Horror is a popular genre with many different subgenres. It has a large audience and continues to grow, according to an article in The Hilltop by Taylor Swinton. 

“According to Statistica, horror accounted for about ten percent of box office revenues in 2024, doubling its share in the span of a decade,” Swinton said.   

At 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at Black Kettle Tea Shoppe, “Horror Through the Ages” took place. 

This event included mocktails and an arrangement of paintings inspired from different horror movies throughout the years. This was the first time the event occurred with Ariel Wisniewski working as the event coordinator.

“This is the first year. It’s our grand opening of ‘6 Feet Under,’ so it’s a big deal,” Wisniewski said. 

Not only was it the shoppe’s first time hosting this event, but the processes to make the event happen required some decorating in order to set the mood.

Brianna Vodvarka is the owner of Black Kettle Tea.

“So we basically had to redo our entire basement in order to get this set up, so it was a lot of painting and installing lighting and doing all of that good stuff,” Vodvarka said. “Then we just basically reached out to artists and had like an open call for people that could just participate if they wanted to.”

Wisniewski said the event was an opportunity for fellow members of the Eau Claire horror community to come together and bond over shared interests.

“It shows that there is a place for horror in our community and there is a great horror community here in Eau Claire,” Wisniewski said. “I think that is surprising to a lot of people, but the interest in this event was overwhelming, so I think that shows what we’re doing is good.” 

Even if someone was not necessarily familiar with the genre, “Horror Through the Ages” contained diverse works of art from various cultures. 

“Horror art can mean anything. It’s not just slashers or gore,” Wisniewski said. 

When 4 p.m. rolled around, people started to enter the store. The empty, dark basement lit with red candles and filled with spooky music began to come to life.

One of the attendees, first-year UW-Eau Claire student Lolita Ochieno, described the atmosphere as “cute.”

 “They have like the cutest fairy lights on and it just blends in with the black and the horror movie posters,” Ochieno said.  

Another attendee at the event was local artist Ollie Fisher Petersen. They described the atmosphere as cozy yet spooky.

“Creepy in a cozy way, very warm,” Petersen said. “There are so many people here that I don’t recognize and some that I do, and the environment is creating a space where the people who don’t necessarily know each other can pull up a cozy vintage armchair and just sit and chat.”

While this was the first time the event was hosted, there were a few attendees who said they would recommend this event to others, one being local resident Lisa Kudtson. 

“Even if you’re not a horror person, like even the stuff from this shop, they’ve got so many things in here,” Kudtson said. “They’ve got tea, they’ve got lots of nice stuff too.” 

This shop is set up not only just for horror fans but can be quite a treat for tea lovers as well. There were also a few attendees who felt they would like to come to the event again. 

“Anything that Black Kettle Tea puts on in this basement is going to be worth coming to, so I will absolutely be on board with anything,” Petersen said 

Rommel can be contacted at [email protected].