Since trick-or-treating has finally ceased to be an acceptable college pastime—even for the more diminutive in stature—students had to create their own Halloween magic last Friday. While most of campus was active with parties, Eclectic’s annual Halloween party, the masquerade dance party at Malcolm X House, and the massive viewing of the silent Phantom of the Opera—with live organ accompaniment— provided the most popular outlets for campus enthusiasts.
Shortly after midnight, the size of the crowd on Eclectic’s lawn rivaled that of the crowd inside. Many of those in the party itself moved to the porch or left to join the growing crowd on the lawn, leaving the dance floor emptier than usual, in spite of the masses trying to gain entrance.
“When I got in, it was pretty empty, especially relative to the sex party,” said Jeremy Abrams ’05. “When I left the party, after awhile it seemed like people had stopped actually trying to get in and were just there on the lawn, maybe because their costumes were so hot.”
Most partygoers came in costumes that were generally daring and elaborate. Attire included stilts, dinosaur suits, and a number of provocative outfits not necessarily meant to represent any specific character.
Costumes that weren’t visually outrageous often relied on abstract ideas or clever word play. A girl dressed as a birthday party wore balloons and streamers, “foliage” wore leaves, and a “walking disaster” wore patches bearing the names of real-life disasters like Chernobyl and the Titanic. Abrams picked his costume, a bland UPS uniform, solely to carry out a verbal gag.
“I was a UPS guy who has a big package and delivers,” Abrams said. “I also saw a lot of robots and some people who weren’t wearing clothes but had them painted on.”
As the night came closer to an end, the line into Malcolm X House’s masquerade dance party only got longer. Emily Levy ’06 arrived at 12:30 and waited for half an hour to get in. Despite free admission to students arriving in costume before 1 a.m., Levy noticed that most people weren’t in outrageous costumes by the time she arrived. She did, however, note a few significant exceptions.
“There were these crazy people wearing just patches of cloth over their nipples, and some guy with only a shiny red skirt and his torso painted blue. I have no idea what he was supposed to be but it was striking,” Levy said. “There were people coming up to me going, ‘Emily, that’s not that crazy. This is Wesleyan.’”
The music consisted primarily of hip-hop and R&B, punctuated by such gems as an R&B version of “If I were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof. Dancing ranged from the electric slide to widespread freaking, partly encouraged by the DJ, whose comments suggested that lone female dancers were the product of a grievous lack of courage on the part of present heterosexual males.
At the stroke of midnight, students looking for something a little different than the dancing and crowds at the traditional Halloween parties came to the ’92 Chapel to screen a silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera. The show ran until about 2 a.m. and was accompanied by a live organist. According to Kat Aymeloglu ’07, the audience was substantial.
“It was surprisingly full, especially considering there was so much other stuff going on,” Aymeloglu said. “My whole hall went.”
Before the screening, costumed viewers competed for audience applause and the three most popular were rewarded with cheesecakes. Highlights included Harry Potter and a costume accented by a top hat made of pink construction paper.
According to Stephen Briggs ’07, the event’s appeal was in its cultural value and the absence of frustrating crowds and lines that characterized the night’s main parties.
“It seemed like a cultural event it would be a good idea to be part of. I mean coming to Wesleyan is a cultural experience as well as just going to classes, and it’s rare to see a live organist,” Briggs said. “I’d also seen that other parties were crowded and this was something I could get into.”
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