What do #Zombies and #Snickers Have in Common on #Halloween?

I love Halloween. I love everything about it: the costumes, the treats, the decorations, and trick-or-treaters. But most of all, I love the scariness that goes along with Halloween, which evokes images of fog-laden cemeteries or a full moon with eery, wispy clouds drifting over it to cast a ghostly light over the land. I instantly hear the telltale piano notes of the theme to the movie, Halloween, and I become all giddy like a little girl.

Halloween, even more-so than Christmas, makes me feel like a kid again. I just love it. And here's some interesting facts and trivia about Halloween that you may not have known:

• The first Jack O'Lanterns were carved from turnips.
• Zombies were the #1 choice of costume in 2011.
• Do you have an intense fear of Halloween? Well then, you have Samhainophobia. BOO!
• Half of kids prefer to receive chocolate candy for Halloween, with Snickers being the #1 favorite chocolate treat. So invest in some chocolate for your trick-or-treaters.
• Trick-or-treating evolved from an ancient Celtic tradition of putting out treats to placate spirits who roamed the streets at Samhain, a sacred festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year.
• An old tradition says that if you want to see a witch on Halloween, put your clothes on inside out and walk backward.
• The word "witch" comes from the Old English wicce, meaning "wise woman." In fact, wiccan were highly respected people at one time. According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main meetings, or sabbats, on Halloween night.
• Speaking of witches, in Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl's call meant someone was about to die.
• Ever wonder how the Jack O'Lantern got its name? Legend says that a stingy man named jack tricked the devil so many times that he was forbidden to enter both heaven and hell. Jack was condemned to wander the Earth, waving his lantern to lead people away from their paths.