Samhain is the pagan origin of Halloween - and its terrifying rituals include human sacrifices and p -

MODERN day Halloween might have been reduced to little more than scary make-up tutorials on YouTube, but rewind a few thousand years and you'd be planning your human sacrifice, NOT your outfit.

Halloween is regarded as the Witches' Sabbat, the equivalent of their New Year's Eve.

Its roots lie firmly in the old pagan holiday of Samhain, which - along with May 1, Beltane - was regarded as one of the most important days of the year.

On Samhain, it was believed that the veil lifted between the worlds of the living and the dead, allowing spirits, demons and other mythical creatures such as faeries a chance to walk amongst us.

But the reality of Halloween through the eyes of the Celts and Druids is scarier than any horror film.

According to old documents, in its most primitive guise, Samhain would have featured many sacrifices to the Celtic gods of death, with both animals and humans thrown in to huge firepits as offerings.

People claimed the ancient Druids ate their first born children on Samhain, or collected the blood of their sacrificial humans in cauldrons and drank it.

The stories get gorier, claiming that hollowed out pumpkins and turnips would be filled with fat from previous sacrifices and lit.

It was the arrival of the Romans in 55 BC that signalled the start the end of Druid culture in the UK.

Julius Caesar even commented about the ancient Brits that in times of danger, "unless the life of a man be offered, the mind of immortal gods will not favour them."

It was traditional to light a candle and place it in the window to guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home, and apples were buried alongside roadsides for spirits who were lost or who had no descendants to provide for them.

However, present day Pagans' Samhain celebration are a much safer affair, and focus on the night's origins as 'Feast of the Dead'.

Focusing on the belief that it is easier to communicate with dead relatives and loved ones, ghosts are firmly at the centre of proceedings.

It's not uncommon for Pagans to hold a Dumb Supper, where a feast is prepared with an empty place at the table for the spirits of dead ancestors.

A portion of each food and drink served must be placed on to their plate or in their cup throughout the meal, which must be eaten in total silence.

It's also crucial that no one looks at the empty chair for the spiritual diner - looking at the ghost over the dinner table brings bad luck on the household.

At the end of the feast, the Pagans will place the uneaten food and drink outside in a wooded or other natural area as an offering for the dead.

Does THIS footage prove the existence of ghosts? Owner of a 400-year-old cottage shares eerie video of a window opening on its own.

And a student nurse got a photograph of a ghost sitting comfortably on her SOFA.

More Halloween stories