Garlic, Vampires, Evil Spirits and Halloween

Halloween is here so it’s time to break out the garlic and keep the vampires, zombies and other evil spirits at bay.

Garlic has long been credited as a repellent for evil spirits. People smeared garlic on children’s foreheads, munched on garlic or wore it around their necks to keep themselves safe.

Some believed since garlic deters some blood-sucking insects it must also keep blood-sucking evil spirits away.  The sulfur compounds in garlic make it an effective repellent and it is being used in both insecticides and animal repellents.

Garlic has also been used for centuries to cure infections. Today you can find the garlic sulfur compounds used in some fungicides, bactericides, virucides and antimicrobial products. So perhaps if garlic can fight disease, it may “cure” vampires of the infection that made them immortal.

A bit more information: Garlic lovers know the detoxing benefits of garlic. Some cultures believed eating garlic helped open your mind to the spiritual world. This increased awareness made you better able to ward off evil spirits.