Friday, October 30, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section C·Page 7
Students find chills, thrills at haunted houses in KC
by Sam Mollinger
Kansan staff writer
About this time every year, masses of University of Kansas students flock to Kansas City to get the hell scared out of them.
The Edge of Hell, the Beast and Catacombs are some of the more popular haunted houses in downtown Kansas City that attract students and others during the Halloween season.
"It's fun," said Emile Foster, Colorado Springs senior. "You can only go once a year, so it's a lot of fun, and you might as well take advantage of it."
Foster has gone to the Edge of Hell the last two years and was impressed with some of the additions to the house this year.
"There's a lot of new things this year," she said. "They had this room where you feel like it turns you upside down, and they still have the big slide."
That slide is the trademark of the Edge of Hell. It is five-stories high, and participants sit on a
piece of wax paper to cut down on friction. The Edge of Hell also features a snake cage with the largest anaconda in North America.
On weekdays, there is rarely a line for the haunted houses but waiting for the Edge of Hell can be an experience, thanks to Ratman.
"There's this guy with a rat and it's a pretty big rat," said Willie McKinnis, Lawrence junior, who went to the Edge of Hell about a week ago. "But he takes it and puts the head of the rat in his mouth and just looks at you."
Not everyone sees the rodent act as attractive.
"I think it's kind of disgusting, but everybody seems to love the Ratman," said Jean Durbin, who works at the Edge of Hell. "We tried to get rid of Ratman, and people loved him so much they threw a fit. We had to bring him back."
The houses aren't just places to watch guys put rats in their mouths. The haunted houses sometimes double as a wedding chapels. A couple is getting married at the Beast today.
Here are the addresses and phone numbers for some Kansas City Haunted Houses;
HAUNTED HOUSES
The Beast, 1401 W. 13th St., (816) 842-4280
Catacombs, 1100 Santa Fe St.,
18161474-3845
The Edge of Hell, 1300 W. 12th St., (816) 842-4279
**Devil's Dark Side, 1200 W, 121t**
*Devil's R61/761/2,500*
Dr. Deadly's, 1826 Forest St., (816)471-3323
Main Street Morgue, 1325 Main St.
St. (816) 472-6768
Transylvania,1211 Grand St. (816)474-7667
To get to the haunted houses from Lawrence, take I-70 to I-670, and take the Wyoming exit.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. on weekdays, 7 p.m. on Fridays, 6:30 p.m. on Sundays and stay open as long as people are waiting outside.
For more information, go to www.kcbeast.com or www.edgeofhell.com.
Campus pranksters may not be as mischievous this year
K-State football game expected to be a source of weekend activity
By Kelli Raybern
Kansan staff writer
It may be a quiet Halloween this year, at least as far as student pranks are concerned.
For many, pranks and celebrations will be overshadowed by the football game against Kansas State on Halloween.
Kevin Moyer, Ulysses senior and member of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity, said his chapter usually had a costume party and sometimes pulled a couple pranks on friends who came to this house — not this year, though.
"We're not doing anything this year since the football game is on Saturday," he said. "We think we're going to win, and we want to keep our options open so we can go to the bars," he said.
said Officer Matt Sarna.
"We don't expect any more business, except I'm sure we'll see a lot of loud party calls,"
Lawrence police said they wouldn't need to do anything extra for Halloween since they'd already be out in force for the game.
Sgt. Troy mailen of the KU Public Safety Office said he expected more activity to happen in relation to the game than to Halloween.
"The biggest thing right now is the rivalry between the schools, but even that has been pretty quiet," he said.
"People will probably avoid pranks with everything that's going on right now," said Kim Matthews, Overland Park sophomore and Alpha Chi
Omega resident.
For others, recent sightings of a man in a mask lurking around sororities have made pranks a touchy subject.
Even though the coast looks clear for pranks, local cemeteries will be on their guard.
Terry Engel of Oak Hill Cemetery, 1605 Oak Hill Ave., said that although the cemetery had experienced vandalism, it was not usually on Halloween.
"We haven't had any problems on Halloween night for about five years," he said. "People probably have other things to do."
Just in case, Engel said that in years past Oak Hill staff had organized an informal patrol of the cemetery's grounds on Halloween.
"This year the police are going to take that over." he said.
The police will go to Oak Hill every hour to make sure there are no problems. Engel said.
Although things look to be quiet in Lawrence for the most part, the notoriously prankish scholarship hall community may indulge in a few Halloween jokes.
Larry Gibbs, Lawrence senior and president of Grace Pearson Hall, said that Stephenson and Pearson Hall residents were traditionally pranksters.
Ethan Good, Marion junior and president of Pearson, said last year around Halloween all of the
chairs in Pearson's dining hall were piled on to one chair. He suspected another men's hall.
Jason Thompson, Hutchinson junior and president of Stephenson, said his hall had no specific plans for pranks this year.
"There are none that I've heard of, unfortunately. We're traditionally more about pranks whenever," he said. "Who knows, they may pull something on me, but I doubt it."
Maybe he shouldn't
Maybe he sabbak!
Good said that he hadn't had plans to play pranks on other halls for Halloween.
"But I might have to now," he added.
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