fiction

There is no scientific evidence to support the idea that the moon's phase affects human behavior or causes a werewolf transformation. The legend simply associates the full moon with the creatures due to its illumination and eerie atmosphere.

By Emily Earp

Multiple Choice

The legend of the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow was inspired by the true account of a Hessian soldier who was actually decapitated by an American cannonball during the Revolutionary War near the town.

• Fact

• Fiction

While Washington Irving's 1820 story is fiction, the Horseman's origins are rooted in a local tale. Historical records, including the memoir of an American general, mention a Hessian artilleryman whose head was taken off by a cannonball during the Battle of White Plains (not far from Sleepy Hollow) in 1776. Irving blended this historical event with European folklore to create his famous ghost story.

By Emily Earp

Poll

Did any of these fact or fiction questions surprise you?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

You wake up one morning and find an old diary from someone who lived 300 years ago. It mentions one of the myths we studied. What would you hope to find inside, and why?