Halloween's origins can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, marking the end of summer and the beginning of winter. It was believed that the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred on this night, allowing spirits to roam freely.

From pumpkin carving to trick-or-treating, there are many ways to celebrate the holiday. Let's look at three ways to get in the Halloween spirit this year.

The tradition of carving pumpkins, known as jack-o'-lanterns, has roots in Irish folklore. It is said to have originated from the tale of Stingy Jack, a trickster who outsmarted the devil but ended up condemned to wander the earth with only a burning coal to light his way.

Jack-o'-lanterns were originally carved from turnips and potatoes. When Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, the pumpkin's shape and abundance made it a perfect fit for the Halloween tradition.

The tradition of dressing up is also rooted in the Celtic festival of Samhain. People would often play pranks while wearing costumes designed to blend in with the mischievous spirits who haunted the earth on the night of October 31st.

Dressing up also became linked to trick-or-treating through "mumming", a form of folk theater. This involved masked performers who would go door-to-door performing songs, dances, and plays, often incorporating elements of storytelling and satire.

Trick-or-treating is another inheritance from ancient Celtic practices. On Halloween night, people would go door-to-door exchanging treats for good fortune. Today, it has become a fun and festive way for children to celebrate the holiday.

In the sleepy fishing village of Boscastle, England lies the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. This small museum explores the history of magical practices across these isles, from ancient times to the present day.

The museum's founder, Cecil Williamson, explained the choice in location, saying, "all around us in this quiet corner of England there is a strange feeling that we are not alone and that the shades of persons passed on and over into the world of spirit are very close".

Take me to your curator... In Roswell, New Mexico, the International UFO Museum & Research Center is dedicated to finding the truth out there amongst the stars. The museum focuses on the infamous 'crashed saucer' 1947, but also holds objects related to other close encounters.

But the less open-minded amongst you can still have fun. The museum documents the fascination with aliens and extra terrestrials in popular culture. You can even have your picture taken with Gort of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Now hold steady and say, Klaatu barada nikto!

If you take a trip to Portland, Maine, you'll find a museum dedicated to the animals as-yet unknown to science: bigfoot, the chupacabra, and mothman. While evidence may be sketchy, the museum does good work recording folk stories and the fantastical tales of these sightings.

The world's only museum dedicated to ventriloquism, and with good reason. There are very few people on Earth who appreciate these dolls and their puppeteers for their skills, and many, many more who fear their abominable, rictus-faced creations. Visit, if you dare.

Imagine: you're in a small chamber lit by a thin strip of light from a single barred window, you can only just about make out the names and dates scratched into the damp plaster of the wall, and you know your end is near. A typical London rental? No, the Tower of London!

This castle was built by William the Conqueror, and for centuries it was the most secure place in England. Crown jewels and criminals, queens and traitors - even Second World War spies - were kept here under lock and key. Many entered, but very few ever left.

Just across the River Thames, you'll find the London Dungeons. These attractions have been scaring the public since 1974, with waxworks, actors, interactive exhibits, and plenty of gallows humour, giving a taste of the multitude of horrors to be found in the Big Smoke.

Oh hey you're finally awake, you hit your head pretty hard. Wait, 21st-century medicine, anaesthetics, antiseptics? What are you talking about, it's the 1800s and you're in London's Old Operating Theatre. Now let's get that leg amputated before you see the rest of the museum…

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 have gone down in history as some of the most frightful miscarriages of justice, as around 150 people were jailed, 19 were hanged, and one crushed to death for supposedly practising witchcraft.

It's surprising there are any vampires in Paris what with all the garlic. For years, Jacques Sirgent has been researching the esoteric and the fantastique, translating texts, uncovering histories of sin and 'cannibal sorcery', and building a Museum of Vampires.

The moon is up and it's the hour of beasts and witches! All Hallows Eve has fallen, and spooky season has come. Scroll on to discover seven deadly paintings to get the heart pulsing...

1. 'The Nightmare' by Henry Fuseli

Fuseli's The Nightmare has been frightening viewers ever since it was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782. The original 18th-century audiences were scared, but also scandalized and titillated, due to the underlying sexual connotations of the painting – it shows a woman stretched out asleep, with a small monster sat on her chest. 

This mythological demon is what's known as an incubus, which, along with its female counterpart the succubus, sits on the chest of sleeping people. 
Is the painting showing the woman's dream, or what's actually happening to her? No one knows.

With its depiction of sex, dreams and the unconscious, Fuseli's painting later became well-loved within the study of psychoanalysis, and Freud even had a print of it on the wall of his apartment.

2. 'The Scream' by Edvard Munch

One of the most famously freaky artworks in history, the story of Munch's conception of the picture is almost scarier than the artwork itself. Munch based the painting on an experience he had when out walking with two friends in Ekebergåsen on the outskirts of Christiania in Norway:

I was out walking with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city - my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with angst - and I sensed an endless scream passing through nature. 

While Munch's famous painting doesn't exactly depict a spooky or fearful creature, its power comes from its depiction of fear itself.

3. 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony' by Joos van Craesbeeck

Influenced by Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel, Joos van Craesbeeck's painting of Saint Anthony alongside a giant head features countless devilish creatures and demons.

They tumble out of the man's giant skull, almost like evil thoughts given physical form. Among them are the weird additions of a painter, an eyeglass, and a bird’s nest, leaving the viewer to guess at their meaning.

4. 'Ghost of the Wet-Nurse Iohata' by Kunisada

Utagawa Kunisada created this ukiyo-e woodblock print in 1824. Rather than showing a ghost itself, it depicts the actor Onoe Kikugoro III playing the ghost of the wet-nurse Iohata in a Kabuki performance.

But the artwork still manages to be pretty spooky, or, should we say... sp-ukiyo-e.

5. 'Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette' by Vincent van Gogh

This skeleton with a lit cigarette in its mouth is something of a joke by the young student Van Gogh. He painted it in early 1886 while studying at art school in Antwerp, Belgium. Drawing skeletons was a standard exercise at the academy. Painting one with a lit, smoking cigarette in its mouth shows Van Gogh's youthful rebellious side.

Even if it's a bit of a visual joke, the painting does show that he had learned a good command of anatomy at the academy.

6. 'Witches' Sabbath' by Francisco Goya

The main character in the scene is the devil, depicted as a large male goat who is being given two babies, either as an offering or as part of an initiation ceremony into witchcraft.

Goya loved to paint witches, both intrigued and interested in superstition and fantastical imagery, as well as critical of its irrationality and the ignorance of superstitious practices. 
Interestingly, many see this painting as actually being a critique of the Catholic religious fervor of the Spanish Inquisition, where fear and irrationality brought out the worst of human nature.

7. 'Princess Takiyasha Summons a Skeleton Spectre to Frighten Mitsukuni' by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Utagawa Kuniyoshi frequently depicted myths, legends, and stories from history in his woodblock prints, like this one dating from 1844 which shows princess Takiyasha summoning a skeleton to frighten Ōya no Mitsukuni. Here we see the princess reciting a spell written on a handscroll, as the giant skeleton specter crashes through the palace walls.