Why Are We Fascinated by Fear? — The Thrill Behind Halloween Traditions
Isn't it interesting how society separates one whole month to decorating, and uses its passion to conquer its objective of creating a creepy and unsettling environment for one day? Halloween is an annual holliday celebrated on October 31st, known historically as All Hallows’ Eve; whereas “Hallow” stands for Holy or Saint, and “Eve” stands for a major church feast. However, even with a religious background, Halloween is still considered a daunting holiday because of a mix of beliefs, and ancient fear of ghosts, the arrival of the dark winter season, and centuries of folklore about the supernatural. And still, the question is raised, why waste money, energy, and creativity on a seemingly threatening celebration—why is the public fascinated by horror?
Nowadays it is common for citizens to spend exaggerated finances on Halloween decorations and costumes for themselves, their families, and their houses. Upon that, a 2026 National Retail Federation survey made in Washington recorded that this year, consumers are expected to spend $13.5 billion on Halloween decoration, slightly exceeding last year's spending ($13.1 billion). Despite the small difference between 2026 and 2025, comparing 2026 with the 2016 spending, there has been an increase of more than 50% in citizens’ outlays on Halloween purchases. The decorations have exceeded much more than witches and ghosts in a doorstep but reaching a point where there are pumpkins, spiders, spiderwebs all over someone's front porch. Because of differences in cultures and influences, the amount of effort put in Halloween financially has increased significantly over the past 10 years.
Even though it may seem as only a trend, the meaning behind putting so much energy on a Holiday is much more neuropsychological. Furthermore, a research conducted by Pandamonium Publishing House recognized that when walking through a haunted house or watching a scary movie, the amygdala (a part of the brain that acts like an alarm system rapidly evaluating sensory information to spot danger and trigger immediate protection) recognizes the alarm; however, right after, the prefrontal cortex steps in and reminds the body that we are safe. Moreover, the mix of emotions, from scare to relief releases adrenaline and dopamine. The adrenaline is the fight-or-flight response of our bodies during stressful situations (such as in this case watching a scary movie), and dopamine acts as a messenger to our brain; it drives our brain to a reward system, releasing itself while we feel pleasure, happiness. Additionally, dopamine also regulates heart rate, blood vessel function, sleep, and pain processing, which if related to halloween, would be our body calming and reassuring itself that we are okay, and also releasing happiness alongside that reassurance.
Finally, social media has developed in the past decade, and most importantly, so did its influence on the community. This has created an impact on how people decide what their budgets, dedication, and proportion of decoration is going to be. While the average engagement rate for general content on TikTok ranges from 2.50% to 4.64%, the Halloween-specific content's engagement rate averages from 7.5% to 17.6%. Meaning users are much more interested in tips, inspirations and overall Halloween-themed videos. Therefore, the social environment is constantly influencing how we act, and what we choose to do to fit in the standards made, which in 2026 is to have extravagant holiday decorations in houses.
Concluding, as Halloween evolves not only as a season, but as a whole experience for the next generations, it is expected to keep its engagement growing and strong. Its financial, psychological, and social aspects seem to all diffuse into one larger idea which is the holiday itself, by making people worldwide relish a little more of their year during the month of October. Therefore, the mystery of the super-spending season during holidays can be solved, or at least predicted to be backed up by not only one specific reason, but with a junction of different components to take more pleasure during a historically significant time period.
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