haunter
n.— «It started out innocently, as these things often do, with a few strings of pumpkin lights. Then I discovered the secondary market in anatomical displays. Medical-school skeletons with misaligned femurs don’t get sent to the dustheap. They are marketed to “haunters,” as do-it-yourself fright-makers are called.» —“Elaborate but affordable Halloween gadgets hit Web” by Denise Flaim Newsday (Long Island, New York) Sept. 20, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originating in Asia—the tomatoes came only later! Plus, a new book shows what’s lost when a language dies: when there...
Lisa from Tabernacle, New Jersey, grew up using the term cabbage night to refer to the night before Halloween when all manner of mischief takes place. The term itself goes back to the 1860s, while the custom of pranks on October 30 is older. The...