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. In th USA, 86% of households
decorate their homes for Halloween.
. Rubbing petroleumjelly on the cut edges of a pumpkin will prevent shriveling. . Close to 20 million pounds of candy corn are purchased in the U.S. every year. . 93% of children in the U.S. trick-or-trick on Halloween. . In the Middle Ages, black
cats were thought to be the devil. On Easter and Shrove Tuesday during the Middle Ages, black cats were routinely hunted down
and burned. Cats accused of being witches' familiars were generally burned alive.
. It was also believed that
if a cat were to jump over a dead body, the corpse would become a vampire. In order to reverse this process, the cat had to
be killed.
. Another superstition says
that witches could shape shift in to the form of a cat in order to get closer to their victims. Witches were thought to have
cherished their cats so much that it could be a potentially dangerous situation if any harm came to them. In one story, an
innkeeper's dog had killed a witches' cat. The innkeeper's servant dug a grave for the cat while the saddened witch stood
by and watched. The witch asked if the servant would say some words over the cats body before burying it. The servant laughed
and threw the cats body in the grave, saying "'Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Here's a hole and go thou must." The witched
threatened, "'Very well, you will be punished, as you will see." The next day, as the servant was plowing a field, a rock
was thrown up and hit him in the eyes. He was blinded for life.
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