Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene.
Warner Bros/Bruno Calvo
The Nun II brings a refreshingly feminist gloss to well-worn tropes within exorcism fiction, shattering assumptions about who should be the victim and who should be the rescuer.
South Korean Citizens hold a Candlelight tribute to the victims of the Itaewon disaster during the Halloween Festival in Seoul
Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo
The tragedy this year shares similarities with the 1943 Bethnal Green disaster in London.
Halloween in Korea is celebrated primarily by young adults.
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
Halloween was virtually nonexistent in South Korea until about a decade ago. But commercialization is taking popular holidays to unlikely places across the globe.
Sebastien Le Cocq / Alamy
Far from an extension of our secular Halloween, this Mexican celebration is a deeply religious custom with its own rituals, folklore and history.
vinitapuniasangwan/iNaturalist
Invertebrates are the most abundant animals on our planet – and the vast majority are nothing to be afraid of, despite their appearances.
Alasdair Macintyre, Ghost Kid on Stairs 2, 2019.
aecap/flickr
Ghosts aren’t just the domain of fiction or trick-or-treating. Hauntology is a philosophical concept that embraces ghosts.
Pumpkins are regularly consumed as part of many diets around the world.
Zulfiska/ Shutterstock
Pumpkins are a versatile fruit that can be prepared in many different ways.
The Ouija board was first developed in 1890.
Couperfield/ Shutterstock
Ouija boards have been around for more than a hundred years.
PIA.
NASA/JPL
A handful of zombie planets have been spotted – thought to have been born after the death of their host stars.
Kindergarten students in 1952 race out of school in Los Angeles, eager to celebrate Halloween.
Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images
From its origins as a Celtic pagan ceremony to its celebration of all things gruesome and ghoulish today, Halloween has been reinvented over the centuries.
Some bat populations have had their numbers reduced by as much as 90 per cent.
(Shutterstock)
Bats have important roles to play in ecosystems, but their populations have been declining due to disease and habitat change.
Shutterstock
Halloween has become yet another consumption ritual – but you can choose to celebrate it sustainably.
Clowns in American circuses were once considered a form of adult entertainment.
ArtMarie/E+ via Getty Images
Today’s creepy clowns are not a divergence from tradition, but a return to it.
How did Halloween get associated with the spooky?
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A folklorist explains how Halloween continues an ancient Celtic tradition of the celebration of the dead.
In what’s called ‘benign masochism,’ some people find the feeling of disgust pleasurable.
Ocskaymark/iStock via Getty Images.
Going out of your way to get grossed out might seem like a contradiction of human nature. But it serves a strong evolutionary purpose.
Archival records don’t tell the whole story, but they can provide valuable information.
(Shutterstock)
A teenage domestic servant showed signs of possession, and a miller was accused of witchcraft. Considering records of these events helps clarify what we can and cannot know about the past.
Trends in recreational or illicit drug use often make the jump to Halloween warnings.
Malte Mueller/fstop via Getty Images
Like clockwork, September crime news is often cast as an ominous sign of what could happen on Halloween.
The pumpkin on the right has a fungal disease known as black rot.
Matt Kasson
Don’t let microbes and insects turn your Halloween masterpiece into a horror show before the big night.
Most candy is basically just a heap of sugar.
Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images
A healthy diet can include some candy. But if you eat too much, it can interfere with your appetite for the stuff your body actually needs.
A painting by John Anster Fitzgerald who was well known for his work featuring fairies.
Wikimedia
The ‘Disneyfication’ of fairies has helped us forget their darker origins.