Spook-tacular new anthem celebrating Derry’s Hallowe’en 40 Festival
“Derry is known as the Hallowe’en capital of the world,” said Martin Mullan proudly, “so it is only fitting we should have our own Hallowe’en anthem.”
“Derry is known as the Hallowe’en capital of the world,” said Martin Mullan proudly, “so it is only fitting we should have our own Hallowe’en anthem.”
With that in mind, the local impresario, aka Martin the Undertaker, penned the already going viral hit: The Number One Halloween Song - What’s the Craic? along with one of the city’s most talented musicians, Eamonn Karran.
And everyone is invited to join in the craic, which will be ninety, at The Tower Museum on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (October 28, 29 and 30, 2026), between 6.00pm and 9.00pm, where the amazing accompanying The Number One Halloween Song - What’s the Craic? video will be shown on repeat every 15 minutes.
“What we want is everyone, visitors and local people, to come along, hopefully in their Hallowe’en costumes, and learn the words of What’s The Craic? and the dance moves which go along with it,” said an enthusiastic Martin who revealed he has had phone calls from people in France and Spain, and as far away as the US, who have heard the song and love it.
“I even got a phone call from Don Mullan, who grew up in Derry, to say his son, Carl, who won Dancing With The Stars three years ago, is playing it constantly. Carl co-hosts RTÉ 2fm’s Breakfast Show, so that was great to hear.
“The video opens in the Derry of the 17th century with the character Martin the Undertaker, the spirit of Hallowe’en and friend of Walter de Burgh, reputed to be the skeleton immortalised on Derry’s coat of arms, coming to bury the legendary Half-Hung MacNaghten.
“We had great fun making the video, which showcases many of Derry’s iconic locations and significant landmarks, and the good thing was it was all done locally. The talent in this city is phenomenal.
What we want is everyone, visitors and local people, to come along, hopefully in their Hallowe’en costumes, and learn the words of What’s The Craic? and the dance moves which go along with it.
“Unfortunately I didn’t have the money to do a Hollywood production, so there was some AI enhancement on the video, added by Terry from Derry,” said Martin.
Explaining the inspiration for The Number One Halloween Song - What’s the Craic? Martin said: “I’ve been a musician for the last 50 years and I’ve been writing songs on and off. I really wanted Derry to have a Hallowe’en song that was related to our city, and to be fair, the Council and everyone I approached got really excited about it.
“I also wanted the video to highlight all the amazing places and features in the city, so we set off to get all the videoing permissions necessary, and discovered everyone we approached was only too delighted to come on board, so a massive ‘Thank you’ to Lisa McGee, Channel 4, The Undertones, Karl Porter and Kevin Casey, among others.
“Thanks also to The Grove Theatre Group, which I co-run, who supported the whole What’s the Craic project?
“I hope we get a good turn out at The Tower Museum because as someone said to me this week, Derry has its own Thriller now!
“And, you never know,” added Martin mischievously, we might perform The Number One Halloween Song - What’s the Craic? On The Derry Walls next year. Wouldn’t that be a fantastic way to celebrate Hallowe’en 41 as well as the 20th anniversary of the spectacular 10,001 Santas.”