Ripped from the Headlines: October 2025: October Words

Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, on October 16, 1859. Brown had lofty dreams: He hoped his group of 22 anti-slavery activists would inspire enslaved people to join in the revolt and end the brutal practice of slavery altogether. The raid ended with Brown's arrest and execution, and historians consider it to be one of the events that spurred the Civil War. Six years later, the Thirteenth Amendment legally abolished slavery.

On October 8, 1871, more than three square miles of Chicago was engulfed in flames for two days during what's now known as the Great Chicago Fire. The conflagration started in a small barn that night, quickly spreading to the city's mostly wooden buildings and houses. About 300 people died in the fire and more than 100,000 were left homeless. Conflagration is derived from the Latin conflagrare, "to burn up."

For generations, people have celebrated Halloween by wearing costumes, a tradition carried over from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. But while you might dress up like your favorite singer or movie character, the custom was once much darker. Costumes in the early 1900s were meant to ward off evil spirits and ghosts, so they needed to be terrifying. Today, you're more likely to see kids outfitted as superheroes or fairies.

On October 16, 1758, the most influential lexicographer in U.S. history, Noah Webster, was born. The date is now celebrated as National Dictionary Day in honor of Webster's contributions to the world of words. His 1806 reference book, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, is considered to be the original American dictionary. Webster’s dictionaries were the first to include skunk, hickory, and other distinctly American coinages.

The explorer Christopher Columbus made landfall on an island in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. Though he was an intrepid explorer, sailing his fleet of three ships on a transatlantic voyage in search of a new route to Asia, Columbus was also completely lost. He believed he had reached the Far East of Asia. Even after making four voyages back and forth to what was actually the Americas, Columbus still believed he had found a new westward route to Asia when he died in 1506.

The purr-fect excuse to give your best feline friend some extra attention happens every year on October 29 — it's National Cat Day! Since 2005, this kitty-themed celebration has been used to raise awareness of shelter cats that need homes. Feline is derived from the Latin feles, "cat."

If it's October, that means it's gourd season! For many people, this month is all about pumpkin-flavored treats, Jack-o’-lanterns on stoops and porches, and decorative squashes gracing fall-themed tables. If you want to get technical, melons and cucumbers qualify as gourds, too, and the Latin root, cucurbita, is closely related to cucumber.

The second Monday in October is Indigenous People's Day, a chance to celebrate the first people to live in the Americas, long before European explorers and settlers arrived. It's also a great day for learning about the history of Native Americans, including their contributions to the U.S. culture. Indigenous has a root that means "sprung from the land."

Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Supreme Court justice when he was sworn in on October 2, 1967. Even before he became one of the nine most powerful judges in the United States, Marshall had already transformed American law through his work as a civil and human rights attorney. In fact, he argued dozens of cases in front of the Supreme Court, winning nearly 30, before joining it to dispense justice himself.

Major League Baseball's World Series is sometimes called the Fall Classic because it takes place in autumn, almost always in the month of October. The American League and the National League each bring their best team to the World Series to compete in this ultimate showdown. The team that wins four out of a possible seven games is the champion of the entire group of North American pro baseball teams.

October 2, 1869, is the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who became known as Mahatma (or "great soul") Gandhi. He spent much of his adult life advocating for India's independence from British rule, and he was one of the world's most famous proponents of nonviolence. Gandhi's model of peaceful protest has been hugely influential to many civil and human rights advocates, and the UN observes his birthday as an International Day of Nonviolence.

A holiday especially for skeptics? If you're dubious about the authenticity of International Skeptics Day, it might actually be the perfect occasion for you. Take it with a grain of salt, but October 13 is supposedly the day to celebrate your questioning attitude about everything you're told. The original Greek skeptics were philosophers who doubted that knowledge itself was possible, believe it or not!

Some people think of October as a cozy month of sweaters, apple picking, and pumpkin-spiced snacks. For others, it's spooky season! Halloween, the creepiest holiday of all, looms at the end of the month, and along with it come ghosts, goblins, haunted houses, scary movies, and all things terrifying. Spooky was once also used to mean "easily scared." Boo!

Though New York City's subway wasn't the first underground train system, it quickly became the world's largest after opening on October 27, 1904. On that first day, 100,000 New Yorkers paid a nickel to ride below the streets from Lower Manhattan to Midtown along a route of 28 stations. Today, the subway is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week; it's the busiest transit system in the western hemisphere, with 472 stations. The sub- in subway means "under."