9 Halloween Facts to Stuff in your Pillowcases!

as I'm saying that aloud, do chickens crow? I mean they're both birds. I guess you're right, And it's the perfect slogan for chicken feet. And it's just the first of nine Halloween theme facts We've got for you today. Let's dive in. Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to part time Genius I Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my good friend man guest Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof glass, dressed up in his homemade costume. I think he's a dentist. Is that what

he means? I think is our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. It's an impressive costume whatever it is, And back from vacation. Joining us on the phone is our brilliant researcher Gabe Louisier. Hey, they're Gabe. Hey, guys, back, thanks for having me on. All right, well, let's talk some Halloween facts. I know I usually let somebody else go first, but I'm not done talking about candy corns. If you don't mind, I'm I'm gonna kick this thing off. So did you know

what actually wasn't started as a Halloween candy? In fact, as late as nineteen fifty seven, Bronx was advertising it as this summertime candy. And I guess it makes sense because corn is kind of a summertime food. But I do have some really important statistics to share with you guys. So, according to a study, forty three pc of people eat it at the narrow end first, ten percent eat it at the wider end first, and forty seven percent of people just pop the whole colonel in their mouths. Who

doesn't just pop the whole kernel in their mouths? I eat it from the narrow end. Do you really gave? How do you eat it? I honestly just try to avoid you it altogether, all right, well, now you at least know the percentages. Okay. So so there's my first fact, Mango, you want to go next. So this comes from our friend Stacy Conrad, but she told me that trick or treaters in Des Moines can't just say trick or treat expect they get like candy shoved into their pillowcases. They

actually have to tell jokes for their treats. And apparently the traditions started in the thirties when there was this outbreak of Halloween vandalism. The director of recreation around there decided to encourage more constructive Halloween activities. So here's actually what you told residents. Quote, Eats should be given only if such a trick as a song, a poem, a stunt, or a musical number, either solo or in crew participation,

is presented. Eighty years later, the tradition still continues, and while the poems, stunts, and musical numbers have kind of gone out of style, kids still tell jokes for their candies. So this has calm in all over De Moines, I guess. So, oh wow, I've never heard that before. Me. That's a that's a pretty good one, all right, Gabe. So you're back from vacation, hopefully not too rusty. You've got a fact for us? Oh yeah, absolutely, And this one actually is in a you know, it's similar vain to uh,

you know, a public stand against Halloween nutlances. So silly string is actually banned in Hollywood on Halloween night. And this is according to a Los Angeles Municipal Code ordinance the past in two thousand four. And anyone caught selling, or using or even possessing a silly string between midnight October one and new November one can you find to

a thousand dollars? And the reason for that isn't over a hundred thousand people routinely flocked to Hollywood Boulevard on Halloween night looking for something to do, and that something often includes, you know, buying silly string from street vendors and reaching havoc. Not only that, but you know, there are also environmental concerns. Big clumps of silly string, as well as the empty cans have a tendency to quaw storm dream and eventually flowed out the sea LA's dreams

empty directly into the Pacific Ocean. Wow, this is a big issue. I had never heard this either. Good job. That was a good fact. All right, let me see what I have next here. I've got a really important fact about Halloween Eve. So I actually didn't realize how many people around the world have a name for Halloween Eve. There was a poll by the Cambridge Online Survey and they were looking at if people had a name for it. So people don't call Halloween Eve anything, but of people

have names for it. Was kind of fun to look at the list. So there's some that we've heard of before. There's Beggar's Night, Mischief Night, Devil's Night, Gate Night, trick Night. But two that I have never heard before. In New England many people call it cabbage Night. And uh, in parts of New Jersey they call it goosey night. You ever heard that Goosey Night? Now? Alright, MA have next.

So this is about Halloween Mass and in spirit Halloween, which is a chain, started keeping track of their political mass sales and they've picked up on this odd trend. They realized that whichever candidates mass sold more, the candidate would win the election. And since all six elections have gone in the direction of the more popular mask and Trump sold of the mass to Hillary. I'm actually kind of surprised he didn't out sell her even more, you know.

But but anyway, that's a that's really interesting, all right, Gay, what do you have next? Okay, so this is the fact that I was really surprised to learn. Apparently there are not one, but two cities in the United States that both claimed to be the Halloween Capital of the world. And the first is Salem, Massachusetts, and you know, that makes sense. It's the home of the famous Salem which trial, so it definitely has some creepy cred in its favor.

But the other is a Noca, Minnesota, and angely enough, but Ana's claims to be the capital because it was the first city in the US to throw a Halloween celebration in order to start kids from you know, sowing mischief around the town, like soaping up people's windows and tipping over out houses. So in Unoka Commercial Clubs and Unoca Kiwanis Club through a big celebration that included a parade, a bonfire, foods, drinks, and you know, of course candy.

And then they expanded the events to include other things like pillow fights, costume contests, and even a fireworks display. Uh and and is actually still being held in a noca, and it has been every year since, with the exception of a priest finatist during World War Two, when citizens had, you know, bigger thing story about the setting their houses the Halloween capitals of the competing Halloween capitals of the US.

That's very interesting. I've never heard that. All Right, we've each got one fact left, and I've I've saved what I think maybe my best for last. Even though it's not about Candy Corn, it's about Houdini, who appropriately died on Halloween. I don't know if you guys knew this. So he was rushed to the hospital a week before October thirty first, but then he ended up dying on October thirty one. Now, his death was the result of a ruptured appendix, and doctors were able to remove the appendix,

but the damage had already been done. And you know, there's some speculation that the rupture was due in part to a man that was punching him in the stomach repeatedly to see if he could live up to the rumors that he could withstand hard punches to the abdomen. Now, Houdini's wife would hold seances every year on October thirty one to remember him. This happened for about ten years after his death. Alright, Mango, one last fact from you.

So this isn't a Halloween fact per se, but it is one about candy and and maybe also a cautionary tale. So you know, in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there's that character Violet Beuareguard who's always chewing gum. So according to the UK paper, they expressed sugarlist gum didn't produce the right bubbles, so she spent nine weeks on set chewing regular gum, which resulted in thirteen cavities after filming. Alright, you closed pretty strong with that when I think, so, Gabe,

do you want to bring it home? Yeah? And I actually I do want to end on a creepy one. This is one of the creepiest things by came across, actually, and that's that the candy industry influenced Daylight saving Time. You know the actual dates when daylight saving Time occurred. And this is according to Michael Downing, the author of spring Forward the Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, which is a great title, by the light, but the candy industry is actually the reason that DFT was extended by

four weeks beginning in two thousand seven. He told NPR quote, for twenty five years, candy makers that wanted to get trick or treat covered by daylight saving, figuring that if children have an extra hour of daylight, they'll collect more candy. In fact, they went so far during the hearings on daylight saving as to put candy pumpkins on the feet of every senator, hoping to win a little favor. And the previous part about this isn't it worked. The candy

industry eventually got their way. In two thousand five, President Bush signed a bill into law that extended daylight Saving time to include Halloween. And you know, supposedly the golf and barbecue industries are also said to have been in on this. On this push first sending it. I mean, it is pretty smart, and I do like those candy pumpkins. They're pretty good too, Taste kind of like candy corn, but totally different shapes. All right, Gabe, You know, Mango

and I are always deciding who the winner is. But you've done this with us a few times now, so I'm gonna let you decide who takes the crown. Today. Oh man, that's that's a lot of pressure. And you know, I don't want to shoot my own horn or anything, but that fact was pretty creepy. And this is a Halloween episode, so I like his confidence, so we'll we'll agree to that. We'll give it to you, Gabe. Congratulations. Thank you guys for listening today. We'll be back with

a full length episode tomorrow. The pri