Halloween and Samhain traditions are real, and you can still visit them this year. Host Aaron Sagers invites you along for a Hallowtide road trip across England, Ireland and the Isle of Man.In England, children in Somerset carry turnip lanterns on Punkie Night. In Cheshire pubs, a century-old horse skull named Dick snaps at the crowd during the Antrobus Soul Cakers' play for All Souls'. Lewes marches 17 burning crosses through town on Bonfire Night, and in Ottery St Mary locals run through the streets with flaming tar barrels on their backs. In Ireland, we climb the Hill of Ward, called Tlachtga, where legend says Samhain's sacred fire was lit, and see what archaeologists have actually found there. Then we crawl into Oweynagat, the "Cave of the Cats," known as Ireland's gate to hell. We finish with Derry's Halloween festival, the biggest in Europe, and Hop-tu-Naa, the Isle of Man's oldest unbroken tradition, complete with witch songs and fortune-telling in the hearth ashes.
Sources:Act 1: England
Punkie Night, Hinton St George — Calendar Customs
Antrobus Soulcakers — Calendar Customs
Antrobus Soulcakers 2026: Cheshire's Pub Play With a Horse's Skull — Secret GB
Antrobus, Cheshire — Master Mummers
We Burn to Remember — Mike Jay (first published in Gunpowder Plots, 2005)
Please don't travel to Lewes Bonfire Night — Lewes District & Eastbourne Borough Councils
Samhain Revival — Erin Mullally, Archaeology magazine, 2016
Púca Festival 2026 — Dublin Guide
Púca Festival Sunrise Meditation at Tlachtga 2026 — Discover Ireland
Inside Ireland's "gate to hell" that birthed Halloween — Ronan O'Connell, National Geographic, 2021
Oweynagat — Showcaves
Derry Halloween — Visit Derry
Why Parkin is part of Bonfire Night tradition in Yorkshire — Bettys
Púca Festival — official site
Derry Halloween — official site
Tar Barrels — Ottery St Mary Town Council
Act 2: Ireland and the Isle of Man
Traditional food for an Irish Halloween — Ireland.com (Tourism Ireland)
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The Talking Strange Show with Aaron Sagers is a weekly paranormal pop culture show featuring celebrity and author interviews, as well as experts in all things strange and unexplained. Talking Strange is a creation of Aaron Sagers with production help from Michael Ahr.
Host Aaron Sagers is a paranormal TV host and journalist who appears as host of 28 Days Haunted on Netflix, and on Paranormal Caught On Camera on Travel Channel, Discovery+, and MAX streaming service.
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