Spooky Halloween Facts

What's the spookiest place in Missouri? How many potential trick or treaters visit how many households, snagging which Missouri candies? How many square acres of pumpkins does Missouri produce?


MERIC knows these and other scary facts. Read on if you dare!

• 747,830
  Estimated number of all potential trick or treaters in Missouri in 2005, ages 5 to 14
   
• 383,213
  Estimated number of all potential 15-19 year olds getting too old to trick or treat
   
• 2,285,280
  Estimated number of households in Missouri for aforementioned trick or treaters to trick or treat
   
• 22/West
  Number of confectionary manufacturers in Missouri, 2002/Sweetest side of the state. Candy-wise, the state leans decidedly west. Some of the best known manufacturers include:
      Chase Candy Co., St. Joseph
      Russell Stover Candies, Kansas City
      Brach & Brock Confections, Kansas City
      Whitman's Candies Inc., Kansas City
   
• $11,326,207.96
  Total taxable sales of candy, nut and confectionary stores only, Missouri, 2005
   
• 26 pounds
  Per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2005
   
• Frankenstein
  Osage County, spookiest place name in Missouri. Honorable mentions:
          Devil's Elbow, Pulaski County
          Owl Bend, Shannon County
          Ravenwood, Nodaway County
          Wolf Island, Mississippi County
  (But more than 20 place names with "Saint," from Saint Ann to Saint Thomas)
   
• 1,697
  Total acres of pumpkins harvested for sale in Missouri, 2002
   
• Scott County
  Missouri's pumpkin king, 224 acres. Boone County was next, with 188 acres, then St. Louis at 70 acres. Here are the top 13 (not 10!) pumpkin-producing counties in Missouri in 2002:

• $1.66
  Value of one pumpkin at the North Missouri Produce Auction, Fortuna, Mo., late September 2006
   

Sources: US Census Bureau 2005 American Community Survey, 2002 Economic Census; Missouri Department of Revenue; USDA 2002 Census of Agriculture; N. Missouri Produce Auction.