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.

A glass clinked in the empty kitchen across the Central Texas house. The noise garnered the attention of Becky Nagel, lead investigator for the Central Texas Paranormal Society. The group had been contacted by the parents of twin boys who had been experiencing unexplained incidents.

From cattle rustlers to young lovers jumping off a cliff to be with each other for eternity, Waco has picked up a few ghost stories along the way.

The stories can be shared between co-workers, police officers in squad cars or children during sleepovers, but regardless of where they are told, they capture people’s imaginations.

Halloween as we know it today is a chance for children to play dress-up and obtain copious amounts of candy. Therefore, it may surprise some people that this light-hearted holiday originated from ancient religious practices.

Dr. Joe Coker, lecturer of religion, said Celtic traditions were brought to America in the 1800s with the arrival of Scottish immigrants. Over time, aspects of the Celtic tradition mixed with aspects of English religious practices and resulted in contemporary Halloween.