Senior Seth Koslowski was excited about experiencing Madison’s annual Halloween event for the first time last weekend.

“It was my first time going so I was pretty pumped about it,” Koslowski said.

On Saturday night, however, he found himself among the record crowd of 80,000 people on State Street, being forced out of the area by a line of police officers that stretched across the street, he said.

As he was walking away, he heard the sound of pepper spray shooting out of a dispenser. Later, he felt his back burning and his eyes watering until he could barely see anything.

“The chemicals just came from behind and swarmed me. There was no avoiding it,” he said. “It was so bad I had to go to the emergency room.”

Koslowski was just one of the numerous students from across the state and Midwest that were involved in the festivities last weekend in Madison.

Emily Samson, a Madison police officer, said there were 450 arrests and 519 charges for both Friday and Saturday nights. Out of the arrests, 59 were UW-Madison students, 76 were people from Minnesota and 150 were out-of-state students.

John Lucas, a university spokesman for UW-Madison, said the abundance of out-of-state students could be related to the publicity the event has received from both Sports Illustrated and Madison.

Around 1:30 a.m., nearly 6,000 people remained on the 500 block of State Street, she said, which is where some trouble began.

“That’s when we see people getting injured and fights breaking out,” Samson said. “After officers couldn’t break up the fights, they decided to try and move the crowd.”

A fire broke out in the middle of the street, she said, which caused the police to force the crowd out of the area. After normal methods didn’t work, police resorted to pepper spray to remove the people. The street finally cleared out by 5 a.m., she said.

Sophomore Justin Boyd said the event seemed much calmer than in past years, and that the police were prepared to handle the number of people.

“The police were very patient,” Boyd said. “I didn’t see any predispositions with them.”

Halloween in Eau Claire, however, was a much mellower experience, said Jack Corey, community relations officer. He said the last time Eau Claire had any problems associated with Halloween came when the drinking age was 18. Once it was changed to 21, the problem disappeared.

“We used to go from fighting to block off a three-block area to not blocking off anything,” Corey said. “We didn’t hear about anything extraordinary.”

As for the future of Madison’s tradition, Lucas said the mayor has become frustrated with it and may take measures to discourage participation at the event or cancel it altogether.

“It’s definitely in the realm of thought right now,” Lucas said.

While he didn’t expect to be pepper sprayed, Koslowski said he would mostly likely make a return trip to Madison next Halloween.

“I just wish (the out-of-state students) could respect the city more.”