Halloween has long been known as the spookiest date on the calendar, when the tortured souls of the dead are supposed to walk the earth and evil spirits lurk in every shadow.

But October 31 hasn't always been about carving pumpkins, going trick or treating or being terrified of things that go bump in the night.

In fact, the real origins of Halloween can be traced back to old European religious festivals, traditions and beliefs.

Steve Roud, author of A Pocket Guide To Superstitions Of The British Isles, says that, contrary to popular belief, we can't trace Halloween celebrations quite as far back as Pagan times.

''Certainly the festival of Samhain, meaning Summer's End, was by far the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Irish calendar, and there was a sense that this was the time of year when the physical and supernatural worlds were closest and magical things could happen,'' he says.

''But however strong the evidence in Ireland, in Wales it was May 1 and New Year which took precedence, in Scotland there is hardly any mention of it until much later, and in Anglo-Saxon England even less.''

According to Roud, Halloween actually had no real association with the dead until around 800-1000AD when Christianity deemed it the Eve of All Hallows and All Saints from which, along with All Souls (November 2), constituted Hallowtide.

''The key element was that this was the time for commemoration of the departed faithful, and in particular the day when prayers could be said and bells could be rung, to get souls out of purgatory and into heaven. The reforming Protestant churches abolished these notions, but they continued in Catholic areas and in the popular mind and traditions.''

GHOULISH SUPERSTITIONS

Roud says that when folklore records began to be made in the 18th and 19th centuries, the overwhelming features of Halloween were divination and games involving seasonal produce such as cabbages, apples and nuts.

SOULING: Stemming from a ninth century European custom, on All Souls' Day, poor people went a-souling (begging) when they received 'soulcakes' or buns in exchange for promises to pray for the dead.

The church encouraged the distribution of soulcakes as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits.

Eventually going a-souling was taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighbourhood and be given ale, food, and money.

MISCHIEF NIGHT: ''From the 19th century onwards in some parts of the country, especially in the north of England and Scotland, Halloween was known as Mischief Night, which bears some relation to our modern-day trick and treating,'' says Roud.

''Mischief Night, which also fell on April Fools Day, May Day and on November 4 in other parts of the country, involved children playing pranks and practical jokes on local people.

''The traditional jokes were to take neighbours' gates off their hinges or swap people's numbers around on their doors - they were fairly harmless and didn't often get out of hand but sometimes there was trouble and many local authorities tried to ban it.''

In part of Yorkshire, Mischief Night is still sometimes practised.

CABBAGE STALKS AND NUTS: ''Young men used to pull cabbage stalks and from their size and the amount of earth which adhered to them they foretold whether their future wives would be tall or short, rich or poor,'' says Roud.

''The burning of nuts is still practised as well - couples place nuts in pairs on the hearth and from their behaviour they draw conclusions about their future love life.''

MIRRORS: It is an old Halloween tradition for females to peel an apple in front of a candlelit mirror - if an unbroken rind is achieved then the image of the future spouse is supposed to appear in the mirror.

Alternatively, says Roud, if they threw the rind over their shoulder, the position in which it fell would spell out the initial of their true love.

This was also said to be true of a veiled mirror, which would reveal the face of your future spouse when the veil was removed at dead on midnight.

HOUSES: In days gone by, people feared Halloween because they believed that the spirits who walked the earth on this day were capable of possessing their bodies.

To discourage them, they darkened their houses to make them appear as cold and unwelcome as possible, and donned all manner of frightening dress to rowdily take to the streets in an attempt to scare the spirits off.

TRICK OR TREAT: ''Most other celebrations were dying out in this country and so modern-day take on Halloween, such as witches' hats and brooms, pumpkins and trick or treating, was actually imported lock, stock and barrel from America in about 1960,'' says Roud.

TOP FIVE SPOOKY FACTS

* Lamb's wool is the traditional drink of Halloween, made of crushed roasted crab apples mashed in ale or milk.

* Hallow is an old word meaning holy, whilst 'e'en' is Scottish for evening- directly translated, Halloween means Holy Evening. Halloween also marks the modern witches' New Year's Eve and is a time spent celebrating death, fertility, and renewal.

* In Ireland, wealthy landlords used to distribute gifts of food to their poorer tenants at Halloween. When the potato crop failed, the Irish, many of whom relocated to the US, are thought to have introduced the traditions to their new homeland.

* Black cats are a symbol of Halloween because it was once believed that souls could travel back to the world of the living in the body of an animal - usually a black cat.

* Before Christianity in Europe, females with special powers were revered as wise women - but between the 15th to 18th centuries, approximately two million people were executed for witchcraft - 80 per cent of them women.

* A Pocket Guide To Superstitions Of The British Isles by Steve Rout, is published on November 4 by Penguin Books Ltd, priced £10.

l Mike Amos is away.