While some churches today take issue with children dressing as ghouls and goblins for Halloween, many churches are accepting of the holiday.

Halloween as modern Americans observe it is an American creation that has roots in something called the All Saints Day festival from Europe, said Dr. Rosalie Beck, associate professor of religion.

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, B.J. Parker, an Atlanta doctoral candidate in the religion department, would know how to survive.

If he were in the backyard of his two-story, 100-year-old home in Waco preparing a garden, his slobbering pitbull Petey panting beside him and a peeling cadaver shuffling toward him, he’d know what to do.

It’s midnight on a crisp October evening and you find yourself strolling through the local graveyard, weaving in and out of tombstones with the full moon as your only source of light. There is a slight chill in the air. You can feel the terror coursing through your veins, and your heart pounds in your chest as you hear a rustle in the bushes nearby.

Halloween is the time of year when people love to be scared. Wild imaginations come to life, and superstitions take on a new prominence. A black cat crossing a person’s path, Friday the 13th or breaking a mirror all seem to have more meaning during this time. These common superstitions have been around for a while, and how they came to be a part of our Halloween fears takes us back to ancient times and ancient beliefs.