Bloody Halloween | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

In "A Halloween playlist: Songs that give off that dark vibe" (Tribune, Oct. 28), David Burger states that "to stay true to the pagan origins of Halloween," one should select a soundtrack based on "murder and stalking." I disagree.

Pagan history has nothing to do with human violence. Rather, some scholars say that the origins of Halloween extend back 6,000 years, beginning as peaceful celebrations of the harvest.

Much later, the Christian All Hallows Eve became associated with darker elements, such as demons and evil witches. But even this evolution has little in common with Burger's playlist. Rather than celebrating the supernatural, his suggestions discuss a man losing his mind and killing his family, the murder of 10 innocent people and dispatching one's wife and dumping the body in a lake.

Most of these songs have nothing to do with the pagan holiday celebrated this month, nor with the more popular theme of ghosts, witches, goblins and the supernatural. Instead, they are examples of the worst sort of human depravity.

Try to enjoy Halloween for its ancient tradition of the harvest or for its connection with the mystical and preternaturally diabolical rather than any association with human viciousness.

Mark Jones

Salt Lake City