By Morgan Fimreite
Halloween came early this year in Bergstrom Hall thanks to the RAs and some candy buckets hung on doors (thanks Mya, Ellie, and Kaitlyn!). However, if you were in Dr. Raacke’s class on presentation day, you might have been devastatingly shocked to find out it’s illegal to trick or treat if you’re over the age of 18. If that dampened your Halloween spirits, I have good news for you! According to the UW Madison Law School, there is no age where trick or treating is ‘illegal’ in Wisconsin, instead, the only law about Halloween states that tampering with candy with an intention to cause bodily harm is a Class I Felony (Babler, 2018). So, go ahead and get some candy, but it goes without saying that you shouldn’t be trying to harm children with tampered candy.
If you did go out on Halloween, let’s hope that the temperature was a bit warmer than the previous few weeks have been. Even if it’s cold and snowy like 2019, most of the activities in Bergstrom Hall this month have been hosted inside. The Alive Team painted pumpkins, two of which are now on display in the first floor lounge, and there was a Pumpkin Pie Self-Care night on the second floor the week before Halloween. As far as plans for Halloween go, the majority of people stayed in and watched scary movies or made their plans spontaneously. What are a few popular Halloween movies and candy, you ask? Kit Kat and Reese’s were tied for favorite candy, The Nightmare Before Christmas won against Hocus Pocus by one vote for best Halloween movie, and a cat was voted the most overrated costume, so apologies to anyone who dressed up as a cat this year and to any Hocus Pocus super-fans.
Even if the overall Halloween mood is down this year, you can find the Halloween spirit pretty easily in the halls of the second floor of Bergstrom. Besides the candy bucket on their door, Ellie and Kaitlyn had leaves cut out of patterned paper, and Mya’s door had fake leaves, a pumpkin wreath, and many more cute fall decorations. Ali and Ava’s door was home to a ghost and Lauryn and Sigrid’s door was home to many little ghosts. Even spookier, Kaylee and Laura’s door displayed some eyeballs made from pom poms. The RA’s also decorated with matching lights, which help increase the spirit of Halloween as a whole and increase the unity throughout Bergstrom Hall.
So, no matter what you decided to do for Halloween, whether it be watching spooky movies, hanging out with friends, or going to a costume party or haunted house, remember it’s legal to go trick or treating and you can find the Halloween spirit in lots of different places!
