Happy Halloween at the Residence Halls!
Here’s how some institutions are celebrating Halloween for their students, the community, and for the betterment of the world. Volunteering is so much more fun when it involves Manic Panic.
The Transformation of Elliot Hall: Rumored to be haunted by a disfigured World War I pilot who was jilted by his betrothed, Elliot Hall is the ideal place for a Halloween celebration at Ball State University. The building exterior is castle-like, and students transform the interior of the fourth floor for a haunted ball. The dancing, treats and tricks (Ouija playing) drew 300 students last year and raised $1,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Muncie.
Dorm-Turned Dungeon Gears Up for Zombies, Philanthropy: The University of Arizona’s Yuma Hall will be the place to take shelter from zombies this weekend…or perhaps it’s not. Zombies have taken over the university’s campus, and the basement seems to be the safest place to hide until the persistent zombies batter their way inside. Students collaborated to turn Yuma’s basement into a haunted dungeon; funds for the costumes and sets came from the residence life budget. Entry to the basement costs only two cans of food; all the proceeds will be given to a local food pantry. Last year, students who went expecting a tame walkthrough were surprised–and scared.
Brittany Residence Hall of New York University in the West Village, and Stuyvesant Hall at Ohio Wesleyan University are featured on ghost tours. Jack Stanley at Uncle Sam’s Tours in New York said of Brittany, “Graduates come and graduates go, but the folks in Brittany Hall are very happy where they are.” In Delaware, Ohio, tour participants were steeped in OWU history.“This is perhaps the most haunted university in the United States,” said John Ciochetty, OWU public safety officer. Ciochetty told the tour group a room in Stuyvesant was so notoriously haunted, the then-president of OWU ordered it sealed. It remains this way today.
Share your campus ghost stories, or your haunted happenings in the comment section below.
Every year at Winthrop University, the Resident Student Association partners with Hall Councils for Halloween Happenings. We invite children of faculty/staff, local children’s agencies and members of the community to bring their children in costume to campus for trick or treating in the residence halls followed by a Halloween Carnival in our Student Activity Center. It’s been a great tradition here at Winthrop for many years, students love being able to give out candy from their room. We also have student volunteers escorting the kids around campus.
Hall councils will sponsor booth for the festival and some will also have special events or programs in the halls for the kids, such as Haunted Hallways or pumpkin decorating.
University of the Pacific, located in Stockton, California, celebrated it’s 11th annual Safe Trick Or Treat with the community. There were over 2300 persons (including small children) who dressed up and explored the campus through guided tours by visiting designated sites, including residence halls, campus departments, and the President’s home. This represented our highest number of attendees breaking a prior record of 1200.