Halloween Quiz

Because of the pandemic, this year many of us won’t be able to take our children out into our neighbourhoods to ‘Trick or Treat’. However, we know this won’t stop you having plenty of fun at home!

So, alongside your spooky costumes, decorations, pumpkin carving and Halloween games, here’s a great Halloween quiz that will get everyone thinking (so, it’s fun and educational!)

Test your knowledge on these Halloween questions (the answers are at the end, – so no cheating!)

1. By what name is midnight also known?
2. Count Dracula is based on a real person from history—what was his name?
3. Hallowe’en was first celebrated by who?
4. Lambs wool was once a popular Hallowe’en drink made of milk and crushed, roasted what?
5. List the signs that someone’s a werewolf.
6. Name Anne Rice’s famous blond, French vampire.
7. Name the country over which Vlad Dracula once ruled, which still considers him a national hero.
8. On which date does Hallowe’en fall?
9. Shakespeare’s three witches from Macbeth were also known as what?
10. Some people claim to be real vampires: true or false?
11. The Celts believed that the lord of the dead travelled the earth on Hallowe’en. What was his name?
12. What do pumpkins grow on—stalks, trees, vines or bushes?
13. What does the old English word “Hallow” mean?
14. What is a group of witches called?
15. What is the other, traditional name for a broomstick?
16. What is the title of a witch’s pet cat or toad?
17. What is the traditional name for a pumpkin with a face carved into it, when it is illuminated from within by a candle?
18. What is the traditional name for Herne the Hunter’s shrieking band of witches, goblins and ghosts who ride through the skies on Hallowe’en?
19. What is the word Hallowe’en an abbreviation of?
20. What was Dr. Frankenstein’s first name?
21. What were Jack O’Lanterns carved from before pumpkins were used?
22. What would you traditionally bob for at Hallowe’en parties?
23. When were Hallowe’en greetings cards first made—1600s, 1700s, 1800s or 1900s?
24. Where did bobbing for apples originate?
25. Where do real vampire bats live?
26. Which song was a 1973 hit for Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers? (Lyric clue: It was a graveyard smash.)
27. Who wrote the novel “Dracula”?
28. Who wrote the novel “Frankenstein”?
29. Who wrote the novel called “The Witching Hour”?
30. Why did the tradition of fancy dress for Hallowe’en begin?

Answers

1. The witching hour
2. Vlad Dracula, a prince also nicknamed Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler
3. Druids
4. Apples
5. Their eyebrows meet in the middle; they have hairy palms and/or a long middle finger; they turn hairy in the moonlight.
6. Lestat de Lioncourt
7. Romania
8. October 31st
9. The Weird Sisters
10. True
11. Samana or Herne the Hunter
12. Vines
13. Saint
14. A coven
15. A besom
16. A familiar
17. Jack O’ Lantern
18. The Wild Hunt
19. All Hallow’s Eve
20. Victor
21. Turnips
22. Apples
23. 1900s
24. Ancient Rome
25. North and South America
26. “Monster Mash”
27. Bram Stoker
28. Mary Shelley
29. Anne Rice
30. So that when evil spirits see you, they’ll think you’re one of them and leave you alone.