It’s almost time for the weirdest, wildest and most wonderful weekend of the year: Though Halloween may fall on a weekday, Kenyon is gearing up for a weekend complete with candy, ghost stories and an array of costumes sure to put the Party City inventory to shame. While many students meticulously planned their outfits weeks ago, there is still time for the stragglers among us to put together a costume sure to dazzle the crowd at every Halloween party on campus. 

Kenyon is replete with ghost stories, having been called the “most haunted college campus in America” for a number of years, and we would be remiss if we didn’t pay tribute to the architecture that contributes to the College’s eerie history. In particular, the “bullseye” fraternity lounge belonging to Delta Kappa Epsilon in Old Kenyon Residence Hall is said to be haunted by the ghost of Stuart Lathrop Pierson, a student who tragically died after being struck by a train during a fraternity initiation in 1905. Students may also be familiar with the Old K bullseyes for hosting parties and sharing the joy of music with the rest of the South Quad via speakers strategically located near the windows. If you’re looking to meld the psychological horror of haunting with the mundane horror of a bad party playlist, consider going as one of these iconic windows this Halloween. With a little bit of cardboard, string, paint and patience, this costume is sure to turn some heads and elicit some laughs — who’s to say the ghost doesn’t have a sense of humor?

If you’re really hoping to strike fear in the hearts of innocent students, look no further than the single most terrifying thing a professor can pull out come midterm season — the Blue Book exam. For the uninitiated, these exam booklets and their ubiquitous blue covers are often used to administer handwritten essay tests and are synonymous with the stress of hoping you studied carefully enough to fill the unlined pages with brilliant musings on the course material. The real challenge with this costume is sourcing the Blue Books themselves — perhaps a sympathetic professor can take pity and donate a few empty booklets to a good cause such as this. Even if you can’t manage to find authentic Blue Books to complete the look, some fishnet tights and blue accessories should more than suffice to garner extra credit for creativity this Halloween.

One of our most beloved superstitions on campus is that of the College Gates, known colloquially as the Gates of Hell. Legend has it that if you are walking with a group of people and split the pole in the center, you will cease to be friends with them. A lesser-known fact about the Gates is that a 2003 Experimental Microbiology class project found the bacteria Neisseria and Bacillus present on the stone, the former of which can cause gonorrhea and the latter includes the species that causes anthrax. Whether you’re most afraid of ruining a friendship or catching whatever diseases are currently thriving on the Gates, some gray attire and a handmade sign mimicking the current plaque will make your costume instantly recognizable to any Kenyon student. A bonus will be that everyone will avoid walking on either side of you, lest the superstition extend to the costume.

Finally, it wouldn’t be Halloween without costumes of the animal variety. The black cat may be a classic, but you can still put a Kenyon-specific spin on the original by going as Moxie, the beloved campus feline who died in July 2022. If, however, you’re more of a dog person, there are still plenty of campus canines to draw on for ideas. Perhaps we’ll see some doppelgängers of Tesla the Horvitz Corgi or Milo Kornfeld this Halloween — luckily, the annual Epsilon Delta Mu Halloween dog parade scheduled for this afternoon can provide some inspiration in that regard. 

Whether it’s your favorite holiday or you’re planning to lie low and enjoy some candy this weekend, the Collegian wishes you a very happy Halloween!