Halloween Happenings Start to Brew
Lyceum Academy students put on haunted house
It’s haunting time again.
As events gear up around the Wilmington area for Halloween spooks and ghouls, one haunted house is aiming to create lessons for a group of students that last beyond October 31.
For months, the students of New Hanover High School’s Lyceum Academy has been going over themes and script ideas for their Haunted House, an annual student project that not provides creepy scares but also gets the teens working on the project as a team.
Students work on the event, from building sets to keeping tabs on budget to promoting the attraction.
“The Lyceum program in general tries to give them a whole-world experience. When (they) put on a haunted house, it’s not just getting dressed up,” says parent Heather Kelejian, whose daughter is a junior and working on the haunted house for the first time this year.
A change in venue this year – the house had been in a creepy former barracks near the port – pushed the timetable back some, and the teens in recent weeks have been busy constructing walls and painting backdrops.
From costumes to promotional poster art, the students are expected to take an active role in the planning for the event, which is a fundraiser for the college prep program.
Kelejian says about 160 juniors and seniors are in the Lyceum Academy, which operates as kind of a school within a school at New Hanover High. She says students who work on the haunted house “buy in” ten hours of work on the project and then start getting compensation for the hours they put in after that.
The money is kept in an account by the school, Kelejian says, and students can use it toward group trips throughout the year in conjunction with the program such as a retreat that was earlier in the school year in Pamlico County where they worked on team-building exercises and a diving/snorkeling trip to Florida during spring break.
Opening night for this year’s Lyceum Academy Haunted House is October 17, and the theme is “Twisted,” a take on the Alice in Wonderland classic tale. Held in an abandoned warehouse at 1290 South Fifteen Street, the haunted house is open October 17-19, 24-26, and 30-31, 7 p.m.-midnight except on Sundays when hours are 7-10 p.m.
Tickets are $10 for the attraction, described as PG-13.
Here’s a look at other Halloween events coming up in the area, according to the Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau:
Murder Mystery Dinner Cruises – Each Tuesday in October (7, 14, 21, 28): Solve a who-dunnit on a two-hour dinner cruise along the Cape Fear River. Boards at 6 p.m., departs 6:30 p.m. at dock (Water and Dock streets). 343-1611, (800) 676-0162; www.cfrboats.com
Wilmington Horror Story – Each Friday and Saturday (October 3-November 1): Horror-themed dinner show. Doors open 6 p.m., and show at 7 p.m. TheatreNOW, 19 South 10th Street, 399-3669; www.theatrewilmington.com
Halloween Horror Theatre Festival – October 9-12, 16-19, 23-26, and 29-31: Presented by Big Dawg Productions. Shows at 8 p.m. Original shows written by local playwrights. Cape Fear Playhouse, 613 Castle Street, 367-5237; www.bigdawgproductions.org
Poplar Grove Plantation Halloween Festival – October 17-19 and 24-26: “Haunted” Wagon Rides, Haunted Manor House, costume contests, non-scary Goblins & Games Fun House with fortune tellers, stories, rides, petting zoo, food, and more. Poplar Grove Plantation, 10200 US Highway 17 North, 686-9518, www.poplargrove.org
Science Spooktacular – October 18: Meet UNCW mad scientists and create a mini lava lamp, slime, pumpkin Oobleck and more at the 6-9 p.m. event. Cape Fear Museum, 798-4350; www.capefearmuseum.com
Trick-or-Treat Under the Sea – October 23-24 and 29-30: 5-8:30 p.m. Indoor trick-or-treating, face painting, story-telling, magic shows, spooky divers, and haunted gardens. North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, 458-8257; www.ncaquariums.com/fort-fisher
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – October 23-26 and October 30-November 2: Cape Fear Shakespeare presents the classic tale by Washington Irving. Historic Hannah Block USO/Community Arts Theatre. http://wilmingtoncommunityarts.com/Frontpage-Events/legend-of-sleepy-hollow.html
Halloween Ghost Trolley & Barn – October 24-25 and 29-31: Kid-friendly 30-minute horse-drawn trolley ride and a fun spoof in the “haunted barn.” 251-8889; www.horsedrawntours.com.
Kooky Spooky Jam-Boo-Read! – October 24: Kids’ literacy event disguised as a street festival with scary stories and non-scary fall-theme activities. Children’s Museum of Wilmington, 254-3534; www.playwilmington.org
Fort Fisher Fall Festival & Haunted Trail – October 25: Fall festival 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Haunted Trail 7-9 p.m. (for ages 10+). Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, 458-5798; www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/fofi/main.php
Halloween Musical Matinee – October 26: Introduce kids to the WSO youth orchestra and junior strings. www.edu.wilmingtonsympohony.org/youthconcert
Batty Battleship’s Halloween Bash – October 28: 5:30-8 p.m. Family-oriented event for little ghouls and goblins. Battleship North Carolina. 251-5797; www.battleshipnc.com
Phantom of the Opera – October 30 & 31: Gaston Leroux’s romantic mystery thriller by City Ballet. Friday evening gala includes a masquerade ball with optional masks and elegant attire. Thalian Hall, 632-2285; www.thalianhall.org
Halloween Movie Night – October 31: Bring a chairs, blankets, coolers, and candy for a scary screening of Hocus Pocus (7 p.m.) and Psycho (9 p.m). Bellamy Mansion, 251-3700; www.bellamymansion.org
Trick-or-Treat at the Mall – October 31: 4-6 p.m. Kids arrive in costume, and retailers provide candy. Independence Mall, 392-1776; www.shopindependencemall.com
