Ever heard that Halloween was “the Devil’s holiday” or that it started as All Hallows’ Eve and was corrupted by pagans?

Yeah…about that.

In this feature length Holiday Special episode, Nate grabs the shovel and digs all the way back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival of fire and fear, before tracing how Rome, the medieval Christian Church, and eventually capitalism each stole a piece of the party.

What you’ll hear:

• The real Samhain - bonfires, masks, and ancestor lore long before Christianity.
• How Rome franchised everything it touched (Feralia, Pomona, and the first “Festival of Fruits and the Departed”).
• Why the Christian Church moved All Saints’ Day to November 1 and rebranded a pagan rave as a holy vigil.
• Souling, guising, and the invention of trick-or-treat.
• Witch trials, Puritan bans, and how Irish immigrants resurrected Halloween in America.
• The rise of pumpkins, horror movies, and candy corporations that turned a fire-festival into a billion-dollar season.
• Plus: ghostly Producer Steve, a fruit-goddess cameo, and a heartfelt finale on why we still light the dark together.

It’s part folklore documentary, part stand-up roast, and entirely the truth behind your favorite haunted holiday.

History, humor, and heresy...served full-size.

Searchable Sources & References:

• Nicholas Rogers, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night (Oxford University Press, 2002)
• Ronald Hutton, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (Oxford University Press, 1996)
• Mircea Eliade, The Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan, 1987) - entries on Samhain & seasonal rites
• Ovid, Fasti Book II (lines 533-570) - primary account of Feralia & Pomona
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, “Samhain,” “All Saints’ Day,” “Halloween”
• The Malleus Maleficarum (1486) - the witch-hunter’s manual you shouldn’t read before bed
• David J. Skal, Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween (Bloomsbury, 2002)
• Jack Santino, Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life (University of Tennessee Press, 1994)

Stay Gold, Nerd Bold...And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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