The horrors of Hallowe’en

October begins as a bright, joyous feast but ends in a celebration of darkness.

October has traditionally been the season of harvest joy, when the crops have come in, and we enjoy the splendour. It’s when we, in Canada, celebrate Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie and turkey. It’s when the colours are at their peak, and we finally get a reprieve from the mosquitoes for another year.

Summer is my favourite season, but Autumn is a close second. It is a season of new beginnings. Summer clears the slate, then school and church seasons begin anew. We meet new teachers and friends and introduce fresh church programs and studies.

But October also has a darker side. Much darker. Not the noticeably shorter days and longer nights. Rather, it’s the build up to Hallowe’en. And by this I don’t necessarily mean the prominent displays of Trick or Treat candy in the stores or the garish costumes for sale. Not the kid’s parties or even the carved out pumpkins, although some of them are ghoulish.

It’s the fascination with spiritual darkness.

As a child in the 1960s and early 1970s, Hallowe’en was more about creative costumes than horror. True, some kids dressed as ghosts and vampires. But not with the replica blood on their fangs you might see today. The worst you might experience would be a dressed-up, overly caffeinated dad jumping from the bushes as kids arrived at the front door. Harmless fun.

It’s no coincidence that we see a noticeable increase in depression in October.

Yes, we love the thrill. A haunted house fright experience activates the fight-or-flight response, releasing adrenaline, increasing the heart rate, and providing a small dose of cardiovascular exercise. If you can withstand the shock and horror, you can get a cheap neurochemical boost from the release of dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin which results in relief. There’s also the powerful bond with the folks who are experiencing the same thing. One study suggests that recreational fear can actually mobilize immune cells and temporarily lower low-grade inflammation.

All of that is obviously beneficial. So we not only put up with it. We embrace it. And we want more.

However, this is a double-edged sword. Masked behind all of this is something quite sinister.

In a word: evil.

The biggest trend in 2026 Hallowe’en displays is the animatronic skeleton. (Animatronic? Think of puppetry with the aid of electronics.) The Home Depot upgraded its 12-foot tall “Skelly” with real-time Bluetooth voice chat, a moving head and a lit-up ribcage. Lowe’s outdoes that with a 15-foot talking skeleton holding a glowing skull – but it’s only available in the U.S. Rona Canada has an assortment of 10-foot skeletons. And there’s a wide serving of 5-6 foot models at retailers everywhere.

We live in the real world, in which depression and anxiety are endemic, souls are lost, spirits are troubled, tossed about and tempted by the lies and lures of Satan. And we give in.

Nothing new about skeletons. For centuries, they served as reminders of our mortality. And of our universal humanness – no matter who we are in life, once the flesh is gone, the king and the beggar’s bones are indistinguishable. On a psychological level, the large eye sockets hold your attention. Chilling.

It’s no coincidence that we see a noticeable increase in depression in October. Lack of sunlight is the main physiological factor. But I wonder if the unwitting embrace of spiritual darkness plays a role. When the haunted house fun is over, and the cortisol and heart rate are restored, do the images remain lodged in our psyches?

We know that the body holds onto unresolved trauma. If we have not shaken it off during or shortly after the experience, it can be stored and rear its ugly head years or decades later. It does not have to be something personally horrific, such as abuse. Any exposure to spiritual darkness can have a lasting effect.

Of course it can. Because this is how the enemy operates. It’s right from Satan’s playbook: the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Harmless fun, kids. Get with it. Get over it.

Bit by bit, every year the skeletons are taller and scarier. The darkness is deeper.

And as Christ fades in our collective social consciousness, He is replaced. Not with a void. Not with humanism. But with darkness, sometimes masked as light.

May we be mindful of our culture’s embracing of darkness. May we be bold enough to speak truth to spiritual darkness. And speak that truth in love.

As with all holidays and festivals, Hallowe’en has ancient roots. It can be traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the changing of the seasons. The belief was that the divide between the worlds of the living and the dead was loosened, allowing the souls of the dead to haunt their earthly domains. The costumes and revelry were protection. As with most pagan rituals that get out of hand (Yuletide another notable example) the church took over and tried to repackage the fest. Pope Gregory III renamed Nov. 1 All-Saints day.

(On this note, I take a purist stance and acknowledge that on the authentic Christian calendar, only Easter and Pentecost need to be truly recognized. Yes, we honour the birth of Christ and make a huge deal of it during Advent. But we aren’t followers of the incarnate God. We are followers of the risen Christ. But that’s another issue for another time.)

And so, what role can the biblical church play in all of this Hallowe’en horror? We live in the real world, in which depression and anxiety are endemic, souls are lost, and spirits are troubled, tossed about and tempted by the lies and lures of Satan. And we give in. Truly, we all do, whether our souls are washed by the blood of Christ or not. We are all sinners.

But the difference is in recognizing the truth. The name of this publication is a testimony to the fact that truth is power. The culture is awash in relativism. We are easily deceived by the enemy.

As pastors, elders, and the anointed prepare for messages and public prayer, may we be mindful of our culture’s embracing of darkness. May we be bold enough to speak truth to spiritual darkness. And speak that truth in love.

Note: This is the first of three articles exploring spiritual darkness to be published in the weeks leading up to Hallowe’en.

Photo Credit: Photo by Jonathan Petersson on Unsplash