Sometimes all it takes is a funny joke to pull you out of a bad mood and into a better headspace, especially if that headspace is spooky season (and all the goblins and gore that go along with it). Halloween is creeping up on us, and there’s more to prepare for than just parties, costumes, and trick-or-treating.
Imagine how much more fun the holiday would be with a few jokes up your sleeve to lighten the mood and entertain friends, family, party guests, or excited trick-or-treaters.
Some are comical, some clever, some both; these jokes are guaranteed to make even the ghastliest ghouls giggle, the craziest clowns chuckle, and the spookiest skeletons smile. But can you complete them before time runs out?
Could you pick the punchline of these Halloween jokes before the clock ran out? Some were chilling common sense, while others were trickier (or treatier). Send this quiz to your friends to keep the spooky season festivities going all the way to Halloween!
THE HISTORY OF HUMOR AND WHY WE LAUGH
These Halloween jokes make us laugh, or at least smile. But why?
According to Scientific American, Greek intellectuals like Plato and other philosophers cracked jokes thousands of years ago, supposedly about “the misfortune of others” because it made them feel superior. In the 18th century, Sigmund Freud explained why we laugh at jokes, describing it as a release of “nervous energy.” Emotions we suppress build up over time, and laughter allows them to escape.
In 2011, Matthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett, and Reginald Adams, Jr. wrote Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind, suggesting we enjoy jokes about other people’s mistakes because “we enjoy weeding them out.”
Beyond analyzing others’ mistakes and releasing nervous energy, the “resolution of incongruity” helps explain why we laugh; it’s what happens when we finally recognize the joke’s underlying meaning.
Researchers Peter McGraw and Caleb Warren went further, arguing that humor comes about “when a person simultaneously recognizes both that an ethical, social, or physical norm has been violated and that this violation is not very offensive.” This is called the “Benign Violation Theory.” If you find the joke unethical or if it pertains to a situation you’re sensitive about, you’re less likely to laugh or find it funny.
McGraw and Warren also hypothesized that “distance from a situation,” how far removed you are from the subject, makes you more likely to laugh at a joke, especially if it’s absurd. Vocalizations, facial expressions, and noticeable conflict reduction are additional reasons we find things humorous.
The jokes in this quiz probably made you laugh because of their cleverness and absurdity, with a spooky twist, of course. Now you have plenty to bring as party favors while trick-or-treating or at your next Halloween bash.
The countdown to Halloween is on, and we’re challenging our readers here at Mental Floss with our Trick or Trivia quiz giveaway. For 13 nights between October 19-31, we’re putting your knowledge of all things spooky to the test. Think you know Halloween? Take at least one quiz and enter to be in the running to win a $200 Barnes & Noble gift card.