Today in History: Halloween

Last Updated on October 26, 2022

Today in History–October 31–the Library of Congress features Halloween. On this day many Americans celebrate spookiness and becoming someone else by dressing in costumes. To learn more about the origins of this fun-filled holiday and ideas for finding unique Halloween primary sources, visit the Today in History section then click the links below to access more primary sources related to Halloween, ghosts, and witches.

Primary source collections

• LOC Halloween Chambers of Mystery posters available for download
• Halloween images
• Halloween songs & oral histories
• Topics in Chronicling America – Halloween (select newspaper articles 1861-1922)
• More Halloween historical newspaper coverage (articles, photos, ads, & cartoons)
• Halloween Puzzles from the Library of Congress’s Newspaper Collections
• Hallowe’en and Dia de Muertos primary source set
• Halloween & Día de Muertos Resources Folklife Center
• Halloween books
• Halloween Safety Acts (U.S. legislation)
• Witch primary source set
• Spirit photos
• Ghost primary source set
• Costume image set
• Calaveras (skulls) image set
• Bats & Vampires primary source sets
• Ouija Board: Topics in Chronicling America
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow primary source set

Audio recordings

• Scary stories for Halloween Folklife Today podcast October 28, 2019
• Ghost Stories
• Get Ready for Halloween with Jackie Torrence’s “The Golden Arm” Folklife Today October 19, 2018 article + story audio and transcript
• Folklife Today podcasts
  • Haunting Tunes for Halloween
  • Mr. Fox
  • Scary Stories for Halloween 2019
• Witch songs

Sheet music

• Jack o’lanterns
  • Jack O’lantern
  • Down where the Jack o’lanterns grow
  • The Jack o’lantern girl
  • Jack O’Lantern Joe
  • Jack o’lantern love
  • Jack o’lantern man
  • Jack o’ lantern moon
  • Where the Jack O’Lanterns glow
  • Jack o’lantern fox-trot
  • Jack o’lantern galop
  • Jack o’lantern one step
  • Jack o’lantern waltz
• Ghosts
  • Grandmother tells a ghost-story
  • Denny Malone’s ghost
  • The ghost of Mike Walsh
  • The peanut gal’s ghost
  • The white ghost
• Witches
  • Witches
  • The Witches
  • The Witches carnival
  • Witches’ dance
  • Witches dream
  • Witches flight
  • The Amber witch march
  • Blue-eyed witch galop
  • Overture; Witch and wizard
  • The Wood witch of Malaga

Articles

• 10 Stories: Scary Stuff! Chronicling America Library of Congress blog October 29, 2015
• Americans Celebrate Halloween America’s Library
• Anoka, Minnesota: The Halloween Capital of the World America’s Library
• Arachnophilia: Celebrating Spiders on Halloween Inside Adams October 30, 2014
• Bats: Spooky Superheroes? Folklife Today October 27, 2016
• Bessie Jones Tells a Spooky Story: ‘Married to the Devil’ Folklife Today October 11, 2017
• Caught Our Eyes: Most Original Costume Picture This October 31, 2012
• Celebrating Halloween by Exploring a “Danse Macabre” Teaching with the Library of Congress October 31, 2017
• Cooking Up History: Homemade Halloween Minerva’s Kaleidoscope October 26, 2020
• Creatures of the Night: Bats Inside Adams October 31, 2012
• Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble… In Custodia Legis October 31, 2011
• The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows American Folklife Center
• Get Ready for Halloween with Jackie Torrence’s “The Golden Arm” Folklife Today October 19, 2018
• Ghost Stories in Song for Halloween Folklife Today October 19, 2017
• Ghost Tales for Halloween Minerva’s Kaleidoscope October 30, 2020
• A Ghostly Image: Spirit Photographs Library of Congress blog October 24, 2017
• A Gorey Story Library of Congress blog March 15, 2016
• The Hair-Raising Tale of ‘The Witch Who Kept a Hotel Folklife Today October 24, 2017.
• Halloween Primary Sources to Shiver and Shake Up Your Teaching in the Primary Grades Teaching with the Library of Congress October 27, 2016
• Happy Halloween! In the Muse October 30, 2010
• The Haunted Houses of Washington Headlines & Heroes October 29, 2020
• Horror Comics: Happy Halloween! Headlines & Heroes October 4, 2022
• La Llorona: Storytelling for Halloween and Día de Muertos Folklife Today October 29, 2021
• More Scary Songs for Halloween Folklife Today October 31, 2017
• Neewollah America’s Library
• The Origins of Halloween Traditions Headlines & Heroes October 26, 2021
• Pic of the Week: Halloween Edition In the Muse blog October 31, 2011
• Primary Sources Across the Curriculum: Connecting the Spider Webs Teaching with the Library of Congress October 5, 2017
• Pumpkins, Math, and Primary Sources Teaching with the Library of Congress November 18, 2020
• Revealing the Presence of Ghosts In Custodia Legis October 31, 2012
• Some (Spooky, Funny, and Creative) Inspiration for Halloween Pumpkin Decorating Minerva’s Kaleidoscope October 27, 2021
• Spiders and Skin-Changers: Two African American Witch Tales for Halloween Folklife Today October 24, 2019
• Spooky Stories for Halloween Folklife Today October 29, 2015
• Tales from the Haunted Library: Halloween Stories and Songs from Our Online Collections Teaching with the Library of Congress October 21, 2021
• Welcome to Folklife Today: Halloween Folklife Today October 30, 2013
• What’s Good Form When Receiving Ghosts New-York Tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 21 Aug. 1921

“Frankenreads” 2018 a Bloomsday-style public read-athon of the novel in its entirety

Related resources

• Primary Source Spotlight: Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead
•  Primary Source Spotlight: Holidays