Halloween has always had a stranger side than costumes, pumpkins, and trick-or-treating. Long before October 31 became the holiday we know today, the night was surrounded by beliefs about spirits, future lovers, marriage, protection, luck, and signs of what might happen next.
Old Halloween superstitions could be surprisingly specific. A spider might represent a visitor from the other side, an apple peel could reveal the initial of your future partner, and something as simple as turning your pockets inside out was believed to protect you from wandering spirits.
Some of these beliefs are romantic, others creepy, and a few are wonderfully bizarre. Here are 23 Halloween superstitions and their meanings, including old rituals for love, marriage, ghosts, witches, luck, and divination.
The Crossroads and the Wind
Crossroads have long been associated with the supernatural, and Halloween made them even more mysterious. According to an old superstition, standing at a crossroads on Halloween night and listening carefully to the wind could reveal something about your future.
Names, voices, or words carried on the breeze were interpreted as clues about events waiting for you in the coming year. Considering how eerie an empty crossroads can feel after dark, this one probably required some courage.
The Apple and the Mirror
Apples feature heavily in old Halloween love superstitions. One ritual instructed an unmarried woman to stand before a mirror at midnight, comb her hair, and eat an apple. If the ritual worked, she would supposedly see the face of her future husband reflected over her shoulder.
Another version was considerably simpler. Peel an apple while keeping the skin in one long strip, then throw the peel over your left shoulder. The shape it formed on the floor was believed to resemble the first letter of your future partner’s name.
Don’t Kill the Spider
Seeing a spider on Halloween carried a surprisingly sentimental meaning. According to folklore, a spider spotted on this night could represent the spirit of a deceased loved one watching over you.
Killing one was therefore considered a bad idea. Instead, the unexpected eight-legged visitor was supposed to be left alone and treated with respect.
The Logan Stone
One particularly strange Halloween belief involves the logan stone, a naturally balanced rock that can move or rock despite its enormous weight.
Folklore claimed that touching one nine times at midnight on Halloween could turn a person into a witch. Logan stones already had an unusual, almost impossible-looking appearance, so it is easy to understand why legends developed around them.
Inside-Out Pockets
Worried about meeting a ghost on Halloween? Folklore offered a remarkably easy solution: turn your pockets inside out.
This simple act was believed to confuse or repel evil spirits and protect the wearer from supernatural trouble during the night. Similar beliefs involving reversed or inside-out clothing also became associated with witches and encounters with the supernatural.
The Salted Herring Dream
One of the more uncomfortable ways to discover your romantic future involved going to bed after eating a very salty herring.
The thirst caused by the fish was part of the ritual. According to the superstition, your future lover would visit you in a dream and offer you water. Whoever arrived with the drink was supposedly the person you would eventually marry.
Babies Born on Halloween
Being born on October 31 carried its own supernatural reputation. Rather than bringing bad luck, babies born on Halloween were sometimes believed to have special protection against evil spirits.
Other folklore gave Halloween-born children unusual intuition or an ability to sense supernatural activity. With a birthday already connected to ghosts, witches, and the dead, it was probably inevitable that legends would develop around people born on this date.
The Ring in the Potatoes
Marriage predictions found their way onto the Halloween dinner table too. In one tradition, a ring was hidden inside a dish of mashed potatoes.
Everyone received a serving, and whoever discovered the ring was believed to be the next person to marry. Hopefully, everyone eating knew there was jewelry hiding somewhere in dinner.
The Fortune of the Nuts
Before checking relationship compatibility online, people apparently had nuts and a fireplace.
Two nuts were given the names of two lovers and placed near the fire. If they burned peacefully together, the relationship was expected to last and possibly lead to marriage. If one cracked, jumped, or rolled away, the romance supposedly faced a less promising future.
It turned an ordinary fire into a miniature relationship oracle.
The Bat’s Omen
Bats became one of Halloween’s most recognizable animals, and older superstitions gave their presence a darker meaning.
A bat flying unusually close to a person or house on Halloween night could be interpreted as evidence that witches were nearby. Some traditions went further and treated a circling bat as a sign that supernatural forces were active around the property.
The Power of Divination
A surprising number of old Halloween traditions and superstitions were actually attempts at divination. Love and marriage were especially popular subjects, which explains all the apples, mirrors, nuts, dreams, rings, and other household objects turned into fortune-telling tools.
Halloween offered a night when people believed the future became easier to glimpse. For young unmarried people in particular, games that supposedly revealed a future spouse became part entertainment, part tradition, and part genuine belief.
Bonus Halloween Lore
Owls hooting on Halloween: An owl calling during the night could be interpreted as a supernatural warning. In some folklore, owls were associated with witches or death.
Black cats crossing your path: Black cats have carried very different meanings across cultures. Some traditions considered them unlucky, while others connected them with protection and good fortune.
Jack-o’-lanterns: Carved faces illuminated from within were traditionally associated with frightening away unwanted spirits. Before pumpkins became standard in North America, turnips and other root vegetables were also carved.
Candles in windows: A burning candle could serve as a symbolic guide for returning souls while also offering protection to the household.
Throwing nuts into the fire: Lovers placed or threw named nuts into flames and watched how they burned. Staying together was a promising sign; separating suggested the opposite.
Horseshoes above the door: Horseshoes have long been used as protective symbols and were believed to keep witches, bad luck, and unwanted supernatural visitors away.
If you hear footsteps behind you: Hearing unexplained footsteps on Halloween night was sometimes interpreted as a spirit following you. Turning around was discouraged because acknowledging the presence could invite further contact.
Candle fortunes: Melted wax dropped into cold water formed shapes that could then be interpreted as clues about future events, much like other forms of symbolic divination.
Meeting a witch: According to one Halloween superstition, wearing your clothes inside out and walking backward at midnight could lead to an encounter with a witch.
Unmarried women and kale: In an old marriage-divination game, unmarried women pulled kale stalks from the ground while blindfolded. The size, shape, and condition of the stalk supposedly revealed characteristics of a future husband.
Bobbing for apples: Beyond becoming a Halloween party game, apple bobbing also developed romantic associations. In some versions, the first person to successfully bite an apple would be the next to marry.
A ringing bell: Bells were believed to have protective power against supernatural forces. Ringing them on Halloween could drive away evil spirits and unwanted entities.
The Mystery Lives On
Halloween has changed enormously over the centuries, but the old superstitions are still part of what makes October 31 so fascinating. Apples predicted future lovers, nuts tested relationships, spiders carried messages from the dead, and inside-out clothing could supposedly protect you from spirits.
Whether you try one of these traditions for fun or simply enjoy reading about old Halloween folklore, they offer a glimpse into a time when people searched for signs of love, luck, danger, and the future in almost everything around them.
More Folklore and Superstitions
- Feet Hanging Off the Bed: The Superstition and Its Origins
- The Spiritual Meaning of Both Feet Itching: Is Travel in the Cards?
- Stepping With the Right Foot First: Old Beliefs and Traditions
- Why Germans Say You Shouldn’t Sing at the Table: An Old Superstition
- Superstitions About Prams: Why Parents Delay Bringing One Home
