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30th October 2017
11:01am GMT

Halloween is believed by many to have its roots in the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, which was celebrated by Derry’s ancestors. Selected as the top Halloween destination in the world in a USA Today readers’ poll last year, Derry (or Londonderry, as it is also known) seems to do everything it can each year to earn such a reputation. About 80,000 people attended the 30th annual Derry Halloween festival last year. Derry has done much to overcome its tumultuous past as the birthplace of the Troubles, the three-decade-long struggle between Irish nationalists and Protestant “loyalists,” who sought to keep Northern Ireland part of the United Kingdom. The centrepiece of the town is the soaring Peace Bridge that opened over the River Foyle in 2011.The other five on the list are mostly American locations:
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