One of the holidays that we college students don’t get as excited about as we used to as kids is Halloween.
I mean, most of us are so poor after paying for classes and textbooks that we can’t afford a costume, especially if we’re only going to wear it for one night. And if we want candy, we can get it from the cafeteria, bookstore, or any of the several different vending machines around campus… It’s not free, but it’s still cheap, and it’s less work. I mean, seriously, how can you get excited for this holiday when you don’t even get the day off?
Well, there are actually lots of reasons to get excited about Halloween; if you’re a student looking for a spooktacular good time this year, here are three fun things you can do to get your spook on.
1. Ghostly Walks
One of the most exciting traditions we have in Victoria are the famous Ghostly Walks, put on by Discover the Past. These walks, which happen all year, invite scare enthusiasts to take a walk around downtown Victoria to visit all of the scary places around town.
The tours take people to visit places such as our former Maritime Museum, which is the oldest post-confederation courthouse in BC. It is allegedly haunted by infamous hanging judge Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie and some of the condemned prisoners who were tried, sentenced, and hanged in the courthouse or on the surrounding grounds.
Another stop is at Wind Cries Mary restaurant. If you have a killer sense of smell, you might smell the cigars of the ghost named Brady who got into a bar fight in the restaurant; the fight claimed his life on a night he was to meet his girlfriend for dinner so, naturally, she haunts the place as well (your killer sense of smell will notice her perfume).
Wherever you go, these tours across our city are guaranteed to leave you spooked.
2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show screening
Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of Jim Sharman’s classic adaptation of Richard O’Brien’s play but I cannot deny that this little cult move has a massive fanbase. I mean, it’s so famous that it has its own traditional screenings in move theatres that sell out every Halloween night, and deservedly so.
Sure, we’ve had proper Halloween movies before (John Carpenter’s first Halloween movie has its own Halloween screenings that also sell out pretty fast) but let’s face it: The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the weirdest Halloween movie we’ve got so far. It’s a perfect fit to one of our wildest holidays. From Tim Curry’s hilariously wacky performance to its tribute to the B horror move genre, this movie is one Halloween event that people get excited for every year.
3. Horror movie night
I admit that I’m not a huge horror movie fan. I mean, I’m the kid who, after watching a double feature of John Carpenter’s Halloween and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, pushed his bookcase in front of his bedroom door to keep all the psychopaths out!
Even so, I’ve got to say that most of my Halloween nights are spent watching some of these classic flicks, whether it’s witnessing Michael Myers go on his latest killing spree in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois in the Halloween movies or watching Jack Torrance torture his wife and child by running all over a haunted hotel with an axe shouting, “Here’s Johnny!” in The Shining, these moves are always a great time, especially during Halloween night with the lights out and a hot bowl of popcorn in my lap.
BOO!