Fun Fact Friday: Fangtastically gourd Halloween stats

It’s the one time of year ghosts and ghouls come to life to stalk the streets for candy. This annual paranormal activity however has led to a rise in earthly Halloween-related accidents.

Here for the boo boos

We looked back over the last six years to unearth injuries that happened on 31 October. Here’s what we found.

There were 136 Halloween-related injuries. When we refer to ‘Halloween-related’ we mean claims that mention these search words:

• trick or treat
• prank
• creep
• pumpkin / carving
• dress up / costume
• lantern
• lollies / candies
• casket
• cemetery
• Halloween
• ghost / ghoul
• scare / fright
• haunted
• werewolf.

Of these 136 claims:

• 40 claims specifically mentioned a connection to trick-or-treating
• 18 directly mentioned a pumpkin and/or carving.

And Aucklanders do take the pumpkin for the bulk of injuries with 49% of Halloween injuries coming from the city (so much for Wellington being paranormal).

In 2015 there were 22 claims; in 2016 this rose to 32. In 2017 the number dropped to 13, but last year (2018) the number rose to 34.

The most frequent injury type was ‘soft tissue’ – or bruises, sprains, and strains. Lacerations meanwhile were the second-highest type of injury. Perhaps some spirited pumpkin carving was to blame?

Happy haunting

There are a few easy tips to keep your family safe this Halloween.

Stay visible by using glow-sticks with your costume, and if it’s dark use flashlights to lead the way. Be sure to meander in well-lit parts of the neighbourhood.

When carving pumpkins, always cut away from your body and hands.

Finally, avoid tunnel vision when trick or treating and look both ways before crossing the road.

And even if things do go wrong, our no-fault scheme covers everyone in New Zealand, for whatever may be hiding in the shadows.

Now, go have some skele-fun!