The Exorcist to Spiritualists: Halloween Traditions

Dense clouds scurry their way across a full-faced moon; from deep within the darkened pines, a dog howls; tiny wraiths flit from doorway to doorway, hollowed-out, grinning pumpkin heads brimming with sugar-filled bounty held before them like offerings to the gods.

It’s that night of the year when it’s held the veil between the living and the dead is drawn aside: Halloween.

In the lost sands of time it was a pagan festival to the harvest. In the 1st century it morphed into a Christian celebration - All Hallows' Eve, the night before All Saints Day.

Still though, it retained many of its superstitious underpinnings. Just one: Danse Macabre or Dance of Death.

Once a year - Halloween - it's said the dead of the churchyards rise again for one wild, hideous carnival, even regularly depicted in church decorations (and Disney; check out The Skeleton Dance).

And what of modern-day vestiges like trick-or-treating and costumes?

The Middle Ages were one of the most superstitious periods in human history.

In these times it was thought the souls of the departed wandered the earth until Nov 1 and the Eve of the Holy (Hallows) provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world.

In order to avoid being recognised by any soul that might be seeking revenge, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities.

From the mid-1800’s until the turn of the 20th century - the era of Queen Victoria - superstitious beliefs were considered everyday.

Spiritualism was a much-practiced “social religious movement” based on the notion spirits can communicate with the living.

Famous proponents include Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the world’s most recognised detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Australia’s second Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin.

Other practices still known today range from church bells pealing to frighten off evil spirits; covering mirrors on an individual’s death to prevent the soul being trapped within the looking glass; pallbearers wearing gloves so the spirit can't take hold of them in the act of being carried to their place of final repose.

In cemeteries, the Christian tradition holds that bodies are buried with the feet pointing eastwards in order that they can rise more easily come Judgement Day.

And what of an item often most identified with the paranormal: Ouija Boards?

Perhaps your knowledge might be thanks to teenage experimenting or that infamous 1973 film, The Exorcist (on its release, people so terrified they had to be hospitalised).

In fact, the board that claimed to facilitate “communication with the other side” was created by an American, Elijah Bond, in 1890.

A toy manufacturer went on to produce a commercialised version of the “parlour game", advertised as "a magical device that answered questions about the past, present and future with marvellous accuracy”.

So popular did it become, in 1967 it outsold the always best-selling Monopoly!

Curiously though, the patent issued for the "invention" apparently doesn't explain how it actually "works", something that's normally required when such a thing is lodged.

The only declaration is that the Ouija Board "does work" and legend has it the responsible patent officer was scared into approving it without the proper paperwork after being subjected to an in-office demonstration!

As we head then towards the “Witching Hour” (3am), if you hear an unexplained sound in the dark, an unembodied whisper in your ear, or the feeling of being watched when you know there's no one around, perhaps you’ll shrug it off or think your mind’s playing tricks on you - or perhaps, you’ll know better ...

And so, a happy Halloween to you all!