Spooky episode! Do you know about Halloween? 🎃

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Speaker 1: This episode is our final episode of sleep Tite Science for this season. We'll be back next year for season two and more exciting science episodes. I'd like to thank everyone who has submitted questions for the show. We will continue working on them for season two. You're listening to sleep type science. Did you know that more than twenty countries around the world celebrate Halloween in some way? What? That's a lot of treats? This episode is all about Halloween. It is pseudo scientific. How did jack o lanterns get started? Carving jack o' lanterns started in Ireland hundreds of years ago with stories of a wandering spirit named Stingy Jack. People would carve turnips or potatoes with scary faces and put them in the windows to keep Stingy Jack and other creatures away on Halloween. When the Irish people came to North America, they brought this custom with them, but soon saw that it would be easier to carve a pumpkin than a turnip. Pumpkins come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. The traditional orange pumpkin is not the only one that can be found nowadays. There are also white, yellow, red, green, and even striped varieties. Often pumpkins are smooth on the outside, but there are some that have bumps all over them. These warty, bumpy looking pumpkins are grown to look that way to make for even weirder looking jack o' lanterns and decorations. In earlier times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the pie crust, not so much the filling of the pie as we use it today. Pumpkins have also been recommended for getting rid of freckles and curing snake bites. Will there be a blue moon the Salloween? It seems there will be a blue moon on Saturday, October thirty first, but the moonslf will not look blue. It is called a blue moon because it is the second full moon in a calendar month. The first full moon in October this year was October first, and since another is going to happen on October thirty first, it is often called a blue moon. It is quite rare for there to be a full moon on Halloween in all of the time zones, as this one will be. The last time this happened was in nineteen forty four, So if you are out trigg or treating, have a look at the full moon, just don't expect it to be blue. Is crossing the path of a black cat really unlucky. Black cats weren't always thought of as bad luck. In fact, in Egypt, as far back as three thousand BC, cats including black cats, were thought to be very special. It was in the Middle Ages in Europe when black cats started to be thought of in a bad way, when they became connected to witches. It was thought that black cats were the cause of bad luck, because people believed that they were really witches in the shape of a cat. This is where the idea started that if a black cat crosses your path, something bad might happen. But black cats are actually considered lucky in some places in the world. In some parts of England, if you give the bride a black cat as a wedding gift, people believe it will bring good luck. Owning a black cat in Asia is considered lucky. In Scotland, if a black cat appears on your doorstep, it is thought to be a sign of good fortune. If you hear a black cat sneeze in Italy, you're in for a streak of good luck. Black Cats are a symbol of good luck in Japan, and if someone sees a black cat crossing their path, they say knichiwa and take control of their own luck. Fun facts about all things Halloween. The world record for the heaviest pumpkin was one thousand, four hundred pounds. That's almost the same as a full grown bear. Pumpkins are ninety percent water and are the cousin of watermelons. Skittles are the most popular Halloween candy. The world record for the largest number of lit jack O lanterns is thirty thousand, five hundred and eighty one by the city of Keene in New Hampshire in two thousand and thirteen. The fastest pumpkin carving lasted sixteen point four seven seconds, and the jack O lantern had a full face including eyes, a nose, a mouth, and ears. The very first mention of trick or treating in print was in nineteen twenty seven in Blackie, Alberta Ere in Canada. Halloween is the second largest holiday. We spent almost nine billion dollars on Halloween last year. Happy Halloween. Thank you for listening to this episode of Sleep Type Science, where we investigate the questions you have about anything science related. Our podcast starts with a question like did you know? And throughout that episode we will try to answer the question. If you have a question or there is something you would like to know more about, send us your questions or comments at hello at sleep tightscience dot com. I look forward to hearing from you soon