5 Seriously Scary Events That Took Place on Halloween
Halloween is typically scary in a general, thematic way. In terms of actual terror, it’s pretty light, unless you’re diabetic or have a peanut allergy. There have been a few times in history, however, when Halloween happened to be the date of genuinely terrible events. The sort of thing that sends tendrils of fear snaking far outside a neighborhood or single city.
Here are five sincerely spooky Halloween happenings from history…
Benito Mussolini Appointed Prime Minister
In late October 1922, Mussolini was leading the March on Rome. Mussolini and his “blackshirts,” members of the National Fascist Party, were invading the capital. On October 31st, King Victor Emmanuel gave in and handed Mussolini the title of prime minister. In retrospect, one of the cruelest leaders in history, who both inspired and aided Adolf Hitler, taking power on Halloween is almost stupidly trite, like something out of a bad dystopian novel. Unfortunately for the world, stupidly trite is how life goes a lot of the time.
Indira Gandhi Assassinated
Nothing sends an immediate sense of unrest through the entire global population like an assassination. After all, assassinations are very rarely succeeded by an era of peace and understanding. The assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (no relation) on October 31, 1984 did indeed kick off a period of brutal violence. She was murdered by her own bodyguards as retribution for her actions against the Sikh population, and backlash from the act led to a massacre of thousands of Sikh people in the Indian capital and throughout the country.
The Monmouth Disaster
Halloween was also the date of a disaster that left hundreds of Creek Native Americans dead after the steamboat Monmouth sank on the Mississippi River. The physical cause could be written off as an accident, but the fact is, the reason such a tragedy was possible was already linked to an ongoing genocide — the Trail of Tears. The Monmouth was filled with Creek people being transported after being forced off their land, and when it collided with a boat named the Trenton, approximately 300 of those Native Americans drowned.
I say approximately not to discount the loss of life, but because the event was largely ignored and poorly recorded, just to add insult to injury.
Son of Sam Predicts A Murder
New York Police Department
On Halloween 1981, two people were killed in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Tragic, but a one-off murder in Manhattan isn’t by itself enough to stand out as a uniquely terrifying event (though it’s also not as common as your Midwestern uncle thinks it is). What turned an isolated crime into something especially terrifying was the report that jailed serial killer David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, had apparently predicted the murder from prison. An informant inside the prison claimed that Berkowitz had known about the murder before it happened, claiming it was going to be carried out by a satanic cult he was a member of.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any confirmation one way or the other, because the murder was never solved.
The Deadliest Month of the 1918 Flu Pandemic Comes to An End
So, this might not be completely focused on Halloween, per se, but it is a historical nightmare that happened to span the length of “spooky season.” During the flu pandemic of 1918, October was the deadliest span by far, which is doubly terrifying, knowing that the same pandemic was responsible for the death of 50 million people, all said and done. So many people died that the life expectancy in the U.S. for 1918 dropped by 12 years. In Philadelphia alone, thanks to an ill-advised parade held against the recommendations of doctors, 11,000 people perished that October.