The spookiest night of the year has gone from candles and homemade costumes to drones, 3D printing, and microcomputers. We take a look at some key ways Halloween has evolved over the centuries.

Kevin Clemens

October 11, 2019

12 Slides

Halloween used to be a neighborhood celebration, with homemade costumes and a flickering candle inside a carved out pumpkin on the front porch. Now it has evolved into a holiday of flying drones, 3D printing, and microcomputer animation.

Today, Americans shell out more than $8.4 billion on Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations. The market has grown more than 70% in the past 10 years and continues to grow.

As consumers purchase more and more of their Halloween needs ready-made, the technology to support the celebration has kept pace. Growing enough pumpkins to supply demand requires agriculture on an industrial scale. Silicon and latex rubber masks are designed by CAD engineers. The animatronics of home displays and commercial haunted houses requires the skills of mechanical engineers. 

Here then, are a few of the ways that technology and engineering have become part of trick or treat.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has master's degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

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