Halloween

Call me a killjoy but I am disturbed by the sight of plastic bones in plastic chains

Some houses had the front garden displays turned on weeks ago; some appear to have even dug up parts of their gardens

Take away the tourists in Transylvania and you could be back in the Middle Ages with historic castles, enchanting forests and soaring mountains

Our pick of the most arresting horror films on Netflix, Prime Video and Paramount+

Thirst by Darren Simpson; Empty Heaven by Freddie Kölsch; Where the Shadows Hide by Amy Clarkin; Dangerous Girls by Lisa M Sylvan; and Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has launched a somewhat spooky seasonal campaign

The orange Jack-o’-lantern pumpkin, and ghostly alternatives such as ‘Casperita’, have carved a place in Irish Samhain

Food has been blended with Halloween since its origins in Celtic Ireland

When the kids hear there are Oreo biscuit crumbs involved, they’ll instantly become master bakers

Remember to leave the dough to rest in the fridge for an hour

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Pumpkins After Dark event displays more than 10,000 pumpkins, each hand-carved by a team of artists

Halloween can be an environmental shocker, but there are more nature-friendly ways to celebrate

Louise Lowe and Owen Boss of Anu are swapping intimate immersive theatre for this year’s Macnas parade, An Truen: The Summoning of the Lost

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From piseógs in Carlow to spectres in Offaly, experience some ghoulish glee in these unearthly places

Garda’s Operation Tombola has carried out 1,218 seizures of fireworks over last decade

Apart from being a lazy and unfunny costume idea, it is steeped in ‘racial derision and stereotyping’

Man alleged gardaí in riot gear broke his shoulder on Halloween night almost 17 years ago

€1.5m will be invested by Fáilte Ireland over next three years as part of scheme

Dad of 14-year-old also wants a nationwide fireworks ban after Halloween incident in Galway

They might seem simple, but good soups balance flavour and texture

A hug in a bowl on these longer nights

A hug in a bowl on these longer nights

Nazir Ali of myspirithalloween.com said it is ‘very wrong’ to suggest search-focused site posted information as a hoax

Website had given details of large event hosted by Galway arts ensemble Macnas but no such festivities had been arranged

Pyrotechnics can be easily obtained though social media or by purchasing them with a licence in Northern Ireland

Beijing Letter: Bars and clubs abruptly called off their Halloween parties and sent out instructions that patrons should not show up in costume

Mixed reviews from children on how scary Agatha’s Haunted Hall of Horrors truly is - but Halloween festivities succeed in bringing community together

The genre is often perceived as a playground for pubescent males. In reality, it is the preserve of the feminine

Jen Herron discovered Irish women ghost writers in anthologies, then another in her own attic

Formerly foppish actor menaces in claustrophobic nailbiter from Oscar-nominated writers

Jen Hogan: Halloween and midterm are coming but don’t be afraid, because there’s plenty that you and the kids might enjoy, from a haunted trail in north Dublin to a ninja course in Galway and a book with ghost stories from every county

The ancient festival has become merely the end point for a month-long orgy of horror-related consumer bingeing. At least it keeps Christmas at bay

Here’s a list of free seasonally themed things to do for families during the midterm break, right across the country

Spookiness stalks the landcape of young people’s literature in the run-up to Halloween, while Irish myths inform several new works including the stunning debut Fia and the Last Snow Deer

Minister urges people to think hard before using and misusing fireworks as ‘we hear far too often of casualties’

If you start planning for this year’s dressing up now you can make Halloween less of a frightener by not buying new stuff and using items you already have

The gates of hell aren’t a bad place to be, finds Conor Pope, as he goes in search of the origins of the pagan festival of Samhain, a precursor of Halloween

In Irish mythology, Samhain was when the doorways to the Otherworld opened to allow the souls of the dead to enter our own world