“The Real Origins of Halloween discusses the history of Halloween, the origins of trick-or-treating, reasons behind some of the symbols of the season, and why the holiday is well worth keeping and celebrating. Previous versions of this essay specifically contrasted the historical evidence with the absurd claims and urban legends used in most anti-Halloween propaganda. I have now put those latter materials into their own essay, Halloween Errors and Lies, since it seems that many people have never seen or heard those fearmongering tales and could not understand why I would spend so much space discussing them within an historical essay.”