Haunted Halloween in the Mansion

It was quite a party every October 30th, while the seniors dashed around the building decorating every classroom and creating a haunted house in the basement for the middle schoolers. On Halloween, at least, ghosts and ghouls really did waft around the premises. After the decorating, the seniors and their chaperones rolled out sleeping bags and tried to sleep on couches and floors for whatever hours of night remained.

On Halloween morning, the costumed upperclassmen greeted all the other students in the front hallway with “tickets” to the haunted basement for either morning recess or lunch time. And what a variety of haunts appeared year after year! One year, for example, the entrance was a slide made up of mattresses that led down into the basement. Seniors acted as guides, ghosts, and goblins in the exhibit space. Visitors plunged their hands in bowls of “eyeballs” (peeled grapes), “intestines” (cooked spaghetti), “liver” and “heart” (animal organs from the butcher). Flashlights pointed up at the chins of wonderfully costumed and masked “creatures.” The middle schoolers shrieked, screamed, and had a wonderful time. The high schoolers got a tour after all of the middle schoolers had experienced the exhibit. To end it all, the seniors treated the whole school to piles of Halloween candy placed on the cafeteria tables. Everyone looked forward to Halloween. The seniors had a grand time dressing up, treating the underclassmen to tricks and treats, and hosting a spooky party. We all went home at the end of the day blissfully exhausted.