What to do this Halloween
By Christina Ruffini
Commentary

For college students, Halloween is no longer about cute costumes and loads of candy. OK, for some it might still be about the candy, but for most, Halloween is yet another reason to go out and party. It is the one night of the year when you can step out of your comfort zone and stretch the boundaries of normality, since one little phrase can save you from the perils of social accountability: “Hey, it was Halloween!”

You may be wondering what there is to do this Halloween around Fort Worth. Excluding the obvious unofficial parties and by-invite-only events, the largest and most famous Halloween festivity is Fright Fest at Six Flags Over Texas. This program runs from Oct. 3 through Nov. 2 and includes a myriad of shows, concerts and the always terrifying actors dressed as scary creatures who follow you around the theme park. Six Flags bills Fright Fest as the “most anticipated event of the year.” Whether or not you have been waiting in anticipation since last October, you might want to head over to Arlington and check it out.

Ghoulish goblins and creepy concerts not quite your thing? For a more laid-back Halloween experience, join area cyclists for a free bike ride around Fort Worth. Riders of all ages are to meet at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Water Gardens downtown, where the group will begin their tour of the downtown area. Participants are urged to wear a costume and bring a friend. If interested more information is available at www.bikerev.org.

If being frightened out of your mind is the way you like to spend an evening, it might be a good idea to visit the best-rated haunted house in the area. The Arlington Museum of Art’s Dungeon of Doom is back for its 14th year. Held in the gloomy catacombs of the museum basement, this year’s haunted house is sure to terrify and excite. The disclaimer for the event states that children under 11 and people with heart problems are advised not to attend. Whether this is due to an earnest concern, or just a ploy to sell tickets, I don’t know. You’ll have to check it out for yourself.

Maybe cowboys and cowboy poetry are what scare you beyond the boundaries of all rational thought. If this is the case, head on down to the Woodstock of cowboy culture: the annual Red Stegall Cowboy Gathering & Western Swing Festival. Located in the Fort Worth Stockyards, this event runs today through Saturday and includes all the cowboy poets, chuck wagon contests and country music a western patron could possibly ask for. For the rest of us, what could be more frightening than middle-aged men in tight jeans, dancing and singing until the wee hours of the morning?

If you are up for a road trip you might want to hop in your car (along with four or so of your closest friends and an arsenal of flashlights) and visit the small, deserted coal town of Thurber. Thurber is considered Texas’ top ghost town. Many passersby have reported sightings of young children playing in and out of the headstones in the town cemetery. What is really behind these ghostly claims? Maybe they are the concoction of the mind of an exhausted driver, perhaps they are someone’s desperate cry for attention or maybe they have something to do with the fact that over half of all the graves in the town belong to children who died mysteriously before the age of two. Up for a mystery Scooby Doo style? Grab a group and check it out.

No matter what you decide, do something to get yourself into this holiday’s “spirit.” Even if you just rent a scary movie (new releases include “28 Days Later” and “Dreamcatcher”) and watch it with a friend, enjoy yourself. Just remember as you go about your Halloween: Don’t pick up any hitchhikers who could potentially be undead people or ax murderers; if you are caught in a scary situation the words “let’s split up” are probably not in your best interest; and when all else fails, just scream.