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Celestia reports back from her hurried day at CSI con, and Ben recounts a news story about a graveyard dowser. Then we look at Halloween subjects: what are the real roots of this holiday, and what exactly is satanic about it? Ben traces the development of "trick or treating" and we find out it's a bit of religious extortion that used to involve turnip torture. Celestia probes the more recent phenomenon of "Hell Houses" put on by conservative evangelicals as a much, much worse alternative to a haunted house. And then Ben debunks a few typical Halloween societal panics.
By Ben Radford, Celestia Ward and Pascual Romero4.8
9191 ratings
Celestia reports back from her hurried day at CSI con, and Ben recounts a news story about a graveyard dowser. Then we look at Halloween subjects: what are the real roots of this holiday, and what exactly is satanic about it? Ben traces the development of "trick or treating" and we find out it's a bit of religious extortion that used to involve turnip torture. Celestia probes the more recent phenomenon of "Hell Houses" put on by conservative evangelicals as a much, much worse alternative to a haunted house. And then Ben debunks a few typical Halloween societal panics.

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