A Halloween Mix, Part I Trivia Quiz

Answer: Clown sightings

Beginning in August 2016 in the USA and around the world, people began reporting sightings of "evil clowns" near woodlands, settings, and other incongruous settings. Many of these were hoaxes or pranks, and the reports began to drain the resources of law enforcement.

The phenomenon was spread mostly as mass hysteria through viral videos (many of which were fake) and social media. Hundreds of students at Penn State university formed a posse to hunt a clown allegedly spotted on campus. Shops from Ohio to New Zealand removed clown costumes from their shelves, and many schools and communities banned clown costumes as well.

There were rumors of a widespread "clown purge" to take place on Halloween that year. While nothing occurred on a large scale, in Orange County, California, a family was attacked by a group of twenty hoodlums in clown mask on October 31, 2016.

The crime remains unsolved.

Answer: Alcatraz

Alcatraz is an island off the coast of California that once housed a military fort and then a prison, now a tourist attraction. From the beginning, Alcatraz had eerie and punitive associations. Native Americans believed the island to be inhabited by evil spirits, and would banish offenders there, sometimes for life.

There were reports of unexplained noises and visions even while Alcatraz was still in a prison. Some claim to hear in Cellblock B the sound of infamous gangster Al Capone strumming a banjo (although he was never permitted a musical instrument). Full-bodied apparitions of murderer Robert "Birdman" Stroud are claimed to appear in the double cell in which Stroud lived for eleven years in solitary confinement. (He was allowed birds at Leavenworth, hence his nickname, but in Alcatraz this privilege was denied him, and so he haunts in revenge, or so the legend goes.)

Answer: The 2018 movie is a reboot of the 1978 movie

The "Halloween" slasher franchise centers on an insane villain named Michael Myers who repeatedly escapes and goes on murderous rampages. "Halloween" (2018) is not a reboot of "Halloween" (1978) but meant to be a direct continuation, retconning all the films that came in between (in other words, it more or less ignores them). The heroine in both films is scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, a traumatized babysitter in 1978 and a PTSD-suffering divorced mother in 2018, and in both cases the sister of the vengeful Myers. John Carpenter wrote the musical score for both films and directed the original film, which he co-wrote with Debra Hill.

At the time "Halloween" (2018) premiered, it proved to be the biggest horror movie opening with a female lead, and the biggest opening of any Hollywood movie with a female lead over 55.

Answer: Bridget Bishop

Bridget Bishop has attracted speculation about her character and behavior over time. According to folklore, she was a buxom and boisterous and entertaining tavern-keeper, given to showy costumes for a Puritan (a red bodice!), full of gossip and spirit. By the 21st century, however, it was clear that she had been conflated with tavern-keeper Sarah Bishop. Bridget Bishop was a widow (and formerly a battered wife) whose husband had left no will, and is a classic case of a vulnerable, propertied woman being accused of witchcraft. Not understanding that confession was the only way to escape execution, she insisted upon her innocence in court. She was hanged in 1692 and her property confiscated.

In total, nine women and five men were executed in the USA's deadliest witch hunt, "the rock," according to historian G.L. Burr, "on which [colonial] theocracy shattered."

Answer: Robert Burns

Robert Burns (1759-1796) may be the national poet of Scotland, but he nearly moved to Jamaica; that is, until his "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" began to take off. In that best-selling volume was "Halloween", which at 28 stanzas is one of Burns' longer poems, full of bogies (ghosts), fairies, and mischief.

Its combination of Scots and English with vivid imagery made it a holiday favorite among some of his rural countrymen. "Upon that night, when fairies light..."

Answer: Ron Kovic

Ron Kovic -- Vietnam vet, author, and anti-war activist -- was the subject of Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July" (1988), so named for his birthday.

A 2011 study from Yale concluded that 5% fewer babies are born on Halloween than any other day of the year (leap years included). Peter Jackson (b. 1961) directed the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Rob Schneider (b. 1963) made his fame on "Saturday Night Live" and in the "Ace Ventura" movies. John Candy (1950-1990) got his start on "Second City Television" and was known for "Uncle Buck" and many more movies.

Also born on Halloween:
- Willow Smith (b. 2000), diva daughter of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith;
- Astronaut Michael Collins (b. 1930), who stayed in the command module whilst Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon;
- Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821), who wrote "Ode to a Nightingale" among other classics

Answer: Alberta

With undulating grasslands, Alberta is Canada's largest producer of beef. The Athabasca oil sands are huge deposits of bitumen (heavy crude oil) that first came to the attention of fur-traders in 1719. They are named after the Athabasca River which cuts through the heart of the deposit, and the Cree and Dene Aboriginal peoples once used the bitumen that washed ashore on its banks to waterproof their canoes. Jasper National Park contains the Yellowhead Pass which crosses the Continental Divide in the Canadian Rockies on the border between Alberta and British Colombia. Hudson's Bay Company used the Pass in the 1820s-50s to transport leather to trappers in New Caledonia (now central British Columbia).

Answer: Pomona

Pomona was an early deity among the "numina", one of the guardian spirits who were not originally depicted in human form. She was also was the caretaker of gardens and orchards. Her name comes from the Latin word pomum, "fruit," from which many languages derive their word for apple (such as "pomme" in French). Though commonly associated with the Greek goddess Demeter, Pomona really has no Greek counterpart.

She is usually depicted with a cornucopia, and there sits a bronze statue of Pomona atop the Pulitzer Fountain in Manhattan, New York.

The apple-bobbing and nut-cracking customs of Halloween arose from the Pomona festival; indeed some older names for Halloween are Snap-Apple Night and Nutcrack Night.

Answer: Blood Moon

The Harvest Moon is the first full moon nearest the autumnal equinox, and the Hunter's Moon appears afterward. Usually the Harvest Moon appears in September and the Hunter's Moon appears in October, but sometimes each appears a month later, and are sometimes confused.

The Blood Moon or Hunter's Moon has a relatively short time difference between moonrises on successive evenings, which lengthens the time when hunters can easily see the animals that come to glean the reaped fields -- and the foxes that come to prey on them.

While used in the "Old Farmer's Almanac" to refer to the Hunter's Moon, "Blood Moon" in the 21st century has come at NASA to describe a total lunar eclipse, due to the reddish tinge caused by Rayleigh scattering of sunlight through the Earth's atmosphere, the same phenomenon which also colors the sunset and gives the Harvest and Hunter's Moons their orange glow.

Answer: melanin

Melanin is the same pigment that determines a human's skin color and/or ability to tan. The agouti gene (A/a) controls the production and distribution of the pigment melanin in cats' hair. Black cats have the 'aa' genotype, which makes them appear solid black.

In these 'hypermelanistic' cats, the natural tabby pattern of domestic cats is hidden -- although a suggestion of it may appear as "ghost striping".