Everyone knows today's holiday but, not everyone knows some stories about it. Here is my version of the stories. In an old religion on this day the line between this world and the next is blurred so we wear disguises so our enemies that went to the next world won't be able to recognize us.
Witches have magic powers but, they usually use their powers for healing and their brooms are used for marriage (jump the broom with your hand tied to a partner and you two are married). Outsiders for over a thousand years didn't know this and thought all magic is evil. They came up with lots of crazy ways to test 'witches' to see if they are real or not but, most of the tests would be lethal if you fail or if you pass you are as good as dead anyway. I was told that one of my ancestors was tested to see if he was a witch by crushing in an attempt to make him confess, his last words were "More weight." I have encountered two witches myself and they are friendly, about 16 years ago I asked the first witch I met, "Can you make things appear like...money?" In which she said, "I can't make money appear but, I can make money disappear." There is a witch that works at my church and she is very sweet, she loves mice and she has lovely decorations on and in her station wagon, like a pocket dragon plushie "Zoom Zoom"
The most common pet that a witch has is a black cat, I assume it is because they have the same color as their religious clothes. People think that black cats are evil but, I say they are no more evil than a cat of a different color. I once knew a black cat who is pretty friendly, though I think he threw my satellite dish out of place by jumping on it (I could be wrong, I couldn't prove it.)
Bats are misunderstood because, they are often thought of as vampires. Dracula made bats even more scary which caused them to be hunted ever since (though efforts are mostly worthless). From what I have heard there are over 100 different kinds of bat but, only three are blood suckers, the rest either eat fruit or bugs. I encountered a bat before and I think it's cute (though I think it was scared of me even after I petted it).
Speaking of bats let's talk Gargoyles, they look terrifying and evil looking so that they can scare off that kind of enemy so that the residents would feel safe, so they are guardians. I suspect Disney learned that and came up with the animated drama.
Onto the subject of vampires, it is a bad condition. Vampires need to have blood to be very healthy and sunlight makes them weak but they don't fade, explode, catch on fire or sparkle. In the days of old vampires tried to fit in but, when they can't take their bottled up hunger they are forced to extremes in which bad things happen. In the modern world they can order many kinds of meat and eat it any way they want. Being weak against silver, certain kinds of wood, and garlic is true, it is called having an allergy. I know metal allergies are strange but, I know someone that is allergic to fake gold.
Werewolves also have an allergy to silver. From what I understand they are people that can turn into anthro wolves that love to hunt for food. Destroy the woods and how else are they going to do that other than raid livestock? If they are raised in a certain way they would not have that killer instinct.
That said, some monsters are very scary but, if you take the time to really understand them, usually they are not.
