By: Xylia Lydgate

Halloween is right around the corner, and I am ecstatic.

Since I can remember, I have always celebrated the night in some fashion. As a kid, my mother would dress me up every year. She was one to believe that all Halloween costumes should be scary and would find a way to transform me into some sort of blood-thirsty vampire or haggard-looking witch; princess costumes didn’t make the cut. We would go door-to-door collecting a bag full of assorted candies and sometimes visit the neighbor’s “spooky” backyard haunt.

Fast forward 10 years later and Halloween is just as exciting! There are plenty of things to do for Halloween both on- and off-campus. Campus Rec gets into the frightful spirit with its popular Halloween themed event, Zombie Dodgeball. In an unearthly twist to the classic game of dodgeball, participants dress up in their wildest zombie interpretation and play several “ghoulish” matches until there is a single team champion. My co-workers and I will be forming a team ourselves and have already decided on a mix of Zombie bride, pirate, soccer player, ’80s inspired, neon themed Zombie costumes. Like most Rec Center events, this tournament is free for both PSU students and members—first come, first served.

Several days ago, PSU Housing hosted their annual Fright Night Haunted House. As a Haunted House junkie myself, I must say, this one is a lot scarier than you would expect from a University run event. However, if you’re looking for a more intense scare, Sauvie Island’s Haunted Corn Maze and Portland’s FarmHouse GhostTown Haunt attraction will not let you down. FarmHouse is Portland’s only full contact haunted house where you will be “touched, restrained, and blindfolded”— talk about intense!

Whether you plan on taking a casual stroll through downtown Portland to see an array of bizarre costumes or choose to navigate through a bone-chilling Haunted House, I wish you all a Happy Halloween!

What do you like to do for Halloween?