When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween.

This quatrain is a piece of anonymous Halloween verse that circulates widely in American popular culture, especially in children’s books, classroom materials, greeting cards, and seasonal decorations. Its imagery—witches riding, black cats, and a personified moon—draws on a blend of early modern European witch-lore and later Victorian-to-20th-century Halloween iconography that became mainstream in the United States as Halloween shifted into a largely secular, festive holiday. The rhyme’s sing-song cadence and simple, spooky motifs suggest it was composed for light entertainment rather than as part of a single canonical literary work, and it is often reproduced without attribution or a stable first publication reference.

The verse works by piling up instantly recognizable Halloween signs—witches, black cats, and a mischievous moon—to create a playful sense of seasonal inevitability: when these omens appear, Halloween must be close. The moon “laughs and whispers,” a gentle personification that turns the night sky into a conspirator in the holiday’s spooky fun. Rather than invoking fear, the rhyme domesticates the supernatural into cozy, child-friendly imagery. Its tight rhythm and end-rhyme (“seen”/“Halloween”) make it easy to memorize and recite, reinforcing Halloween as a communal, anticipatory ritual marked by shared symbols and repeated sayings.