The leading idea respecting Halloween is that it is the time of all others, when supernatural influences prevail. It is the night set apart for a universal walking abroad of spirits, both of the visible and invisible world, for as will be afterwards seen, one of the special characteristics attributed to this mystic evening is the faculty conferred on the immaterial principle in humanity to detach itself from its corporeal tenement, and wander abroad through the realms of space.
Divination is then believed to attain its highest power and the gift asserted by Glendower of calling spirits from the vasty deep becomes available to all who choose to avail themselves of the privileges of the occasion.
~The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities, W & R Chambers, 1832