“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble.” (Macbeth: William Shakespeare) 🔥 🧙‍♀️

Feeling spooky yet? Halloween is upon us, and with it the pumpkins, trick n’ treating and frightfully ghoulish outfits 🎃

To celebrate the creepiest day of the year, we’ve picked out four terrifying articles from the digital archives of some of our publishing partners. Read at your peril!

Sainsbury’s Magazine ‘Hubble Bubble’  –  October 2016 

Creepy crackers and ‘freakamole’, anyone? 👻

The October 2016 issue of Sainsbury’s Magazine includes the recipes for a bumper Halloween menu for 8, perfect for a dinner party.

Start with some mauled cider before moving onto your ghoulish crackers, before finishing with a ghastly ‘gloul-ash’, sinister greens and monster mash. 

Read the article, pages 104 – 109, in the issue here.

New African ‘Africa For Halloween?’  – January 2013

“Why do Africans celebrate Halloween when our societies hate witches and even kill them? If Halloween had African roots, Africans today would call it “juju”or “muti”and would not celebrate it.”

In the January 2013 issue of New African, Akua Djanie reflects on the popularisation of the American export of Halloween in her home country of Ghana 🇬🇭

Read the article, pages 66 – 67, in the issue here.

BBC History Magazine ‘Tricks, Treats and Cobbled Streets’  – November 2010

Ever heard of ‘Mischief Night’? 😈

Though you might think of Halloween as American, the November 2010 issue of BBC History Magazine unearths a little-known custom that has roots a lot closer to home. 

Back in the 1790s, young men from Yorkshire would settle grudges with pranks such as uprooting fences, trampling gardens, and setting livestock loose. The tradition travelled between continents when Yorkshire people began crossing the Atlantic in the 18th and 19th centuries, eventually transforming into the ‘tricks’ and ‘treats’ we know today.

Read the article, pages 30 – 32, in the issue here.

Dolls House & Miniature Scene ‘Samhain Eve’  – October 2019

Who knew tiny pumpkins and skulls could be so cute! 🎃

Hear from self-taught miniature artist Magdalena Ladwik in the October 2019 issue of Dolls House & Miniature Scene, who creates beautiful Halloween miniatures using various mediums such inks, glues, leather and paints.

Read the article, pages 20 – 23, in the issue here.

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Access to the digital magazine issues included in this post will be active until the end of 31st December 2021.

Fully-searchable digital subscriptions to Sainsbury’s Magazine, New African, BBC History Magazine & Dolls House & Miniature are all available in the Exact Editions individual and institutional shops.