“Trick or Treat” or join a large skeleton gathering? - The world's best Halloween records
Halloween is usually associated with dressing up in scary costumes, such as witches, spiders or some characters from horrors and going around your neighborhood to collect sweets. It’s a game called “Trick or treat” that most children around the world enjoy playing with their family or friends. But some people have found more creative ways to spend Halloween which became world records.
1.The largest collection of haunted dolls
In Mexico there's an island which houses thousands of broken dolls hanging from trees and bushes. It all started in the 1920s when a girl drowned in the nearby canal. Around 30 years later Don Julian Santana Barrera came to live on this island. After some time he started to claim that he was haunted by a ghost of the dead girl, so to appease her restless spirit he became obsessed with collecting dolls and hanging them around the island. Ironically, the man died by drowning in the same canal in 2001. Now the legend says that every visitor should leave a doll here as a gift as soon as they step on the island.
2. The largest jack-o-lantern
On 8th October 2023, in the USA Travis Gienger set a record of the biggest pumpkin in the world. It weighed 1 246,9kg and he named it “Michael Jordan”. Then it was transported to Clarence where caricature artist Eric Jones carved it with a series of military-themed motifs to commemorate Veterans day. His record of the biggest jack-o-lantern was registered on 7th November.
3. Fastest time to carve one tonne of pumpkins
This record is held by Stephen Clarke, the master of jack-o-lanterns. On October 29th in 2008 in the USA he managed to carve one tonne of pumpkins in just 3 hours and 33 minutes.
4. The largest skeleton gathering
Students of Swansea University organised the biggest skeleton gathering in the world. The event took place in the UK, on October 8, 2011. 2,018 people joined them at the Jokers’ Masquerade dressing up as skeletons. After they got their title, they celebrated it by dancing in a “day of the dead” fashion.
5. The largest collection of candy wrappers
Milan Lukich has been collecting candy wrappers for more than 32 years. He lives in Peru where he keeps his gigantic collection of 5,065 candy coverings, with wrappers from 49 different countries. If you start collecting right now, maybe someday you'll manage to collect more than him!
6. The largest gathering of zombies
Another gathering! This time it was in the USA, involved15,458 participants, and was organised by the Zombie Pub Crawl. People dressed up as zombies featured multiple outdoor stages, food trucks, and entertainment, including live performance by the famed DJ Steve Aoki.
7. Most lit jack-o-lanterns displayed
Here we go with jack-o-lanterns again. Now it's not about the size or the carving speed. In 2013 the city of Keene broke the record of the biggest number of lit jack-o-lanterns, which was 30,581.
8. The longest indoor haunted house
Haunted houses are so frightening that you want to leave
them as soon as you walk in. But in this one it won’t be as
easy or fast. The Dragon’s House of Horror won the title
of the longest walk-through horror house and was officially verified on November 3, 2015. The measurement is 2 189, 59 meters so be careful - if you get stuck there, you won’t be out soon.
9. The largest halloween parade
Halloween parades are not as surprising or unusual, but this one was incredibly big. It involved 50 000 costumed participants and 2 million spectators. It was the New York City’s Village Halloween Parade organised on October 31, 1974, by Ralph Lee.
10. The biggest bag of candy
There’s for sure no Halloween without sweets. It’s one of the first associations with Halloween and there’s also a record for it, which was won by Broadway Sweets in South Africa, on 20th August 2022. It weighed 1,025kg. Can you get a heavier bag this Halloween?
11. The largest corn maze
Have you ever got lost in a corn maze? This one will get you lost really quickly even if you have a good sense of direction. The Guinness World Record for the largest corn maze in the world was set by Luc Pelletier in Canada. Its size is 266 106m² and was verified on 18th October 2022.
12. The largest witch gathering
It seems like gatherings are as popular a record to break as jack-o-lanterns. This time the participants were dressed up as witches gathered in Sort, Lleida, Spain. There were 1 607 people involved.
13. The longest snake in captivity ever
Are you afraid of snakes? This one will scare even people without ophidiophobia. The snake’s name is Medusa and she’s a python that was found to be 7,67 meters and 158,8kg when measured in October 2011. She was housed at “The Edge of Hell Haunted House” in Kansas City.
Fun facts: she would purr like a cat when happy, so maybe she’s not as scary as she seems to be.
14. The biggest number of people wrapped as mummies in 3 minutes
Have you ever tried to wrap yourself with toilet paper to look like a mummy as a kid? I did and I didn't know there was a record for it.
The record is 52 people and was set by WAFI in Dubai, UAE, on 1st November 2019. Initially, there were 74 mummies, but 22 of them were disqualified for not being wrapped according to the guidelines.
15. The longest distance sailed a in pumpkin boat
I’m sure it might be the weirdest boat to travel in, but it’s also really creative. This record has been held by Gary Kristensen since 24th May 2025. He sailed 94,26km in the giant pumpkin he grew and carved all by himself.
16. The biggest candy
The largest candy is 1 600kg and was made by Nindar, in Trodheim, Norway, on 12th August 1997. It was displayed in the Nindar factory and it measured 1,54 m×1,54m×45cm. It’s a scaled up version of the original candy available in Norway. Do you know any person who might eat it in one evening?
As you already know there are multiple ways to spend your Halloween. Whether you’re traditionally trick - or - treating, going to a haunted house or trying to break one of the records above, I wish you a happy Halloween!
Thank you for reading!
Page design: Julia Odyjewska
Bibliography
Records, G. W. (2024, January 11). Heaviest jack o’lantern. Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/536165-largest-jack-olantern-weight
Records, G. W. (2025, September 8). Longest journey by pumpkin boat (paddling). Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/378205-longest-journey-by-pumpkin-boat-paddling
Stephenson, K. (2016, October 31). Get spooky with 10 terrifyingly true halloween records. Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2016/10/get-spooky-with-10-terrifyingly-true-halloween-records-449046.html
World Records, G. (2019, November 19). Most people wrapped as mummies in three minutes. Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/369599-most-people-wrapped-as-mummies-in-three-minutes.html
World Records, G. (2022a, November 22). Largest corn / crop maze (temporary). Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-maze-temporary-corn-crop-maze.html
World Records, G. (2022b, December). Largest bag of candy. Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/412656-largest-bag-of-candy.html
The Island of the Dead Dolls – La Isla de las Muñecas, thenotsoinnocentabroad.com, Accessed Oct. 28th
Students dressed as skeletons, Guinness World Record Attempt for People Dressed as Skeletons, Swansea University, South Wales, Britain, Shutterstock.com, Accessed Oct. 28
Jack-o-lantern, pixabay.com, Accessed Oct. 28
Giant puppets are a hallmark of the New York City’s Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com , Accessed Oct. 28
Comments