Why Kids Love the Thrill of Halloween Frights, Explained by a Psychologist

In the collective imagination, Halloween ticks all the boxes of a scary yet family-friendly celebration. Both kids and adults dress up as monstrous creatures, while homes are decked out in dark decor. The goal? To create a chilling ambiance and scare each other in every possible way, even among the youngest participants. From the age of 6-7, some children start to enjoy this aspect of “terror”. They take pleasure in scaring themselves at Halloween, but why is that?

Historically, as Vincent Joly, a psychologist and psychotherapist based in Paris, reminds us, Halloween is connected to All Saints’ Day, the celebration of the dead, and originally to Samhain, an ancient pagan festival where, according to belief, the worlds of the living and the dead converged. Death is a somewhat taboo subject, one which parents typically shield their young children from to prevent fear. With little knowledge on the subject, “children need to explore, understand, and confront what is hidden from them,” explains the specialist. This is how they defy these “taboos” by dressing up as monsters or undead, while scaring each other.

Older children do it too, but for a different reason. They scare each other because they experience a joyful fear at Halloween, “which is surprising in a way, since they have fun and laugh about a rather unusual theme,” notes the expert. However, older children have control over this fear. “The scary aspect of Halloween is actually quite festive for them. They play, in a sense, actively engaging in a false sense of danger. It’s not a real threat or anxiety they’re experiencing, which makes it less frightening for them,” he adds.

Also, to some extent, children use this holiday “to stage the darker, more impulsive part of themselves that they hide the rest of the time. This is especially a major issue during adolescence,” emphasizes Vincent Joly. They finally allow themselves to show another side of themselves on Halloween in a “thrilling” way by wearing a mask or costume. As for toddlers, the stakes aren’t usually the same at Halloween. What they primarily look forward to are the candies and the festive aspect of the day.