Alfred Hitchcock bought the movie rights to the novel Psycho anonymously from author Robert Bloch for just $9,000.

After he purchased the movie rights to Robert Bloch’s novel, Alfred Hitchcock then purchased as many copies of Psycho as he could in order to keep the ending of the film a secret.

During the filming of Psycho, the movie was referred to as “Production 9401” or “Wimpy.” Director Alfred Hitchcock was zealous about keeping the ending a secret.

Psycho, the original film, only cost $800,000 to make, yet has earned more than $40 million. Alfred Hitchcock used the crew from his TV series to save time and money.

Alfred Hitchcock used the crew from his television series when making Psycho in order to save time and production costs.

The actual house used for the design construction of the house in Psycho still stands in Kent, Ohio.

The shower scene in Psycho has over 90 splices in it, and did not involve Anthony Perkins at all. Perkins was in New York preparing for a play.

Contrary to popular rumors, during the shooting of the shower scene of Psycho, Hitchcock did not arrange for the water to suddenly go ice-cold when the attack started.

The sound the knife makes when penetrating the flesh in the famous Psycho shower scene was actually the sound of a knife stabbing a casaba melon.

The “blood” in the shower scene of Psycho was actually chocolate sauce.

In the famous shower scene in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock chiller Psycho, chocolate syrup was used to simulate blood.

The custom of trick or treating probably has several origins. An old Irish peasant practice called for going door to door to collect money, breadcake, cheese, eggs, butter, nuts, apples, etc., in preparation for the festival of St Columb Kill. Another was the begging for soul cakes, or offerings for one’s self-particularly in exchange for promises of prosperity or protection against bad luck.

The practice of Trick or Treating has been thought to come from a European custom called “souling.” Beggars would go from village to begging for “soul cakes,” square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death and that prayer, even by strangers, could guarantee a soul’s passage to Heaven.

Many of the various activities traditional to Halloween are associated with the idea of obtaining good fortune and foretelling the future. The idea behind ducking, dooking or bobbing for apples seems to have been that snatching a bite from the apple enables a person to grasp good fortune.

Bats, owls and other nocturanal animals, all popular symbols of Halloween, were originally feared because people believed these creatures could communicate with the spirits of the dead.

During the Middle Ages it was believed that witches could turn themselves into black cats. Thus when such a cat was seen, it was considered to be a witch in disguise.

Our modern celebration of Halloween is a descendent of the ancient Celtic fire festival called “Samhain” (pronounced “sow-in,” with “sow” rhyming with “cow”). The Celts were a pastoral people as opposed to an agricultural people. The end of summer was significant to them because it meant the time of year when the structure of their lives changed radically. The cattle were brought down from the summer pastures in the hills and the people were gathered into the houses for the long winter nights of story- telling and handicrafts.