Customs inspectors on the U.S. southern border are preparing for Halloween night, when - by tradition - there will be an increase in vehicular traffic to ferry witches, mummies, princesses and other characters across the U.S. border to cities such as El Paso.

The spokesman for Customs and Border Protection here, Roger Maier, said that although there are no statistics available on the increase in northbound traffic on Halloween, there is certainly an rise in the number of people seeking to cross from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso.