Róisín Ingle: Let’s have more dancing at Irish funerals
It wasn’t easy for Manchán Magan’s friend to get up, deep in his grief, to lead us in dance but it was healing and it seemed to shift something in all of us
Halloween
Halloween
Gardaí investigating after brick thrown through councillor’s front window in Meath
Cllr Alan Lawes’s daughter was alone in the house when the incident occurred
On the eve of Samhain, Ireland’s landscape and wildlife prepare for rest and a reset
Our relatively mild, damp winters attract a wide range of migratory species and tie back into the island’s folklore
More than 50 years on, The Exorcist still possesses the United States
US Letter: Scenes were filmed in Washington DC, where the 1973 movie is celebrated to this day
Halloween night sees more than 200 fire calls made to Dublin firefighters by 8pm
Dublin Fire Brigade say vast majority of calls on active fires related to bonfires
Politics of fear: horror has always been deeply political
From Addams Family Values to Dawn of the Dead, the genre is a political Trojan horse concealing all manner of subversive social messages. Here are 10 of the best political horror films for Halloween
Is this one of Dublin’s most decorated Halloween houses?
Diego Gonzalez and Harry Weir’s home is barely visible behind a horror circus of lifesize clownish figures
On Halloween patrol with Dublin Fire Brigade: ‘It’s the one time you’re at risk of attack’
Bonfires and antisocial behaviour on October 31st have been on a mostly downward trend in recent years
Pat Kenny’s unguarded observations are now almost endearing
Radio: Veteran host tackles difficult issues in trademark style, while Drivetime deputy Claire Brock grills RTÉ boss
A look inside Ireland’s only death museum: ‘We’ve had some slight wobbles from people’
At the Irish Wake Museum in Waterford you’ll see death masks, mourning jewellery and dentures made from real teeth. Just watch out for Auntie Nora upstairs!
The Halloween Movie Quiz: Which ghastly character is someone else?
Plus: What was the first Stephen King adaptation to make it into cinemas?
‘A portal to the underworld’: Tramping a bleak bog as part of a spooky Halloween tour
Bogland is highlight of ‘Halloween Origins’ tour in Derry exploring the scientific and spiritual roots of the Celtic festival of Samhain
Patrick Freyne’s guide to the biggest horror TV shows, from Stranger Things to Sesame Street
Including the attractive conformists of Wednesday’s posh private school, the paranormal Baywatch spinoff and the Joanna Lumley show that scarred an Irish child for life
Need a topical Halloween costume? How about Maria Steen’s Hermès handbag, Sexy Louvre Robber or K-Pop House Hunter?
Topical costumes are a special interest of mine, and the presidential election has provided a rich seam of ideas – but I have others
Haunted Dancehall: This is a hipster’s National Ploughing Championships
This is the National Ploughing Championship for hipsters
Heat My Home on RTÉ One: Welcome to income redistribution, Irish style
Television: This is less aspirational programming and more like a foray into a fantasy of unaffordable upgrades
Plastic Halloween bones will still be around centuries after ours have fed the Earth
Call me a killjoy but I am disturbed by the sight of plastic bones in plastic chains
Halloween has become a time of the year that is arguably more Christmassy than Christmas
Some houses had the front garden displays turned on weeks ago; some appear to have even dug up parts of their gardens
Exploring Transylvania: Home of Dracula provides a trip with teeth
Take away the tourists in Transylvania and you could be back in the Middle Ages with historic castles, enchanting forests and soaring mountains
Halloween films: 10 great horrors to stream for a fright this Samhain
Our pick of the most arresting horror films on Netflix, Prime Video and Paramount+
Best young adult fiction for Halloween: Creepy reads with human sacrifices aplenty
Thirst by Darren Simpson; Empty Heaven by Freddie Kölsch; Where the Shadows Hide by Amy Clarkin; Dangerous Girls by Lisa M Sylvan; and Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews
How to smash pumpkin records (or just grow regular-sized ones for Halloween)
The orange Jack-o’-lantern pumpkin, and ghostly alternatives such as ‘Casperita’, have carved a place in Irish Samhain
‘Roll up your sleeves’: the IBTS wants your blood this Halloween
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has launched a somewhat spooky seasonal campaign
Two Halloween treat recipes perfect for baking with the kids
Food has been blended with Halloween since its origins in Celtic Ireland
Mark Moriarty’s recipe for Halloween orange cupcakes
When the kids hear there are Oreo biscuit crumbs involved, they’ll instantly become master bakers
Mark Moriarty’s Halloween recipe for spooky spiced shortbread
Remember to leave the dough to rest in the fridge for an hour
Best things to do around Ireland in the week ahead from Halloween festivals to Niall Breslin’s gigs
October 25th-31st, 2025: The best movies, music, art and more coming your way this week
‘By Halloween night, my hands will be cooked’: Professional pumpkin carver showcases talent
Pumpkins After Dark event displays more than 10,000 pumpkins, each hand-carved by a team of artists
How we do Halloween is adding to the planet’s mounting graveyard of waste
Halloween can be an environmental shocker, but there are more nature-friendly ways to celebrate
Bram Stoker, the corncrake and ‘folklore as resistance’: Making Macnas’s Halloween parade
Louise Lowe and Owen Boss of Anu are swapping intimate immersive theatre for this year’s Macnas parade, An Truen: The Summoning of the Lost
Event guide: Galway comedy, Pillow Queens and the other best things to see in Ireland in the week ahead
October 18th-24th, 2025: The best movies, music, art and more coming your way this week
Eight spine-chilling spots around Ireland to visit this Halloween
From piseógs in Carlow to spectres in Offaly, experience some ghoulish glee in these unearthly places
Halloween fireworks starting in summer, Dáil hears amid calls for tougher penalties
Garda’s Operation Tombola has carried out 1,218 seizures of fireworks over last decade
‘Blackface’: Why it’s considered offensive and racist
Apart from being a lazy and unfunny costume idea, it is steeped in ‘racial derision and stereotyping’
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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