Greetings all, October 31 has arrived so we all know it's what we call our spooky time of year. But why is that? Why do we celebrate things such as vampires, werewolves and walking monsters?

Halloween for me has always been one of my most interesting historical subjects. It's the origin story that really peaks my interest, where writers such as Mary Shelley, whom wrote a majority of her works of "Frankenstein" in Bath get their inspirations from.

On the 31st October think back to over 2,000 years ago in Celtic times. The Celts lived in different parts of the UK, France and Ireland. On this date the festival of Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) would begin. During this time the season would be approaching cold winters. Unlike the Romans whom later invaded in 43AD, came with hypocausts and saunas. The Celts kept warm by large fires, which came with a lot of risks as most homes were made out of wood and mud.

Now along with the risks of getting cold, then came the food issue of storing crops well for the winter. Many people would die during the cold winters. During this time, they believed on the night of October the 31st the realms between the living and the dead were merged where the dead could walk the earth. (Possibly, where George A Romero got his inspiration for ("When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.")Used in his zombie film Dawn of the Dead in 1978.

Sacrifice - was it worth it ?

Large bonfires and costumes (usually of animal heads and skins) were part of the tradition. Additionally, they would sacrifice animals to their deity's in order to please them for good crops in the winter. Many Celtic tribes were superstitious, so this was also a good time for fortune tellers to collaborate and tell each other's fortunes for the winter ahead. This bought comfort to many for what was a long dark and cold winter. The wearing of these costumes would then later be used in the reintroduction of Halloween. This is not an idea the British came up with, it was actually introduced in America. However was more commonly found in the southern colonies. Similarly to the Celts they would celebrate the loss of loved ones, tell fortunes dance and sing.

Now that solves the mystery of the superstition and the dressing up. However, what about the villains like Dracula and Frankenstein, two of the biggest figures in our Halloween stories. The character of Dracula was introduced in 1897 by Bram Stoker. Unfortunately the origins of for him are not one that are exactly pleasant. You may notice in most films or media he is sometimes referred to as "Dracul". This is based on an actual family and a man more commonly known as 'Vlad the Impaler' and yes he was born in Transylvania.

Born in in 1421 he reigned over Walachia which is now part of Romania. The title and his reputation really did follow him. It's rumoured he had over 20,000 Ottomans (whom he was at war against at the time) impaled his preferred method of execution. He did this outside the city walls as a fear tactic to show he was no leader to be reckoned with. The very next day the invading army turned away. Vlad eventually did meet his comeuppance but the circumstances and date of his death are still unknown it's said he died in battle.

Not such a monster?

Bram Stoker, along with other figures in history likely got his inspiration from. His works were written in Whitby Yorkshire, another place I've visited. Additionally, in the 1992 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola was also filmed in parts of Whitby.

Continuing on to Frankenstein, the most common error of this story is that people mistake the monster for the title. It's actually the scientist and creator of the monster in the story that is named Frankenstein. But due to the popularity of the book and media of course it didn't take long for that to happen. Mary Shelley and other poets would often discuss the theories on reanimating the dead through electric currents. "Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley (her future husband) and the physician John Polidori, Shelley and the group entertained themselves indoors by reading from a book of ghost stories." Byron set them all a challenge to write a story and vote for a winner.

Mary had dreams to which then gave her the inspiration for the novel, and Byron liked it so much that two years later in 1818, Mary had it published. Unfortunately, it was published anonymously. Meaning, it wasn't known till later that the works of Frankenstein one of the bestselling novels of all time was not only written by a woman but also a teenager. Many believed it was actually her husband who wrote the story. Upon its release it was heavily criticised. I've personally been to where she is buried in Bournemouth and it was quite sad to know she only lived to the age of 53. To this day her works are still celebrate with other books movies and other media that was all inspired from her.

In conclusion there have been hundreds of chilling stories we have all read or watched over the last few years. I remember one of the first horrors I ever viewed was the likes of Johnny Depp running from a headless horsemen. Horror has always been a passion of mine, along with history. In conclusion, it is always fun when you can combine the two to discover where these magnificent stories come from.

Todd A Phillips

References:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/samhain.shtml

https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween

https://www.history.com/news/was-dracula-a-real-person

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/mary-shelley-movie-frankenstein-books-husband-trailer-biography-quotes-a8433531.html