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IT’S OFFICIAL; DUBLIN AND ANTRIM ARE THE SPOOKIEST TOWNS IN IRELAND, AS ALDI RELEASES UNBOOLIEVEABLE DATA

Aldi release Halloween research ahead of International ‘Face your Fears Day’ on October 14^th

• Over half of Irish adults have a fear of Halloween
• The Banshee (37%) tops the poll as the most feared Halloween creature – ahead of ghosts (28%)
• Irish women fear spiders twice as much as men do – while younger people are most afraid of clowns
• One in five Irish adults believe in ghosts, while 10% admit to having a spooky encounter with one
• 1 in 3 men admitted to being afraid of clowns
• Dublin named Ireland’s spookiest county, followed by Antrim

Ahead of International ‘Face your Fears Day’ this October 14^th, Aldi has looked at what makes the Irish public shake with fear. As we head into the spooky season, the research has revealed that over half of Irish adults (57%) have a fear of Halloween, and more people are afraid of spiders than graveyards!

The Banshee tops the poll as the most feared Halloween creature

The banshee tops the poll overall as the most feared Halloween creature with 37% of the votes, coming in ahead of zombies (30%) and ghosts (28%). Interestingly, witches only received 8% of the votes, so children might want to reconsider their costume if they want to scare their parents this Halloween.

Irish women fear spiders twice as much as men do – while younger people are most afraid of clowns

When asked about general fears, spiders (36%) topped the poll, ahead of graveyards (27%) and clowns (24%). However, there was a big male-female divide with the research revealing that one in two Irish women (48%) are afraid of spiders, more than double that of men (21%). The roles are reversed when it comes to clowns – with one in three (33%) Irish men confessing to coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, compared to only 17% of women.

One in five Irish adults believe in ghosts, while 10% admit to having a spooky encounter with one

One in five (20%) of those surveyed fear the paranormal, admitting to believing in ghosts with 10% of us admitting to having the spooky encounter of seeing a ghost.

And finally… Dublin is named Ireland’s spookiest county

Additional in-depth analysis has revealed that Dublin is the spookiest county in Ireland, followed by Antrim. The data was retrieved by careful analysis of the number of haunted sites, abandoned towns, abandoned building and ruins, graveyards, and sunshine hours in each county which resulted in a league table of the spookiest counties in Ireland. Coming in at the bottom as the least scary were Leitrim, and Longford. (Full league table in appendix below).

While Dublin and Antrim were rated the spookiest overall with the most haunted sites, plenty of other counties topped individual polls in the scary search. Galway has the most graveyards in Ireland (317) ahead of neighbours Roscommon (298). Kildare has the most abandoned buildings and ruins while Mayo has the most abandoned towns – all putting the fear into people as we approach Halloween season.

Speaking about the research,Aldi’s Group Buying Director, John Curtin, commented; “We wanted to create some fun, family-friendly conversations around fears this Halloween and the findings from our research certainly threw up a few conversation starters. We’d love for kids to challenge their parents to Face their Fears, in a fun and safe way this Halloween – maybe it’s to decorate the house with spiders or come face to face with a creepy clown – either way, our exciting Halloween range can cater for all.”

So, this Halloween take a trip down the middle aisle and see how many fears you can face. Aldi has 148 stores nationwide and stocks everything from cool costumes to creepy decorations including:

Costumes

• Children’s Halloween Costume €4.99 – Perfect dress-up for parties and trick or treating. Choose from Pumpkin (ages 2-4 years), Boys’ Skeleton (ages 3-4 to 9-10 years), Girls’ Skeleton, Clown, Werewolf or Day of the Dead (ages 5-6 to 9-10 years), Witch (ages 3-4 to 7-8 years), or Cat (ages 3-4 to 5-6 years).
• Children’s Licensed Halloween Costume €11.99 – Choose from Hermione or Harry Potter (ages 5/6-9/10 years), or Ghostbuster, The Joker, Spider-Man, Batman or Harley Quinn (ages 3/4-7/8 years).
• Adults’ Halloween Costumes €18.99 – Choose from Black Widow, Spider-Man, Batgirl or Batman.

Sizes S-L.

Decorations

• Halloween Craft €1.79 – Choose from Decorate Your Own Bunting, Make Your Own Masks, Puppet Theatre, Make Your Own Pumpkin or Cat Boppers, Make Your Own Wreath or Pompom Characters, or Pin the Stalk Game.
• Halloween Tins €2.99 – Complete their Halloween outfit with this spooky Trick or Treat Tin, perfect for filling with all kinds of Halloween treats! Choose from Frankenstein, Bats, Pumpkin or Ghosts.
• Halloween Decorative Lights €4.49 – Choose from String Lights in Happy Halloween, Skulls, Eyeballs, Pumpkin Heads, or Spider Webs, a pack of 8 Flickering Tea Lights with spider’s web decoration or a remote controlled, colour-changing Pumpkin Light.
• Halloween Jigsaws €5.99 – 1000-piece jigsaw. Choose from Gremlins, Beetlejuice, Harry Potter or Corpse Bride.
• Halloween Piñata €7.99 – A hit at every party! Fill your piñata with ghoulish treats, hang it up and take it in turns to bash it to release them. Includes Piñata Stick. Choose from Pumpkin, Sugar Skull or Witch’s Hat.

Confectionery

• Scary Milk Chocolate Shapes 99c – Milk chocolate in a range of spooky Halloween shapes. 70g
• Pepsi Max 99c – 2L sharing bottle
• Halloween Milk Chocolate Lollies €1.49 – Individually wrapped milk chocolate lollies. 140g
• Space Raiders €1.69 – Includes 6 x 13g packets
• Tayto Rancheros Sharing bag €1.99 – Ideal for trick or treaters! 120g
• Halloween Mug Melts €1.99 – Cool Halloween shapes that transform into a hot chocolate drink
• Galaxy Frothy Top Hot Chocolate €2.79 – Frothy, creamy hot chocolate, ideal for warming up on a cold fright night! Add milk or hot water. Made with Galaxy chocolate. 275g
• Haribo Halloween Mix €3.49 – Individually wrapped and perfect for sharing
• Swizzles Halloween Treats Tub €4.99 – This 1.05kg tub is filled with everybody’s favourite Swizzles sweets

For more information, log on to www.aldi.ie.  

Did you know?

Aldi’s Christmas Savings Card is available to pick up from all 148 stores nationwide.  Saving as you go to make the festive season more affordable is a great idea and will help to make your Christmas as stress free as possible! Simply pick up a card at the checkout the next time you are in store and then register it online. Top up at the checkout and use your card throughout the year in any of Aldi’s stores in Ireland.