Non-mainstream religions and statements like 'spiritual but not religious' have all correlated to a shift in confidence away from mainstream religions. While outright atheism is slightly more popular (which could be cultural acceptance of atheism making it more known) a la carte belief systems are much more so. Bring on the ghost hunters, psychics and astrologers too.
Halloween, these days, is more than an excuse for women to let out their inner tramp and dress up like a sexy nurse or witch. It has changed to be a more positive cultural thing. Much less vandalism, like they did when I was a kid, it is instead a sign of urban revival; people want safe places for their kids to trick-or-treat and they have taken their communities back in a way they would never have done when it came to getting rid of drug addicts.
From self-help book cover to mainstream Halloween look. Credit: http://sexy-witch.blogspot.com/
But peeling back those outer layers layers of Halloween's increasing popularity and you find something strange; while the secular war on Christmas and Easter has clearly been won, the efforts to eliminate monotheism (and perhaps theism at all) have created a 'vacuum' that paganism is now filling at Halloween.
Read an interesting alternative perspective in the increase in Halloween spending from Amity Shlaes at Bloomberg.com
