Child and youth snatching terrifies modern people and we know it is not supernatural, so imagine the hell our superstitious ancestors went through every Samhain worried if their child would be “taken” and devoured by demonic beings. The kids weren’t too thrilled with it either! How much scarier their campfire horror stories were back then. Because of this terror, every Samhain people would dress in black, gather their cattle from the fields, and hunker down indoors. They would huddle in fear all day long. Our ancestors carved gourds in the shape of heads, lit them as lamps and placed them outside the door to say, “a youth was already taken from this home, pass over”. They laid out treats and other tasty offerings to pacify the hungry soul-snatchers. Fear gripped them for three days. Not exactly a fun holiday. At last the gods, the shining Tuatha de Danaan (meaning “children of the Goddess Dana), heard the peoples’ anguish and arrived on the night before November 1st to stop the demons once and for all from collecting this hideous annual soul tax. Gods and demons fought an Armageddon-like battle resulting in defeat for the Fomors (or Fomori), whom the gods pushed back into the sea of destruction forever.