Fact Check

Michele Bachmann Wants to Ban Halloween?

Is Michele Bachmann calling for a ban on Halloween because 'the holiday is based in Satanism'?

Published Oct. 24, 2013

Claim:

Claim:   Michele Bachmann is calling for a ban on Halloween because "the holiday is based in Satanism."


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, October 2013]


Did Michelle Bachmann (R) say that she wants to abolish Halloween because "Sucking on Satan's candy sacks lead to liberalism"?

 

Origins:   On 16 October 2013, the Free Wood Post web site published an article positing that Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota had called for a ban on Halloween because "the holiday is based in Satanism":



Michele Bachmann, Republican Congressional Representative to Minnesota and founder of the Tea Party Caucus, is at it again. She is calling for a ban on Halloween, stating, "This holiday is based in Satanism. It's a Pagan ritual to worship Satan and call him forth to the earth and the liberal elites have added socialism to it. We are in the end days and we must purify our nation if we are to be welcomed into the kingdom of God."

"We have to ban Halloween to save the children. That's how they indoctrinate them you know. Giving them Satan's candy sacks. Soon you've got a country full of children sucking on Satan's sacks and thinking liberal thoughts instead of good Christian ones."


Shortly afterward links and excerpts referencing that article were being circulated via social media, with many of those who encountered the item mistaking it for a genuine news item. However, the article was just a political spoof originating with the satirical web site Free Wood Post, whose disclaimer notes that:



Free Wood Post is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within FreeWoodPost.com are fiction, and presumably fake news.


Last updated:   17 October 2014

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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