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Horror novelist Stephen King (born 1947) does not open his house in Maine to trick-or-treaters. He has done it a few times, but one year they had 1,400 trick-or-treaters. That was the last year he gave out candy.

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Robert De Niro (born 1943) portrays the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein in the 1994 movie “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.”

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A full moon rarely occurs on Halloween. The last time it occurred was in 2001. The next full moon on Oct. 31 will be in the year 2020.

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Bertrand Caillet is a werewolf who finds love in Paris in the 1800s. It is the plot of the classic horror novel “The Werewolf of Paris” (1933) by Guy Endore (1900-1970).

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Do you know what lycanthropy is? See answer at end.

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Michael Jackson (1958-2009) and his date walk through a graveyard. Suddenly they are surrounded by zombies and Michael becomes one. It is the plot of the 13-minute video for the song “Thriller” (1983).

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Almost every country has a different vampire myth. In China, vampires are called Ch’ing Shih. They live underground and get their power from the moon. The Cretian vampire, called Kathakano, can only be killed by chopping of the head and boiling it in vinegar. In Polynesia, the Talamaur devours the hearts of healthy men while they sleep.

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The common brown bat lives an average of 32 years. It is the longest lifespan for a mammal of its size.

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The largest species of spider in the world is the venomous Goliath Birdeater Tarantula, found in South America. The biggest goliath spider on record had a leg span of 11 inches across and fangs one inch long.

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In the movie “Poltergeist” (1982) the houses built in the Cuesta Verde Estates housing development were haunted because the houses were built over a cemetery. The movie had the famous line “They’re here.”

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The word “poltergeist” is German. It means “noisy ghost.”

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The Keene Pumpkin Festival, held annually in New Hampshire, earned a word record in 1996 for having the most carved and lit pumpkins ever assembled in one place. There were 13,044 jack o’lanterns lining the town’s Main Street.

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The world’s largest popcorn ball weighed 3,100 pounds and had a circumference of over 20 feet. It was built in 2004 by volunteers in Sac City, Iowa.

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The average one-pound bag of candy corn contains 294 kernels.

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Snickers introduced the mini Fun Size candy bar in 1968.

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During the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, 24 people were convicted of the felony of witchcraft. None were burned at the stake. The accused witches were hanged.

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Three witches create a potion in Act 4, scene 1 of Shakespeare’s “MacBeth” (1605). The ingredients of the boiling cauldron include “eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog.”

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The oldest mummy ever found in North America dates back to 7420 B.C. The mummy was excavated from a cave in Nevada in 1940, found lying on a fur blanket with leather moccasins on his feet.

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Answer: In folklore, lycanthropy is the magical ability to assume the form and characteristics of a wolf.

Know It All is by Kerry McArdle. It runs in the weekend and Wednesday editions of the Daily Journal. Questions? Comments? E-mail knowitall@smdailyjournal.com or call 344-5200 x114.