SPOTLIGHT: HALLOWEEN

 

If you ask anyone that goes to WSU if their favorite holiday changed from before they went to school here and after their first year, I can almost guarantee it did. I can also guarantee that if it did change, their new favorite holiday is Halloween. Halloween at WSU is equivalent to Cabo during Spring Break. There is just no better place to be. I have friends from every other school in Washington including people from UW that have traveled here for “Halloweekend”. People at other schools (Ahem…UW) like to bash WSU for large amounts of drinking and partying, which we really don’t do more than any other school, but whatever. My point is that I have never heard anybody from WSU say “I think I’m going to go back to the west side for Halloween. I heard UW is having some sweet parties.” Even though I like to drink and party as much as the next guy, there are times when I need to change it up a little and the Palouse has a couple options for those who would like to experience something different on Halloween. Two great options for people that want a true Halloween experience are Scarywood and The Haunted Palouse.

 

I think it’s best to start out with the more local option, The Haunted Palouse. This is an event put on every year in Palouse, Washington that has become very popular with both WSU and U of I students. The main attraction for this event is the Haunted Hay Ride where you are loaded into a hay wagon and driven through the woods. During this ride, actors who are dressed up as zombies jump out of the woods and run after the wagon or jump out from behind trees. Although I have never experienced The Haunted Palouse, I have talked to some of my friends about it and they enjoyed it a lot. Also, at the event are two haunted houses. I also talked to my friends about these and they said that the haunted houses were slightly disappointing, but still fun. The entire thing costs $15 which gets you three tickets. One for the hay ride and one for each haunted house. With the relatively inexpensive price, I would definitely recommend going with a group of friends. I’m sure you’ll need at least one night off of drinking so why not?

 

For many people that live in Spokane or go to school in Eastern Washington, Scarywood is the biggest event in the fall. The popular theme park, Silverwood, is transformed into a Halloween themed park with some new attractions that they don’t have regularly. Their two main attractions are Blood Bayou, which is their main haunted house, and Zombiewood Express. Zombiewood Express is a 45 minute train ride that takes you all around the park while the tour guide and “zombie hunters” lead you though the park. I went to Scarywood 2 weeks ago, but the lines for both Zombiewood Express and Blood Bayou were at least two hours each so I decided to skip them and try the other attractions. Since I didn’t go on the ride, I can’t legitimately comment on whether it was worth it or not. I do have a friend who I’ll call Michael, because that’s his name, that did go on the ride and said it was pretty uninteresting; and the only thing that made it somewhat enjoyable was that the tour guide was pretty funny. So take from that what you will.

 

 I was able to experience a lot of other great attractions instead. The haunted house cleverly named, 3-Dementia, was pretty awesome. Before you walk in they give you a pair of 3-D glasses so you can take in the full experience of the haunted house. Right when you walk in, you are hit with some really crappy, but strangely catchy rave music. This plays the entire time while you walk through the house painted with 3-D paint and images. There are actors inside dressed up as various monsters and zombies that jump out and scare you. If you don’t like being scared then I would recommend just watching the group in front of you to see where all the actors are hiding. Although, if you don’t like being scared, I have no idea why you spent $40 to go to Scarywood. I don’t want to give too much away, but I thought that it was pretty enjoyable and relatively scary for a haunted house.

 

Another ride that way pretty fun was the roller coaster “Timber Terror”. The cool thing about this wooden roller coaster was that you did the entire thing facing backwards. It really does make the ride 10 times more thrilling when you can’t see what is coming up. This is especially fun for people who have never been on the ride before (such as myself), but it is also a nice change for people who have ridden it before. It was definitely my favorite attraction at the park.

 

Even though I wasn’t able to experience, first hand, all the things I mentioned in this article. I think you should be able to get a good idea of a couple of the activities that are offered during Halloween. Hopefully this can convince you that drinking heavily is only one of the many activities you can experience on the Palouse during this time of year.