A ghastly, undead creature haunts one of APSU's bowls, demonstrating the mechanical and creative ingenuity of APSU students.

G.H.O.S.T. hosted creepy thrills and a fun night full of treats without tricks. Austin Peay State University student organizations and departments opened the campus to the community to give parents, and children the chance to have a safe time while trick or treating. Students stood in the twilight hours of the fading October sun, dressed in various costumes with spectacular organizational displays.

Some organizations such as the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), and Chi Epsilon Mu had costume themes. Those two groups chose vampires and pirates, respectively. Chi Epsilon Mu won the first place prize for their two-story pirate ship playhouse display, allowing members to man the tables, and the vessel in true ship-man teamwork.

G.H.O.S.T., a long-stranding tradition at Austin Peay State University, stands for Greater Halloween Options for Safe Trick or Treating, and is presented annually by the SGA on the last Sunday before Halloween between the hours of 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm.

Ahoy Mateys! Chi Epsilon Mu took home first place for their pirate playhouse again this year.

APSU has been offering G.H.O.S.T. since the program’s inception in 1996, and ever since participation has been growing and growing. And the twelfth annual G.H.O.S.T. this past Sunday was no exception according to APSU SGA Adviser Greg Singleton.

Student groups start setting up an hour early, but the advance preparation far exceeds that. Many groups with new members who have not done the event before may have to make candy runs, or borrow candy from another group. For the first time in five years, the GSA almost completed the candy giving until near the very end of the event even with an emergency candy run; it took just over twenty-four bags of candy.

Singleton, who has been acting adviser since 2007,  said, “This was probably one of the years that has the most attendance based upon feedback we received from student set up boxes for the children. We know for a fact almost 2,000 people were here yesterday, including 1,600 children because we distributed over 1,600 books.”

GSAers James Butler and Melinda Aceae pose for the camera. Melinda created the coffin the group used to house the Pumpkinhead body stuffed with candy.

There have been no incidents at G.H.O.S.T. as Singleton stated public safety patrols the area, which is filled with staff members and students.

When asked what G.H.O.S.T. brings to the community table in the overwhelming success of the program, Singleton said, “I think it provides children an environment to have safe trick or treating in a safe atmosphere. Our campus provides services to the community where children can go and it’s in a safe, controlled environment.”

For APSU student organizations who wish to participate, they must fill out a G.H.O.S.T. registration packet, that now appears on the website in the Fall semester. Only the second year that the forms have been provided online, the G.H.O.S.T. packets are available at the following URL: http://www.apsu.edu/sga/, and must be returned by the SGA deadline to the Office of Student Affairs.

My friends and I lived for Barnabas Collins. He could bite my neck anytime. Quentin (a younger dashing vampire) was cute, but I always had a ‘thing” for older men, especially ones with fangs. Canadian actor Jonathan Frid ( right), with his angular features, deep dark eyes and those oversized eye teeth, created the aloof, romantic master of the house.

Hauntings on Dark Shadows began about six months into the series, and skyrocketed to popularity when Frid made his appearance as a vampire about a year into the show, which arrived on the soap scene in 1966.

The story begins with the beautiful young governess, Victoria Winters, arriving at the mansion to serve as governess to young David Collins. Carolyn Collins, daughter of the family, is a wild one, a party girl out of control. Her father Roger suspects he is the target of a murderer, and the handsome Burke Devlin — protagonist, antagonist — has arrived in town.

The stage is set, and the romp begins, with werewolves, witches, warlocks, time travel, parallel universes, and of course, lots of cobwebs and shadows and secrets. Many of its actors played multiple roles as the storylines overlapped and folded over each other.

A body is found floating in the waters below Widow’s Hill, the ghost of Josette appears, and the wailing of ghostly women can be heard from the previously mentioned Widow’s Hill. The series blatantly jumps into immortality with a Phoenix rising, and then comes the turning point: Barnabas, emerging from his coffin after 200 years, searching for the re-incarnation of his beloved Josette. the series exploded into public consciousness.

Charges of witchcraft, the occasional murder, rampant hauntings, ghostly gatherings, lycanthropy and time travel move characters and stories back and forth through time and mythology, sucking in viewership with every groundbreaking TV step, that, in true soap fashion, made every daily episode a “cliffhanger.”

The show ran five years and every episode is available on DVD for home viewing. Actors such as Johnny Depp were inspired by the Jonathan Frid portrayal of Barnabas (you can see the influence in some of Depp’s roles). Frid brought a Shakesperean background to the role and it showed in diction, movement, and his characterization.

The show is a cult classic with a Star Trek-like following that holds conventions and gatherings, and sustains websites to keep Dark Shadows alive and thriving. And the timeless Barnabas could still come bite my neck anytime.