Dressing up your inner child, an excuse to have fun, free candy – what’s not to like about Halloween? Whether you enjoy hunting down ghosts, horror flicks or eating excessive amounts of candy, the Eau Claire area has plenty of activities to offer on Wednesday night.
A monstrous sweet tooth – Trick-or-treating
Downtown businesses will hand out candy from 3 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Participating businesses include the Acoustic Cafe, 505 S. Barstow St., and the Cameo Budget Theatre, 315 S. Barstow St., among others.
Junior Addison Miller, a supervisor at Acoustic Cafe, said employees are encouraged to wear costumes and will hand out candy that afternoon. The Cameo Budget Theatre staff will hand out candy outside the building, employee and senior Derek Parr said.
The citywide trick-or-treating hours are 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Area trick-or-treaters will also make their rounds through all of the campus residence halls from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Horan, Murray and Katharine Thomas halls will only hand out candy in the lobby.
Junior Dana Murphy said he plans to hand out candy in Governors Hall.
“I should be able to,” he said, “as long as my room’s clean.”
Send in the clowns – Halloween in the dorms
Murphy and sophomore RA Darius Anderson said they plan to play Night Games at 7:30 p.m. and attend the “Halloween Bash” at 9 p.m. with costume judging, snacks and a horror flick in Governors.
Freshmen Beth Seal and Molly Picard said they are helping to set up Sutherland Hall’s haunted basement and expect it to be scary.
“It’s just the thought of suspense, because you don’t know what’s coming,” Seal said.
They said visitors will tour creepy rooms (including an insane asylum, a clown room and one inspired by Jeffrey Dahmer) throughout the basement, and end with a bonfire and scary stories behind Sutherland.
The haunted basement is open to young children from 6 to 8 p.m. and to college students from 8 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday. Seal said the later tour’s scare factor will be “amped up” for the older crowd. Costumes are optional and admission is $2 or free with an activity pass from any residence hall.
Senior Niki MacFarlane said she has heard rumors of Katharine Thomas haunting her namesake’s hall and had an eerie experience working the night shift at the front desk.
MacFarlane said she heard heels clicking on the boys’ floor above her, but when she stopped walking, the heels stopped. They started again once she continued walking.
Though MacFarlane hasn’t actually seen a ghost, she said she does believe in paranormal activity.
“I don’t think it’s really that haunted,” MacFarlane said. “Everyone says it’s Katharine Thomas.”
Get your freak on – Dark and Sexy Halloween Party
A sexy fetish costume contest is just part of the fun at the Stones Throw’s Dark and Sexy Halloween Party on Wednesday.
Live music is in the hands of headlining band Harsh Reality, plus Apocalypse Theater, Mercy Kill, Cynergy 67 and Moom S3Z No. Senior Tiffany Cross, who will be bartending for part of the night, said there will be plenty of dark decorations and crazy costumes. Judging begins at midnight, she said.
Cross said she encourages everyone to stop by, especially since most local bars celebrated Halloween over the weekend.
“I’m expecting it to be a lot of fun just because I think it’ll be really different from other costume contests,” Cross said. “It should be interesting.”
Cross said rumors that Stones Throw is haunted might also add an interesting twist to the evening.
Who ya gonna call? – Haunted Chippewa History Tour
If dressing up and candy isn’t your thing, check out the Haunted Chippewa History Tour for a real scare. Though Katharine Thomas Hall and Stones Throw are both rumored to host spirits, Chippewa Valley Paranormal Investigators founder Chris Wiener said there are plenty of other haunted spots in the region.
In about five of the last 50 tours, tour members have spotted some sort of paranormal activity, Wiener said. Wiener is also the Western Wisconsin Area representative for the American Ghost Society.
“This area is teeming with paranormal activity,” Wiener said. “We just talk in general about the buildings; we don’t have people jumping out or anything crazy like that. You get to learn something while you’re learning about the scariness.”
Though guest appearances are not a planned part of the tour, Wiener said anything is possible. In one of the more recent sightings, he said at least 10 of the group members saw shadows moving through a basement, though no one was supposed to be inside.
The walking tour covers about a mile in downtown Chippewa Falls and lasts about an hour. The tour guides are genuine paranormal investigators who Wiener said do about one investigation per month outside of tours.
Book a reservation for the Halloween tour on Oct. 31. Wiener said on Friday the 8 p.m. tour is sold out, and the 7 and 9 p.m. tours are filling up quickly.
