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Halloween Facts and Fun With Interactive Site at History.com

History.com Brings Fully-Interactive, Haunting Holiday Web Site on the Origins of Halloween

Each year, as the last night of October creeps up, millions of children dress in costume and take to the streets for a spooky dose of Trick-or-Treat fun. However, Halloween is not just about ghosts, goblins and candy -- it has a rich and fascinating history that can be discovered on History.com's fully-interactive Halloween resource. History.com's Halloween feature, which includes the origins of Halloween, spooky recipes, and creepy video clips, is available now at http://www.history.com/halloween.

History.com's Halloween destination Web site is guaranteed to entertain with themed history and trivia, including:

-- Halloween Symbols

The carved pumpkin, lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols. This is an Irish tradition of carving a lantern which goes back centuries. These lanterns are usually carved from a turnip or swede. The carving of pumpkins was first associated with Halloween in North America, where the pumpkin was available, and much larger and easier to carve.

-- Pumpkin Carving Patterns

Use spooky templates from History.com to carve your pumpkins. Simply select the template you want to use, print it out and get carving!

-- Modern Halloween Traditions

The American tradition of Trick-or-Treating dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives.

-- Historic Haunts

The Rose Room is believed to be one of the most haunted spots in the White House. It contains Andrew Jackson's bed, and if we are to believe testimony of those who have felt his presence, "Old Hickory" himself still dwells in his former bed chamber.

-- Ghost Stories

Get into the holiday spirit by watching haunted history video stories about Lavender, the date to the prom who had died years before, or Tombstone’s famous Woman in White. Video shorts of these spooky stories are guaranteed to give watchers the chills.

-- Halloween Treats

To celebrate Halloween, History.com is putting the "eat" into Trick or Treat, with bewitching recipes like Creepy Cupcakes, Spooky Sugar Cookies, Eerie Icing and Frightening Frosting.

History.com's Halloween feature also includes a variety of other data and historical accounts, including the history of the Jack-O'Lantern, Halloween celebrations around the world and creepy video clips about this haunted holiday.

"Halloween is not just about costumes and candy, but rather includes a deep history dating back to an ancient Celtic festival. Our interactive feature presents a comprehensive history of Halloween, and the evolution of this holiday to its modern traditions," said Dr. Libby O'Connell, senior vice president, corporate outreach and chief historian, AETN. "We are dedicated to providing our viewers with content-rich resources to learn about the holidays they love and the Halloween minisite demonstrates this commitment."

In addition to being able to view a variety of informational resources, visitors of History.com's Halloween feature will also have access to holiday facts and trivia.

About History.com

History.com is the definitive historical online resource that delivers entertaining and informative content through interactive timelines; video; maps; games; podcasts and RSS feeds. History.com delivers thousands of video streams, from presidential speeches, to UFO sightings, to D-Day, the award-winning site will showcase newly created video clips daily. Web exclusive broadband video content has been developed from popular series and specials on The History Channel including "Modern Marvels," "Digging for the Truth," and "Lost Worlds." Search through History.com which provides access to an extraordinary amount of historical information with unprecedented speed. In addition, an online classroom will supply educational resources including study guides and lesson plans for teachers. The website is located at http://www.History.com/.

About The History Channel®

The History Channel® is a leading cable television network featuring compelling original, non-fiction specials and series that bring history to life in a powerful and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. The network provides an inviting place where people experience history in new and exciting ways enabling them to connect their lives today to the great lives and events of the past that provide a blueprint for the future. The History Channel has earned four Peabody Awards, three Primetime Emmy® Awards, ten News and Documentary Emmy® Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History® campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel reaches more than 95 million Nielsen subscribers.