Halloween is a team favorite in The Wright State Guardian office, and when fall rolls around, things get spooky.
From carving pumpkins to getting scared at haunted houses, everyone on the Guardian staff has their own spooky season traditions they look forward to every year.
“Although everything is scary, I think it [Halloween] actually brings people together a little bit,” said the Guardian Business Manager Dylan Collison.
Halloween gives people a reason to get together and plan activities that they wouldn’t normally get the chance to do.
Many members of the Guardian team look forward to Halloween because it means going to haunted houses and mazes with their friends.
“I go to 4,000 different haunted attractions, starting in September, and they’re all the same,” said the Guardian Editor in Chief Sarah Cavendar.
Cavendar has gone to Land of Illusion every year since seventh grade and she loves to see how the event has grown.
While some members of the staff love “getting the shiz scared out of them,” according to Collison, others are not about that life.
“I get scared really easy so I never go to haunted houses because I’m always the one that they pick on the most because I always look terrified,” said the Guardian Social Media Manager Shelby Prenger. “I really like pumpkin patches, apple cider and petting zoos.”
Prenger loves watching scary movies with her friends but definitely not by herself.
“I love watching them in a group with my friends because we kind of make fun of them all the time and then I’m not scared,” said Prenger. “But then after the movie I’m terrified. I’m laying in bed with all the lights on like ahhh.”
One of the best parts of Halloween is the fun and cozy atmosphere that it brings.
Alexis Wisler, the wright life reporter for the Guardian, loves how the holiday brings the family together.
“One of my favorite Halloween traditions is to carve pumpkins with my friends and family,” said Wisler. “I really love when we roast the pumpkin seeds afterwards and eat them while watching a scary movie. Every year I look forward to the roasted pumpkin seeds, they’re probably my favorite part about the Halloween season!”
Many members of the Guardian staff have fond (or not so fond) memories of past Halloweens.
“When I was little, my mom held a Halloween party every year for all of the kids in my cul de sac,” said Jamie Penwell, the Guardian copy editor. “But one year my friend’s dad decided to chase all of us small children with a chainsaw as a prank, so the tradition kind of died after that and I’m terrified of chainsaws now.”
Halloween is still Penwell’s favorite holiday though, so she celebrates every year by dressing up and going trick-or-treating. This year, Penwell and her boyfriend are dressing up as ‘the birds and the bees.’
Natalie Cunningham, a news reporter for the Guardian, has special Halloween traditions of her own.
“Every trick-or-treat night, my mom would make a huge pot of chili and a huge pitcher of hot spiced apple cider and I’d throw a Halloween party for my friends after we trick-or-treated and we’d play Just Dance on the Wii and eat candy all night,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham and her friends still carried on the tradition into high school by dressing up, passing out candy and playing Just Dance. Now she and her roommates decorate the apartment and watch scary movies. Cunningham loves scary decorations and the opportunity to get scared and scare other people.
What do you and your friends do to get in the Halloween spirit?
