Halloween Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
Name: ………………………………Score: ……… / 20
- What does the word 'Halloween' mean?
- A. The night of the witches
- B. The pumpkin festival
- C. The eve of All Saints' Day
- D. The evening of ghosts
- What nationality was Bram Stoker, the author of 'Dracula'?
- A. English
- B. Romanian
- C. Irish
- D. Scottish
- What is Freddy Krueger's weapon in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'?
- A. A chainsaw
- B. A machete
- C. A bladed glove
- D. An axe
- In which country is Bran Castle, often called 'Dracula's Castle'?
- A. Hungary
- B. Slovakia
- C. Bulgaria
- D. Romania
- In which village is Washington Irving's legend of the Headless Horseman set?
- A. Sleepy Hollow
- B. Silent Hill
- C. Haddonfield
- D. Amityville
- Before 'trick or treat', what was the Scottish tradition called in which children in costume recited a poem or song in exchange for treats?
- A. Souling
- B. Mumming
- C. Guising
- D. Caroling
- Which country do zombie legends originally come from?
- A. Haiti
- B. The United States
- C. Romania
- D. Japan
- In the very first 'Friday the 13th' (1980), who is the killer?
- A. Jason Voorhees
- B. A camp counsellor
- C. Jason's mother
- D. Freddy Krueger
- In which city does the 'Village Halloween Parade', one of the world's biggest Halloween parades with tens of thousands of costumed participants, take place?
- A. Los Angeles
- B. Dublin
- C. London
- D. New York
- In the film 'Poltergeist' (1982), what does little Carol Anne say in front of the TV, in a line that became iconic?
- A. 'They're here'
- B. 'I see dead people'
- C. 'Come play with us'
- D. 'I am your father'
- On roughly what budget did John Carpenter shoot 'Halloween' in 1978, a film that grossed about 70 million dollars?
- A. About 30 million dollars
- B. About 3,000 dollars
- C. About 300,000 dollars
- D. About 3 million dollars
- In which city, according to legend, did Rabbi Loew shape the Golem, a clay giant meant to protect the Jewish community?
- A. Vienna
- B. Kraków
- C. Prague
- D. Budapest
- In Irish folklore, which female creature announces an imminent death with her wails and moans?
- A. The banshee
- B. The ghoul
- C. The harpy
- D. The succubus
- In which isolated hotel is 'The Shining', Stephen King's novel adapted by Stanley Kubrick, set?
- A. The Bates Motel
- B. The Overlook
- C. The Grand Budapest
- D. The Ritz
- What is the name of the Addams family's helpful wandering hand?
- A. Hand
- B. Fingers
- C. The Grip
- D. Thing
- Which Paris theatre, closed in 1962, specialised in gory horror shows, so much so that audience members fainted?
- A. The Moulin Rouge
- B. The Comédie-Française
- C. The Grand Guignol
- D. The Folies Bergère
- Which 19th-century event drove hundreds of thousands of Irish people to emigrate to the United States, taking Halloween with them?
- A. The Great Potato Famine
- B. The Hundred Years' War
- C. The English Industrial Revolution
- D. The California Gold Rush
- Which French region was terrorised between 1764 and 1767 by a mysterious man-eating ‘Beast’?
- A. Camargue
- B. Gévaudan
- C. The Basque Country
- D. Alsace
- In Bram Stoker's novel, on what condition can Dracula enter a house for the first time?
- A. If he has taken the form of a wolf
- B. If it is pitch dark
- C. If the door is made of wood
- D. If he is invited in
- Roughly how much do Americans spend on Halloween each year (sweets, costumes, decorations)?
- A. About 100 million dollars
- B. About 1 billion dollars
- C. Over 10 billion dollars
- D. Over 100 billion dollars
Answer key — Halloween Quiz
- C. The eve of All Saints' Day'Halloween' is a contraction of 'All Hallows' Eve', the evening before All Saints' Day (1 November).
- C. IrishBram Stoker was born in Dublin in 1847. He published 'Dracula' in 1897 while living in London, where he managed a theatre.
- C. A bladed gloveFreddy Krueger, created by Wes Craven in 1984, attacks his victims in their dreams with a glove fitted with blades.
- D. RomaniaBran Castle stands in Transylvania, a region of Romania. Bram Stoker never went there, yet it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
- A. Sleepy HollowWashington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' (1820) features a headless rider haunting a village in the Hudson Valley.
- C. GuisingFrom 'disguise'. Children had to 'earn' their reward with a little performance.
- A. HaitiIn Haitian Vodou folklore, the zombie is a dead person brought back to life by a sorcerer to serve him.
- C. Jason's motherSurprise! Jason only appears at the very end, and his famous hockey mask only arrives in the third film.
- D. New YorkStarted in 1974 by a Greenwich Village puppeteer for his children and neighbours, it now draws millions of spectators.
- A. 'They're here'Co-produced by Steven Spielberg, the film turned a crackling TV into an object of terror.
- C. About 300,000 dollarsTo save money, the actors wore their own clothes, and the crew shot in spring in California, scattering fake dead leaves…
- C. PragueRemoving a word from its forehead was enough to deactivate it.
- A. The bansheeHer name comes from the Gaelic 'bean sí', woman of the fairy mounds.
- B. The OverlookJack Torrance becomes its winter caretaker with his family and slides into madness.
- D. ThingIn French it is called 'La Chose'. It took a starring role in Tim Burton's series 'Wednesday', where it becomes the heroine's accomplice.
- C. The Grand GuignolIts blood and mutilation effects were so realistic that a doctor was said to be in the audience.
- A. The Great Potato FamineBetween 1845 and 1852, blight destroyed Ireland's potato crops.
- B. GévaudanIn today's Lozère, the Beast of Gévaudan is said to have claimed around a hundred victims.
- D. If he is invited inThe vampire must be invited in the first time; after that he can come back as he pleases.
- C. Over 10 billion dollarsAccording to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Halloween spending has topped 10 billion dollars since the early 2020s, with a record of over 12 billion in 2023.