Halloween Spells

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This article is about the tool items. For the special Halloween pickups, see Magic spells.
Like your tiny heads? THANK MAGIC!
Merasmus on cosmetic spells

Halloween Spells were tool items. They are represented by a glass alchemy flask filled with a colorful liquid and sealed with a cork.

Halloween Spells were used to give various Halloween-themed effects to weapons, cosmetic items, or classes, depending on the spell. They were added during Spectral Halloween Special, and were enabled and obtainable annually during subsequent Halloween events, prior to Scream Fortress 2015. Since Scream Fortress 2015, Halloween Spells are no longer obtainable, as Haunted Halloween Gifts were replaced with the Soul Gargoyle, which does not distribute spells nor the Voodoo-Cursed Items needed to craft the Pile of Curses. All remaining Halloween Spells persisting in players' backpacks remain visible in them as long as they do not launch the game; if they do, the spells are deleted. Any spells applied to items remain on them.

The first spells released during the Spectral Halloween Special event lasted from October 26, 2012 to November 9, 2012. Any spell effects that were applied to any items, along with any unused spells, were erased from players' inventories upon opening the game after the end of the event.

They were enabled and made obtainable again during Scream Fortress 2013, which lasted from October 29, 2013 to November 11, 2013. As of the November 11, 2013 Patch, the effects of Halloween spells were made visible only during Halloween events, Full Moons, or on servers under the effects of the Enchantment: Eternaween tool item. Effects of Halloween Spells were no longer removed from the items they had been applied to, but spells that had not been applied to an item were erased from players' inventories upon opening the game after the end of the event.

As of the October 23, 2014 Patch, Halloween Spells were made tradable even outside the time frame of a Halloween event. Scream Fortress 2014 would be the last Halloween event to allow players to gather Halloween Spells, which lasted from October 29, 2014 to November 12, 2014.

Halloween Spells remained tradeable despite the spells being erased again after November 12, 2014, resulting in players being able to trade spells into the inventories of players already in-game, circumventing the vanish-upon-entry that came with opening the game. These spells are sometimes referred to as "post-life spells".

Following Scream Fortress 2015, the Tough Break Update made Halloween Spells untradable, thus removing the ability to apply any previously existing spells.

Types of spells

Footprint effects Bruised Purple Footprints (halloween spell).png Corpse Gray Footprints (halloween spell).png Gangreen Footprints (halloween spell).png Headless Horseshoes (halloween spell).png Rotten Orange Footprints (halloween spell).png
Halloween Spell: Bruised Purple Footprints Halloween Spell: Corpse Gray Footprints Halloween Spell: Gangreen Footprints Halloween Spell: Headless Horseshoes Halloween Spell: Rotten Orange Footprints
Team Spirit Footprints (halloween spell).png Violent Violet Footprints (halloween spell).png
Halloween Spell: Team Spirit Footprints Halloween Spell: Violent Violet Footprints
Paint effects Chromatic Corruption (halloween spell).png Die Job (halloween spell).png Putrescent Pigmentation (halloween spell).png Sinister Staining (halloween spell).png Spectral Spectrum (halloween spell).png
Halloween Spell: Chromatic Corruption Halloween Spell: Die Job Halloween Spell: Putrescent Pigmentation Halloween Spell: Sinister Staining Halloween Spell: Spectral Spectrum
Weapon effects Exorcism (halloween spell).png Gourd Grenades (halloween spell).png Sentry Quad-Pumpkins (halloween spell).png Spectral Flame (halloween spell).png Squash Rockets (halloween spell).png
Halloween Spell: Exorcism Halloween Spell: Gourd Grenades Halloween Spell: Sentry Quad-Pumpkins Halloween Spell: Spectral Flame Halloween Spell: Squash Rockets
Vocal effects Scout's Spectral Snarl (halloween spell).png Soldier's Booming Bark (halloween spell).png Pyro's Muffled Moan (halloween spell).png Demoman's Cadaverous Croak (halloween spell).png Heavy's Bottomless Bass (halloween spell).png
Halloween Spell: Scout's Spectral Snarl Halloween Spell: Soldier's Booming Bark Halloween Spell: Pyro's Muffled Moan Halloween Spell: Demoman's Cadaverous Croak Halloween Spell: Heavy's Bottomless Bass
Engineer's Gravelly Growl (halloween spell).png Medic's Blood Curdling Bellow (halloween spell).png Sniper's Deep Downunder Drawl (halloween spell).png Spy's Creepy Croon (halloween spell).png
Halloween Spell: Engineer's Gravelly Growl Halloween Spell: Medic's Blood-Curdling Bellow Halloween Spell: Sniper's Deep Downunder Drawl Halloween Spell: Spy's Creepy Croon

Update history

October 26, 2012 Patch (Spectral Halloween Special)
  • Halloween Spells were added to the game.

October 29, 2013 Patch (Scream Fortress V)

  • Enabled Halloween Spell Potions.

November 11, 2013 Patch

  • Updated Halloween spells so that the effects will only be visible during Halloween/Full Moon events.
  • All Halloween spells have automatically expired.
  • [Undocumented] Halloween spells are no longer tradable.

November 12, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed some Halloween spells not working during Eternaween.

December 6, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed some cases where Halloween spell effects on items would not appear when they were supposed to.

October 23, 2014 Patch

  • Updated Halloween Spells to be tradable.
  • Fixed not being able to apply Halloween Spells to cosmetic items.

December 12, 2014 Patch

November 9, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed Halloween spell effects not cycling the colors.

December 17, 2015 Patch (Tough Break Update)

  • [Undocumented] Halloween spells are no longer tradable.

March 30, 2023 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Renamed "Voices From Below" to "Voices from Below".

February 18, 2025 Patch

  • Fixed the Voices from Below effect not working when taunting with the Highland Hound set equipped.

Unused content

  • There is an unused flask model, which resembles the format of the Exorcism spell. The biggest difference is that the model contains a sticker of the Merasmus hat at the back and it also includes a pickup rotating animation.
    • The unused flask model is also set to be paintable and there are seven different skins for each color of the Halloween Spells that appears on the backpack icons (red, orange, cyan, green, turquoise, blue, and light purple).

Notes

  • Gourd Grenades, Sentry Quad-Pumpkins, and Squash Rockets spells applied to items are listed as "Pumpkin Bombs" rather than the actual name of the spell. The spells only limited which weapons they can be applied to.
  • Vocal spells applied to items are listed as "Voices from Below" rather than the actual name of the spell. The spells only limited which cosmetics they can be applied to.

Bugs

  • The backpack icons for the spells incorrectly use the coloring overlays intended for Paint Cans.
  • The spells couldn't be applied to Stock weapons (except their Strange variants). The player was able to select a spell from the backpack and a confirmation message would appear, but the effect was not applied and the spell was not consumed.
  • Spells meant to be used with only one class could be applied to cosmetics which can be equipped by multiple classes, granting the spell's ability to whatever class wears the affected cosmetic.
  • If Sentry Quad-Pumpkins was used on multi-class weapons, like the Saxxy or the Necro Smasher, the effect is visible for Soldier's rockets. The same applies to Squash Rockets. If it was used on multi-class weapons, the effect is visible for Engineer's Level 3 Sentry Gun's rockets.
  • Sentry Quad-Pumpkins could be applied to the Gunslinger, despite the fact that the Mini-Sentry is unable to fire rockets.
  • Gourd Grenades couldn't be applied to the Sticky Jumper, and Squash Rockets couldn't be applied to the Rocket Jumper.
  • Squash Rockets could be applied to the Cow Mangler 5000, despite the fact that the Cow Mangler 5000 does not fire rockets.
  • For the Vocal Effect spells' shared item description, "[...] the Merc's voices [...]" incorrectly places the apostrophe before the -s.

Trivia

  • The backpack icons are screenshots of the models. Each type of flask and its textures are present in the game files.
    • The liquid of those flasks is set to be paintable.

Gallery