thePULSEWhere to find Halloween happenings in Worcester and beyond…
By Susan Dewey
October 2003 – The area’s best costumes and decorations, parties with $1000 prizes, great music, free food and more!
Remembering Brookfields Murder
There’s something about this part of the world and Halloween. Maybe it’s just Massachusetts — after all one of the things the state is most famous for is the ancient Salem Witch Trials when 19 people were either hung or crushed to death beneath piles of rocks for supposedly practicing the Devil’s arts on sweet Massachusetts maidens. Worcester County has it’s own share of spooky legends and scary stories…like the one about Bathsheba Spooner of North Brookfield who in 1778 convinced her lover and his pals to kill her husband and dump him in the family well.
That same year the pregnant Bathsheba was hung on the gallows before thousands of excited ghouls in Washington Square, right in front of Worcester’s Union Station. She was the last woman ever to be executed in Massachusetts. Maybe that’s why today’s rotary in Washington Square is so deadly…
Our Famous FrightCatalog.com
Bet you didn’t know that Worcester is also home to a VERY famous Halloween mail-order business called the FrightCatalog.com…which was described in a 2000 article in the Wall Street Journal as the best Halloween website in the country. We’re not making this up and if you haven’t checked out the Fright Catalog before getting your costume this year, you should be hung.
Before deciding what you want to be for Halloween this year, you should also visit Worcester’s other Halloween claim to fame, the Halloween Outlet on West Boylston Street (which moved from Park Avenue three years ago). The Halloween Outlet, which opened its doors in 1990, is owned by the same family that dreamt up the Fright Catalog.
We called Mark Arvanigian, the 30-year-old born and bred Worcesterite who is happily running the Fright Catalog from Barber Street, appropriately behind Higgins Armory, another marvelously strange, magical Worcester place where you can see real knights in shining armor and all kinds of other legendary, medieval treasures. (If you want to learn how to wield a REAL sword before Halloween, Higgins Armory gives classes in fencing.) Arvanigian, who went to Shrewsbury’s St. John’s, says his family’s $2 million catalog business fills 500 orders a day from August through Halloween.
“We mailed out 150,000 catalogs this year,” Arvanigian says, noting that the company has even developed their own product line, Morbid Industries, which imports products from places like Sri Lanka and China.
Arvanigian says that this year, costumes inspired by the Jason and Freddie, “Nightmare before Christmas” and “Matrix” movies are especially hot. Kobe costumes and other somewhat “untasteful things” will also probably be hot, Arvanigian says…..but probably the biggest seller is the Fright Catalog’s Zombie costume.
Arvanigian’s sister Nicole who runs the Halloween Outlet with her sister Christine says that working in such a place is a blast. “It’s fun helping the customers put their costumes together – and also I like working with my family,” says the 24 year old Nicole, noting that her big dream is to “see us have stores nationwide and be known worldwide.”
If you check out the Fright Catalog’s website you will see why this Worcester business is breaking all kinds of records….there are so many creepy, crawly, ugly, sexy, scary costumes, books, lights, masks, make-up and more that there just isn’t room to describe them all. But don’t miss the “10-Skull Candelabra” ($89) — or the “Bad Skin & Robbins Mask” ($19.99)…and then there’s the “Bone Saw” for $4.99, or my personal favorite, the vinyl and lycra “Cat Suit” for $49.
No matter what you want to be on this night when we all get to indulge our secret fantasies, log on to Fright Catalog.com, call 1-888-4-FRIGHT or stop by Worcester’s Halloween Outlet .
Spooky World’s 13th Season
Of course, Spooky World, covering 60 acres behind Foxboro Stadium, is probably our area’s best-known Halloween attraction, located just down Route 495 a ways. And since this is the theme park’s 13th year, all kind of bad things are reportedly planned for October and All Hallows Eve.
At the entrance to the park there will be a Halloween Festival with carnival rides and the park’s haunted house, Elvira’s Nightmare Mansion full of “grisly secrets and scary sights.” Spooky World’s web site says this is a “Five Skull Attraction”, as is their “highest caliber of circus entertainment” the Krazy Killer Klown House. The park has four other haunted houses including the House of Fangs, the 3D Haunted House and the Spirits of London walk.
And then there’s what’s identified as Spooky World’s “number one attraction” (we’ve all got to see this one) Mouse Girl. There are 3 Halloween museums, a gift shop and a Monster Midway featuring food and games. The real Jason from the “Friday the 13th” series is rumored to be making an appearance there this year…
Spooky World is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from October 3 to November 1. The park opens at 6 p.m. No tickets are sold after 10 p.m. Tickets are $23.50 and can also be purchased at www.TICKETWEB.com.
If you’re looking for a place to take a haunted hayride once you get dressed up, Witch’s Wood’s of Nashoba Valley up the other way on 495, offers hayrides, a nightmare mansion and a “keeper crypt” where you they say you can commune with “the living dead”. We’ve never been there, but according to the website, the park is located in a deep, dark wooded place where a coven of witches once met to practice black magic…..
Like Spooky World, Witch’s Woods is quite expensive….$18 for adults. The park is open Thursday through Sunday, evenings through October including Halloween night. The park opens at 6:30 p.m.
Downtown’s costume parties….thousands of dollars in prizes!
If you don’t feel like driving and want to get your Halloween fun closer to Worcester, there’s all kinds of club parties, movie screenings, neighborhood goings-on and more. At the famed Lucky Dog Music Hall on Worcester’s Green Street, the Deadites Secret Twilight Society will hold their annual Halloween show, which is always a big event. According to the description on the Social Web, “the Deadites….are known to pack New England clubs with their own brand of electronic dance music…dancing, sweating, killing Zombies and having fun.” The Deadites party will go on from 8:30 to 2 a.m. on Halloween night.
Dave Domenick, Worcester’s “King of Clubs” who runs the big Atrium Complex, the elegant Art Bar and the brand new Sh-Booms, has all kinds of festivities planned for Halloween. Domenick says that all three downtown Worcester clubs will hold “Best Costume Contests” at midnight with some hefty, $500 prizes awarded at the three locations. We also talked to Shaun Smith who is running the new Sh-Booms on Worcester Center Boulevard. “Some of the costumes we get here every year are unbelievable,” Smith says, noting that Sh-Boom’s is always “packed” on Halloween. The new Sh-Booms, which will feature re-formatted music in 3 snazzy new, music rooms (rock, R&B/Reggae/hip-hop and Top 40), will be open Halloween night for 19-plus girls and 21 and over guys for the regular cover charge of $5.00.
Parking is right upstairs in the parking garage for $4. And speaking of cars, don’t miss the new antique cars on display, some of which Smith says have been chopped and put on the wall….
On the other side of the city, Jillian’s at 315 Grove Street is also planning a big bash this year. Paula Kwiatowski, regional manager, tells us that Jillian’s is busy planning “a great Halloween this year.”
Kwiatowski says the very popular, local band Probable Cause will be playing at the snazzy pool hall/club/bar from 10 p.m. to the wee hours. There will be also be a costume contest sponsored by Jillian’s & Coors Light. And how’s this for a big incentive… a $1000 cash prize will be given for one, over-all best costume.
All the judging will be done by mystery judges, so everyone who comes to Jillian’s will be entered in the contest automatically. Kwiatowski says the judging will be between the hours of 9 to 11 p.m, with the winner announced at midnight. There will be additional prizes awarded by Coors Light for the scariest costume, cutest costume, most original costume and the most wicked costume.
Shrewsbury Street’s Halloween Blockbuster!
Shrewsbury Street will be buzzing more than usual on that Halloween night when four bars, The Flying Rhino, Jeff’s, Zipango and Bottom’s Up will join forces for the second year in a row with a big blockbuster of a party. Paul Barber, the energetic owner of The Flying Rhino says cash prizes over $1000, plus additional promotional prizes, will be given to several contestants. “Contestants need to visit each of four clubs between 9 p.m. and midnight,” says Barber, explaining that the winners, who will be checked out by judges at all four clubs, will be announced at The Rhino at 12:30.
“Each place on the street will have DJs and music,” Barber continues, noting that last year there were over 300 contest entries. “This year we’re hoping for over 500 contestants,” Barber says. “We had so much fun last year – the whole street came alive.” For information on the Shrewsbury Street bash, contact Jeff at Jeffs, Paul at the Rhino, Jeff at Bottom’s Up or Pat at Zipango’s.
Party early at Tavern Bash
Of course there are lots of Halloween-time happenings outside the city limits, but one of the biggest we know about is on the Brookfield-side of Worcester. (Maybe poor Bathsheba will make an appearance!) You can get a jumpstart on your Halloween festivities with one of the largest costume parties west of the city when Brookfield resident Brian Silva will hold his 5th annual Halloween Bash at the Ye Olde Tavern on Route 9 in West Brookfield from 8 pm to 1 am on Friday, October 24.
At Silva’s bash you can join hundreds of other Halloween junkies and enjoy live music by two popular local bands including Uncle Billy’s Smokehouse performing 70’s inspired rock with an original twist, and Blubein who Silva says “fill the air with funky grooves and psychedelic jams. Both bands play just the right mix of originals and cover tunes to keep the crowd moving.” Silva also says that J Thomas and DJ Mati will be on hand to mix-up some beats and keep the dance floor hopping during the set breaks.
Costumes are required at Silva’s bash and prizes will be awarded to the best three. The event is 21 plus and there is a cover charge of $5 with your own costume, or $8 if you need to be provided with a costume.
Dress up at Centerfold’s!
On the other side of Worcester, Centerfolds 2000 in North Oxford, “the gentlemen’s gentlemen club” known for a hot line-up of scantily clad ladies, will ask customers to dress up for their annual Halloween Costume Contest. Customers who come in costume will get free admission and enjoy a “wicked good party” including a complementary buffet. For information, call Centerfolds at (508) 987-5222.
Of course, no Halloween would be complete without a screening of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, the cult classic that will never die. The Clark University Film Society will hold a special FREE midnight showing of the film at the Jefferson Academic Center, 950 Main Street, Worcester.
Photos from top to bottom:
1. A mural of Bathsheba Spooner from the Worcester Courthouse
2. Photo by Dan Vaillancourt, Costume from Haloween Outlet
