Collection Test

Mark Evan and Chris Soria explain their pumpkin art.

It’s not too late for Halloween decorations.

If there’s something strange in your neighborhood… Who are you going to call? While Bill Murray and his crew might be unavailable, there are some real-life ghost hunters out there that might be able to help you out. So what goes into being a real life ghost hunter? Here to tell us all about it is Mike Huberty, ghost hunter and founder of American Ghost Walks.

You have the costume, the decorations, the candy is all ready, but. . . Do you feel like your spooky season is missing something? Have you taken any time to watch a scary movie this October? Do you need some ideas on where to start? Joseph Winter is a film maker who specializes in horror films. With his years of experience watching and creating these movies, we thought he’d be a great person to talk to about what scary movies we should watch before Halloween.

Elaine Magee explains how to stay healthy in Halloween.

Halloween is coming up, and there’s signs of it everywhere. Carved pumpkins with spooky faces sit on peoples’ doorsteps, cobwebs hang from every corner, there’s seasonal candy for sale, and you’ll find aisles of cheap costumes wherever you look. It’s a fun time of year with a lot of traditions. But where do these traditions come from? Why do we carve Jack-o’-lanterns out of pumpkins? What even is candy corn? Here to answer these questions and more is Student Producer Kristen Evans.

Frank McAndrew talks about why we love zombies so much.

"Prof of Goth" Nick Groom of Exeter University regales us with the history of the vampire. Carl Sederholm of BYU talks monster movies. Colin Dickey on the strange phenomenon of the Kentury Meat Shower.

Dr. Fiona Subotsky delves into the medical history that informed Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Bess Lovejoy on doctors and medical students robbing graves for cadavers in the early United States.

Robert Viagas introduces us to ghosts that haunt Broadway theaters. Arthur George explains how Roman traditions and Celtic holidays shaped Halloween.

Margee Kerr, University of Pittsburgh, discusses what scares us and why.

Guest: Rachel Wadham, Host of BYUradio’s Worlds Awaiting Today we talk ghost stories: spooky, inspiring and friendly ghosts. Rachel Wadham is the education and juvenile collections librarian here at BYU and host of Worlds Awaiting on BYUradio. It’s a show dedicated to encouraging a love of reading and discovery in children. It airs Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. Eastern and you can also hear it weekdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on BYUradio.

Guest: Charlotte-Rose Millar, Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland, Author of “Witchcraft, the Devil and Emotions in Early Modern England” It’s the time of year when witches come out, resting on porches, leaning over bubbling cauldrons on suburban lawns, flying through the air on broomsticks in silhouette. We’re talking about Halloween décor, of course. But, there is some really serious, dark history surrounding witches. Thousands of women – and some men, even – were executed for the crime of witchcraft in Renaissance Europe. We had the Salem witch trials in the US, too.  So how did witches become a fun holiday oddity?

Nicholas Bellantoni of University of Connecticut on colonial vampires.

Guest: Evan Ward, Associate Professor of History, Brigham Young University Halloween and the Day of the Dead – or Dia de los Muertos - are upon us. At first glance, the two holidays seem quite similar—skulls and skeletons, graveyards, candy. But don’t let the decorations fool you.

Guest: Lisa Morton, Screenwriter, Author, Halloween Expert Halloween is weird, isn’t it? It’s part harvest festival, with apple cider and pumpkin patches. And it’s part rowdy celebration, with trick-or-treaters running amok and adults dressing in costume. And it’s also part supernatural spookfest, with ghost stories and haunted houses. The strange nature of Halloween likely dates back to a peculiar Celtic holiday called Samhain. Halloween historian Lisa Morton has written about it extensively and joins me now.

Assistant producer speaks with Anca Tutescu, co-curator of Provo's very own Museum of Haunted and Mysterious Objects, about Romanian vampire folklore. To learn more about the Museum, which is located above Cat's Cradle Antiques in Provo, Utah for the month of October through November 5th visit www.facebook.com/CatsCradleAntiques