30 Halloween Trivia Questions (With Answers) for a Live Quiz

Good Halloween trivia questions need three things: answers that are actually right, a spread from easy to hard so nobody gets left behind, and a format that keeps the whole room playing. This list gives you 30 Halloween trivia questions with answers, checked against established folklore, history and pop culture, in three rounds matched to the quiz type that suits each one, plus a Zombie Race finale anyone can win.

How to run this Halloween quiz

The questions are split by difficulty, and each round uses a different question type in EngageSlide's interactive presentation tool. Players join on their phones with a code or QR code, no app or account needed.

• Round 1, easy: Select Answer. Classic multiple choice, so everyone scores early.
• Round 2, medium: True or False. Switch the labels to Fact / Myth and write a short Why? explanation for each statement. Halloween is full of myths.
• Round 3, hard: Type Answer. No options to guess from, so it separates the experts.
• Finale: Zombie Race. A tap-to-run game even the last-place player can win.

Correct answers earn points, and faster correct answers earn more. Each time you add a quiz question, a Leaderboard slide is added after it automatically. Keep one after each round and delete the rest, so scores stay a surprise but people still feel the race tighten.

Round 1: Easy Halloween trivia (Select Answer)

Give each question 20 seconds. The first option listed is the correct one, so shuffle the options when you build the slide.

1. Halloween is short for which phrase? All Hallows' Eve / Harvest Hollow Night / Hallowed Evening Feast / Holy Eve of Autumn. Answer: All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saints' Day on 1 November.
2. Which ancient Celtic festival is Halloween usually traced back to? Samhain / Beltane / Imbolc / Lughnasadh. Answer: Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest (more on Samhain).
3. Who wrote the 1897 novel Dracula? Bram Stoker / Mary Shelley / Edgar Allan Poe / Oscar Wilde. Answer: Bram Stoker.
4. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, who is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town? Jack Skellington / Oogie Boogie / Sally / Zero. Answer: Jack Skellington.
5. Which Michael Jackson music video is famous for its dancing zombies? Thriller / Beat It / Bad / Smooth Criminal. Answer: Thriller.
6. What are the three witches in Hocus Pocus called? The Sanderson sisters / The Halliwell sisters / The Owens sisters / The Spellman sisters. Answer: The Sanderson sisters.
7. What is a group of witches traditionally called? A coven / A pack / A brood / A swarm. Answer: A coven.
8. In It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, who waits all night in the pumpkin patch? Linus / Snoopy / Lucy / Schroeder. Answer: Linus.
9. Which giant monster stomps through New York at the end of Ghostbusters (1984)? The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man / King Kong / Godzilla / Slimer. Answer: The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
10. Which famous magician died on Halloween in 1926? Harry Houdini / Howard Thurston / Harry Blackstone / David Copperfield. Answer: Harry Houdini.

Keep the wrong options believable: the other Celtic festivals in question 2 make players think, while joke answers give the game away.

Round 2: Medium Halloween trivia (True or False)

Add a True or False slide for each statement, set the answer labels to Fact / Myth, and paste the explanation into the Why? field. At the reveal the verdict is stamped on the big screen and the Why? card appears on every phone. Give each statement 15 seconds. New to this format? Our guide to the True or False quiz game walks through the setup.

11. "Frankenstein is the name of the monster in Mary Shelley's novel." Myth. Victor Frankenstein is the scientist. The creature he builds never gets a name.
12. "In Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula has no reflection in a mirror." Fact. Jonathan Harker notices it while shaving in the castle.
13. "The people executed in the Salem witch trials were burned at the stake." Myth. Nineteen people were hanged in 1692, and one man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death with stones (Salem witch trials).
14. "Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly." Fact. "Flying" squirrels and colugos only glide.
15. "Pumpkins were first grown in Europe." Myth. Pumpkins come from the Americas, where people grew them for thousands of years before they reached Europe.
16. "The zombie comes from Haitian folklore." Fact. The zombi comes from Haitian folk belief. Hollywood borrowed it later.
17. "There is a full moon every Halloween." Myth. A full moon on 31 October is rare. The 2020 one made news, and the next is not until 2039.
18. "Ancient Egyptian embalmers usually left the heart inside the mummy." Fact. The heart was believed to be weighed in the afterlife, so it stayed in the body.
19. "Mexico's Day of the Dead is simply its version of Halloween." Myth. Día de Muertos is a separate celebration on 1–2 November that welcomes back the souls of loved ones.
20. "Frankenstein began as an entry in a ghost-story challenge with Lord Byron." Fact. In 1816, at a villa near Lake Geneva, Byron challenged his guests to write ghost stories. Mary Shelley's became Frankenstein.

Five facts and five myths means nobody can guess a pattern. Opening with the Frankenstein myth gets a big reaction to the very first reveal.

Round 3: Hard Halloween trivia (Type Answer)

On a Type Answer slide, players type their answer instead of picking one. Capital letters don't matter, but spelling does, so add the variations you expect under accepted answers. Missed a fair answer? Click Accept More Answer after the reveal and points are recalculated. Give these 30 seconds each, because typing takes longer than tapping.

21. What one word does the raven keep repeating in Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven? Answer: Nevermore.
22. In which year was John Carpenter's film Halloween released? Answer: 1978.
23. In Stoker's novel, which region is Count Dracula's castle in? Answer: Transylvania. Accept "Transilvania".
24. What is the name of the schoolteacher chased by the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? Answer: Ichabod Crane. Accept "Ichabod".
25. At which English seaside town does Dracula come ashore in the novel? Answer: Whitby.
26. What is the word for a human turning into a wolf in folklore? Answer: Lycanthropy. Accept "lycanthrope".
27. Who wrote the Goosebumps book series? Answer: R. L. Stine. Accept "RL Stine", "R.L. Stine" and "Stine".
28. Which 1962 novelty song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett is still a Halloween party favourite? Answer: Monster Mash. Accept "The Monster Mash".
29. In which US state is Hocus Pocus set? Answer: Massachusetts. Accept "MA". The film takes place in Salem.
30. What is the name of the hand in The Addams Family? Answer: Thing.

After the countdown, the big screen charts everything people typed. Read out a few near-misses; they are often the funniest moment of the round.

End the quiz with a Zombie Race

After the final leaderboard crowns your champion, add a Zombie Race slide from the Games tab. Each player picks one of 20 Halloween costumes on their phone, from zombies to a mummy, witch or werewolf. When you press GO, they tap TAP TO RUN! as fast as they can while their phone shows their live rank. Whoever leads at the buzzer wins.

• Pick a theme. Graveyard, Ruined City or Toxic Swamp, each with its own scenery and effects.
• Set the length. 20 to 30 seconds builds tension without tired thumbs.
• Choose boost on or off. With boost on, the fastest tapper wins. Turn it off and the race becomes a random prize draw that the quiz losers can win too.
• Keep the result. Every finished race is saved. Open the 🏆 Past games button inside the slide, or the Report, to show the podium again when you hand out prizes.

Zombie Race doesn't use quiz points, which is exactly why it works as a finale: your champion keeps the title and a second winner gets the spotlight.

The best Halloween quiz isn't the hardest one. It goes from easy wins to real head-scratchers, teaches something at every reveal, and ends with a game anyone can win.

Tips for hosting a Halloween trivia night

• Do a dry run. Try Play Game in the editor catches typos and bad timings.
• Read the Why? out loud. Ten seconds after each myth turns a guess into a fact people take home.
• Use team mode for big groups. Tables compete together; average scoring keeps big and small teams fair.
• Swap in your own questions. Two or three inside jokes about your class, office or town are often what people remember.

Hosting at work? See how to build a trivia game for company events. Teachers can drop these questions into our 20-minute Halloween classroom games plan, or browse the EngageSlide blog for more.