Things to do to make you go boo

By Eboni Lacey

As college students, it’s relatively hard to get scared. We’ve seen it all right? From stupid high school Halloween parties to those miniature haunted houses that we used to all love, there is nothing out there for college adults to truly get scared and into the Halloween Spirit. Well, maybe you should think again! According to websites, reviews and fellow peers, St. Joseph and the Kansas City area has numerous places that can and will scare even the unbelievable.

First up on the list are haunted houses. And no not miniature haunted houses but mansion size haunted houses with numerous floors, numerous people and a dark, scary, environment. Though there are currently no open haunted houses in St. Joseph, the biggest haunted houses of the Midwest reside in none other than Kansas City, MO. These haunted houses include “The Edge of Hell”, “The Beast”, “The Chambers of Edgar Allen Poe” and “Macabre Cinema.” According to the Kansas City Most Elaborate Haunted Houses Website (www.kcbeast.com), one of these haunted houses contains a 24ft 300lb python! This python is said to be the biggest living snake in captivity, according to haunted house general manager Larry Edgar. The “In Chambers of Edgar Allen Poe” house includes a nightmarish tour of Poe’s deepest poems including “The Raven,” “The Black Cat” and “Rue Morgue.” The Macabre Cinema Haunted House contains 30 complete horror scenes through a haunted 1930’s movie theater. Western sophomore Wiley Weaver discusses “The Edge of Hell” which he went to last year and plans to go this year as well.

“When you first get to the Edge of Hell they have scary people outside that chase you,” Weaver said. “You walk in and see the inside which is very ancient looking. From then on it is very dark. You see people getting electrocuted.”

Wiley also describes how he felt when the scary adrenaline hits and feels that all people should attempt to go through a haunted house at least once in their lives.
“The adrenaline you get is very fun especially when you go as a group,” Weaver said. “If you want to take a girl on a date and show that you are not scared, you can take her there. Everybody should go at least one time.”

Second on the list are scary movies of course. Though the idea of watching a scary movie on Halloween can sometimes be overly played out, this year’s movies have had numerous Missouri Western students running to the movie theaters and then running clear away from them after the movie’s ending. The first movie is called “Paranormal Activity”. This rated R movie starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong and Ashley Palmer is about a young coupl beginning a new life together in a suburban home that contains an unusual presence felt while the couples are sleeping. Sophomore Ben Pister admits that this movie scared him a little more than usual.

“It’s the scariest movie I’ve ever seen,” Pister said. “Nightmares kept me up. I would never go see it again.”

Weaver also saw this movie and concludes that the plot was the scariest factor. Though the movie was not a documentary, it was filmed portraying a real documentary, which made the reality an ultimate scare factor.

“The movie is based on a documentary with only one camera,” Weaver said. “You see everything that goes on during the day. Some of the stuff you see is pretty crazy. It’s a good movie if you are looking for a scary movie. In my opinion it’s the best one out. It is the number one movie right now.”

Another movie is “Saw Six”. In this Saw movie starring Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Shawnee Smith and Mark Rolston, the main character Jigsaw’s death scheme is finally figured out when the FBI and Detective Hoffman (played by Mandylor) close in on Jigsaw and figure out the reasons for his many killings.

Third on the list for Halloween is to discover real haunted places. In St. Joseph, there are more real haunted places than many other cities in the Metropolitan Area. One of the places is called the Carnegie Library. This library located on Massachusetts St. is said to be haunted by the spirit of a former librarian, according to www.realhaunts.com. When this library nears closing time, the books are said to start moving from shelf to shelf and people have also reported hearing footsteps. Other reported haunted places, according to the Shadowlands Haunted Places in Missouri Website, include the Glore Psychiatric Museum, the Social Parlor, the Platte City Cemetery, The Old Park Floral Building, and the Death Cellar. The Glore Psychiatric Museum was reported by several groups to have a haunted basement where an old morgue was located. According to the groups, whispers of “Help Me,” are heard around the basement walls. The Death Cellar is said to be an old cellar that was used in 1975 by a man who bought young girls there to kill slowly. All of these locations are just minutes away from the campus and the belt highway. Junior Ryan Logan, who visited the Platte City cemetery recently along with a group of friends, described how the feeling he felt was greatly unforgettable.

“It was a strange feeling,” Logan said. “It was scary because there was fog that settled on the ground. I’m never doing that again.”

The fourth and final thing Missouri Western students can do is party. College students are said to be great at partying and it is always good to stick with what you know. A Halloween party or just a party in general, can keep one excited and in the Halloween spirit. These parties can be thrown by numerous Western campus peers. Logan feels that people need to embrace the Halloween holiday spirit with more enthusiasm.

“People should welcome it as a holiday,” Logan said. “The plus is that it has a scare factor. People should go along with that.”
So, Halloween this year can be an exciting, scary or social event for any college student. There are many things to do to get involved in the creepy, dark and dreary Halloween evening. All you need is a little creativity, a few friends, and a desire to get scared and dressed up and have some fun.