There are several Halloween celebrations in the Hampton Roads community, all of which are affordable and fun ways to get into the Halloween spirit. Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream events are in full swing. Among the attractions is a haunted locomotive Transylvanian express, Fiends in the Festhaus, Haunted House, Dracula on Ice, the Starfright Orchestra, and No Escape from Pompeii. “I went last year with a couple of friends, and the haunted house was the best! So scary!” said freshman Sarah Vreeland. If traveling up to Williamsburg isn’t feasible, the Virginia Beach Amphitheater is putting on Fright Fest, which begins at dark on the Amphitheater grounds. The Wicked Woods, an X-Treme Halloween 3-D Scare Venture, haunted house, carnival rides, fortune tellers, concessions, and wandering ghosts are all part of the two-week celebration. For people craving a more sophisticated, expensive Halloween experience, they should travel to downtown Norfolk for “Definitely Downtown for Halloween.” Halloween night, TCC Plaza at Granby Street and College Place and throughout downtown will be transformed into 27 blocks of spookily stylish decor, featuring live music and Halloween surprises. A costume contest will culminate the night’s festivities, with prizes awarded to both individual and couple costumes.

A number of organizations sponsor haunted walk-throughs within the Hampton Roads area. There’s a Haunted Trail through Beaverdam Park in Gloucester, courtesy of the town Parks and Recreation, and another in Sandy Bottom Nature Park that concludes with hot dogs and hot cocoa. The Haunted Forest at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens boasts over 45 different scenes and over 200 live actors who enjoy interacting with the guests. Lots of classic horror movie monsters and villains are brought to life here. Haunted hayrides are great Halloween entertainment for both couples and large groups. Hunt Club Farm off London Bridge Road is a local favorite, taking guests on a hayride through the Cornfield of Horror, the Haunted Woods, Village of the Dead, and Field of Screams. Northwest River Park in Chesapeake runs a Ghost Train that takes guests on a tour of terror through its very own Haunted Woods. The Virginia Beach Zoological Park puts on “Terror at the Zoo,” featuring a Maniac Maze where guests are given 3-D glasses and walk a haunted trail. The zoo also offers Gravenhurst Manor, a haunted house. Other Haunted Mansions are located at the Oceanfront and the Smithfield Jaycees’ Chapter House. The Spooky Acres Haunted House between Smithfield and Suffolk is a 200 year-old farmhouse with two floors of spooky characters and decorations. “Superstition Night” at the Adam Thoroughgood House lets visitors walk through candlelit rooms, listen to local ghost stories and search for the infamous “witch of Pungo.”

Haunted Harbor Park, the largest haunted house in Virginia, promises to be a “high intensity, super scary dark attraction” by the Hampton Roads Tides. It is a guided tour through the catacombs and below the seats of Harbor Park. Concerts are also scheduled on or close to Oct. 31. Alice Cooper is performing at Fright Fest at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater on Oct 17th. The NorVa has three shows with Halloween undertones. On the 26th there’s an 18-and-up costume party featuring local band Right On and a costume contest. On the 31st Iggy Pop and a special surprise guest will perform. And on the second of November, 96-X is putting on a Punk Halloween Party, celebrating the Misfit’s 25th anniversary with guests Marky Ramone and Robo and Dez of Black Flag. Costumes are encouraged. Sometimes just taking in a good scary movie is enough to put a body in the mood for candy corn and pumpkin carving. New releases include ‘Joy Ride’ with Paul Walker, ‘From Hell’ starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham, and ‘13 Ghosts’ and ‘American Nightmare,’ which will both be out in time for Halloween. Of course classic horror flicks cannot be forgotten, among those in the Top 10 Horror Movies of All Time; “Psycho,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and ‘The Shining.” For those fearing change, most of the local bars and clubs around school, down at the Beach, and in Norfolk have planned their own Halloween events with best costume contests. So whether you party off campus or in the privacy of your own home, at Howl-O- Scream or a haunted house, with so many choices for celebrating Halloween, you’re sure to find one quite bewitching.

According to the American Cancer Society, 239,300 women will get breast cancer by the end of the year and 40,200 of the women will die of it. Breast cancer will also affect 1,500 men, resulting in 400 deaths. The National Lee Denim Organization has been trying to do its part to decrease these numbers. Lee Denim Day was held on Friday, Oct. 5, where people across the nation were encouraged to wear jeans to show their support for breast cancer awareness. The Virginia Wesleyan chapter of the Lee Denim Organization participated in this by having a silent auction in late September and a bake sale on Friday, Oct. 5. According to Elaine Aird, assistant director of business operations and member of the Lee Denim Organization, they met their goal for the day. “Our goal for the silent auction and the bake sale was to raise $2001, and we did it,” said Aird. “I’m going to say we raised around $2100.” Fellow business office employee and partner in Lee Denim Day, Amy Niblick, feels that the day is important and should be done every year. “This was the third year doing this,” said Niblick. “We think it is a worthy cause that should be done each year.” Breast cancer is a disease that affects many people. Aird commented on the number of people who approached her during the bake sale about how they had been affected by breast cancer.

“Young students would come up to us and say they had grandmothers and aunts with breast cancer,” said Aird. “Everyone who came up to the table had a story about someone they knew with the disease.” Kim Brown, mailroom employee and Lee Denim Day participant, has recently been affected by breast cancer. Last summer, her mother found she had breast cancer. This past July, the disease took her mother’s life. “She should have gone to see the doctor, but when she did, it was too late,” said Brown. “That’s why it is important for girls to get checked early, especially if it runs in the family.” Health services nurse Mary Gerriets feels that it is important for younger females to get checked early for breast cancer. “The younger a female starts doing self breast exams, the more it becomes a habit, a good habit,” said Gerriets. Director of Health Services, Linda Tisdale, also feels checking for breast cancer early is extremely important for young women because breast cancer is very deadly. “Young women can get breast cancer,” said Tisdale. “Cancer usually grows faster when you are young. The younger the female is, the more deadly the cancer.” Many people go a very long time without knowing that they have breast cancer. Peggy Savin, 58, is a fifth grade teacher who went to several doctors before knowing that she had cancer in 1988. “I was sitting in bed one Sunday morning. I was lying in bed and I noticed that the lump on the right was really high,” said Savin. “It felt like a mosquito bite or something.”

She went to a doctor the next day where the doctor told her that she should be more worried about the left breast. After two and a half years, the doctors did not find anything. Savin visited a surgeon after this. “The surgeon did a needle biopsy and called me later that day to tell me I had cancer.” Savin went through six months of chemotherapy and 36 radiation treatments, which still haunt her with a cough from the treatments. Savin gave some tips for women and men to help. “I never had any pain or anything to tell me I had breast cancer,” said Savin. “This is why it is essential to do self exams. If you don’t know how to, get a doctor to teach you. Also, get a yearly exam.” The health services office will teach those who do not know how to give themselves a breast exam how to give themselves one. Student Misty Parker feels that health services should offer exams to those at more of a risk for breast cancer. “Maybe if they did the exams at night time when the adult studies students were here,” said Parker. Gerriets replied to this comment with a parable. “Its like the parable of the loaves and the fishes. If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day; if you teach a man to fish, he will eat for the rest of his life,” said Gerriets. “If you teach someone to do a breast self exam every month, they can do it forever.”