Still quoting from the Bannatyne book, because it is cool.
"Many American ghost stories evolved from actual superstitions and rituals practiced by those in the British Isles on Halloween. The accounts of a "dumb supper" that follow were found in several states in the 19th century. The dumb supper was a divination ritual performed by girls on May Day and Halloween, these being the two ideal forecasting dates in the old pagan tradition. Unmarried women cooked a meal in complete silence, then ate and waited for the ghost of their future husband to come into the room. Women in Ireland, Scotland, and England took this story very seriously. So too did Americans. A woman in Maryland relates the story of her own dumb supper:
...we did everything with oil at that time, no electricity, and all the lights were low, and we set there by ourselves, nobody but me and this girl, just waiting for people to come in. Just at twelve o'clock, the wind commenced to blow, and it blew a gale, and the lights were flickering, and we were both scared, expecting something to come in, and Pap had an old horse that he used and she come and poked her head in the door, and I swear, we like to tore that house down getting out of there. We like to broke the door down."
Ah, divination rituals and spooking yourself to hysteria - fine Halloween traditions!
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