Matt Marble

Thursday, October 31, 2002 11Index

Halloween is here again. A sim-ple question comes to mind whenthinking of all the frightful splen-dor that is in store for many ofthose who celebrate this day of thedead: Does Halloween have anofficial symbol?

Christmas has the Christmastree. Easter has the Easter egg. TheFourth of July has the fireworks.Halloween has ... the jack-o’-lantern.

Can the jack-o’-lantern reallycompete with the Christmas tree?

Certainly. In fact, the jack-o’-lantern pos-

sibly could be the best symbol of aholiday. Don’t agree?

Let’s compare.The Christmas tree may look

warm and inviting placed neatly infront of the fireplace with finelywrapped presents nestled under itslimbs, but let’s be honest: The rea-son for liking theChristmas tree is thepresents underneath it.

Sure, it’s fun to putornaments on the tree,but is it fun to takethem off? It’s hard tofind the right boxesfor the right orna-ments, and then orna-ments are crammedinto the wrong boxes only to befound in pieces the following year.Plus, there are pine needles that getall over the carpet and inevitablystick right in the bottom of anunsuspecting person’s foot.

The Christmas tree: no contest.The Easter egg doesn’t fare

much better. It was fun to coloreggs as a child, but, honestly, didany of the Easter eggs in childhoodthat were meant to be purple everreally turn out purple? They weremore likely to come out sort ofbrownish, reddish, slightly pur-plish-if-you-held-it-in-the-right-light purple.

Was it worth staining clothesjust to have a few poorly coloredeggs to search for on Easter Day?There was always one egg that waslost, causing a search that took theentire day. The search finally wasabandoned, and the egg unveiled

Holiday symbolburns strong

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Ben Rosariofor the Index

Halloween festivities are in fullswing tonight, and social fraternityAlpha Kappa Lambda has prepareda treat for the entire community: ahaunted house.

The AKL haunted house openedTuesday night and runs throughFriday with proceeds to benefit theAmerican Cancer Society.

A few brave souls came out toopening night Tuesday despite therainy weather. Those who camesaid they were not disappointed.

Kirksville resident JasonGarlock actually went throughtwice, and called it a good time.

“I’ve been here four or fiveyears,” Garlock said. “These guysalways do a good job.”

AKL member junior AdamDearing was in charge of the haunt-

ed house this year. Dearing said heand his fellow fraternity membersstarted working on the house twoweeks ago. He said it took about 50hours to set up.

“Everybody came and did some-thing,” Dearing said. “We’re justhoping it gets bigger each year.”

This year’s haunted housebegins inside the AKL house wherevisitors must feel their way throughdarkness in a maze of black, onlyto be greeted by a surprise tooscary to reveal.

Kirksville resident Bryan Vosesaid he got lost in the maze.

“All I heard was, ‘You’re goingthe wrong way,’” Vose said.

Visitors who are lucky enoughto come out with their wits aboutthem move outside where the realscaring begins. First, they’re greet-ed by a gantlet of goblins. Thenthey head into the haunted trail ...

Ooh, but will they come out? OK, they’ll come out, but not

before experiencing fire and brim-stone, crawling through a dark tun-nel with a surprise at the end andjust an all-around spook fest.

There is one more surprise at theend of the trail, but again, it is justtoo scary for the newspaper.

In all seriousness, Dearing saidthe house is for the whole commu-nity, even little kids.

“We’re not going to give anyonenightmares,” Dearing said.

As of Tuesday, Dearing said theAKLs were trying to set up some-thing during Halloween day forkids.

At the same time, for the peoplewho want to be scared, this partic-ular haunted house should do thetrick.

“If they know you’re crazy,they’ll be crazy,” Garlock said.

Junior Skye Cobb was invitedby a friend to go to the houseTuesday night. She said she likedthe surprise at the end of the maze.

“That was really weird,” Cobbsaid. “I had never seen thatbefore.”

Cobb’s friend, Kirksville resi-dent Denise Bextermiller, said sherecently paid $20 to go to a haunt-ed house in St. Louis.

“We went to the Asylum and theMorgue in St. Louis, and this wasway better,” Bextermiller said.

Cobb said it was $4 for a goodtime.

That $4 goes to a good cause aswell. Dearing said a major portionof the proceeds will be donated tothe American Cancer Society. Hesaid the AKLs petty much just payoff their expenses and save a littlemoney for next year. The rest ofthe money goes to the AmericanCancer Society.

The AKLs have put on hauntedhouses in the past but had to put theproject on hold while their newchapter house was being built.This is now the second straightyear they have done a hauntedhouse.

AKL member sophomoreBrandyn Harmon said he expectsbig crowds for Thursday andFriday.

“Last year, Friday and Saturdaynight was packed,” Harmon said.

The AKLs did a lot of advertis-ing for this year’s house, whichmay bring in even more scare seek-ers.

Harmon said KTVO was outfilming for two hours Tuesday.

“They were cutting to commer-cial breaks with shots of the gob-lins,” Harmon said.

Dearing said they also adver-tised on the KRXL 94.5 radio sta-tion and put posters around areabusinesses.

The House is open from 8 p.m.until midnight tonight and Friday.The cost is $3 for kids 15 andunder, $4 for students and $5 foradults.

Nichole Grasch/IndexSenior Dan Caputo and graduate student Doug Reside pick a patch of pumpkinsat Rysdam’s Pumpkin Patch in Drakesville, Iowa, on Monday afternoon.

Joanna Hoag/IndexGhouls and gremlins greet visitors to the haunted house of social fraternity Alpha Kappa Lambda on Tuesday night. Thehouse still is open tonight and Friday night. Admission is $3 for kids, $4 for students and $5 for adults.

Haunted house reveals scary surprise

itself several days later by produc-ing a gut-renching smell that filledthe entire room.

The Easter egg: I don’t think so.Fireworks are next on the list.

Should the best symbol of a holi-day be the symbol that can killmost readily? Picture a family sit-ting in front of a house lightingfireworks in the street, while theneighbors hope that their roofwon’t catch on fire this year.

A brave soul approaches a tubefilled with gunpowder and variousother explosive materials, and inhis hand he holds fire. He thentouches the fire to an extremelyshort fuse, and he runs for his lifeback to the house. Nothing hap-pens; it’s a dud.

A few minutes go by, and hethen moves on to another tubefilled with deadly explosives. Justas he approaches the next firework,the dud explodes, singeing the hairoff his eyebrows and leaving himwith a look of surprise on his facefor the next month.

Fireworks: not on your life.So what about the jack-o’-

lantern? Unlike the Christmas tree,many people like it not because ofany reward hidden beneath it.Many people like it because theycreated it. Like a piece of canvas to

a painter, the pumpkinis a blank surfacewaiting to be turnedinto something. It canbe transformed from afaceless, emotionlesspumpkin into a lively,scary, happy, sad,angry, crying, laugh-ing, full-of-life jack-o’-lantern.

There are noannoying pieces of pumpkin thatfall off and cause pain. In fact, theinsides of one’s jack-o’-lantern canbe made into a delicious pumpkinpie or roasted pumpkin seeds.

A jack-o’-lantern also will neverbe lost or stain clothing like anEaster egg. Here’s an importantone: A jack-o’-lantern never willkill anyone or explode in some-one’s face like fireworks.

What other holiday symbol canfriends sit around, late at night,with all the lights off, telling ghoststories that cause a rush of adrena-line?

It’s obvious that the jack-o’-lantern deserves to be held up asthe best symbol of a holiday. Sotoday, take a few extra moments toappreciate the jack-o’-lantern, andthank it for being the perfectlyrounded symbol of a great holiday.

Joanna Hoag/IndexA criminal execution shocked visitors to the Alpha Kappa Lambda haunted house Tuesday night. The AKL house is located at 918 S. Osteopathy St.

“It’s obvious thatthe jack-oo’-llantern

deserves to beheld up as the

best symbol of aholiday.”