Duke groups plan spooktacular day

When you were little, Halloween meant costumes, repeated choruses of "Trick or Treat?" and pillowcases full of candy. But today you can celebrate the holiday with beer on points, ghost stories or a flu shot.

Campus Council will present its annual Devil's Eve carnival, this year themed "Nightmare on Devil's Eve," from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m tonight.

"We're hoping it'll make students really proud and happy we're having something on campus for Halloween," said senior Ana Pocivavsek, co-chair of Devil's Eve. "Hopefully it will be a success. I think people will have a great time."

The evening will feature performances by regional band Appetite for Destruction and student band Glass Handle and include inflatable games, a giant slide and athletic challenges. A magician will wander through the crowds on Main West Quadrangle, a tarot card reader will tell fortunes in a corner of the Gothic Wonderland, and a caricature artist will be around as well.

"A lot of people want to go to Franklin Street, but a lot of people end up not going because they have no way of getting there," Pocivavsek said, adding that Campus Council wanted to create an on-campus option for those students.

Students who do want to take advantage of Chapel Hill's famed Halloween party on Franklin Street will not have the Robertson bus to transport them.

The bus, which provides regular service between Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will make its last run from the West Campus bus stop at 5 p.m., five and a half hours before its standard stop time.

"[It's] because of traffic concerns," said Peter Murphy, assistant director of transit. "In the past years we've stopped service because a lot of roads are blocked off starting at 6 p.m. There really isn't any alternative."

Administrators encouraged students to travel safely if they choose to leave the University grounds, but they would prefer students stay nearby.

"Of course, we want to keep students close to campus," said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs. "Why would we want our students spending money by that school over there?"

For students who want a reminder of their childhood before they attend evening revelry, James B. Duke Professor of English Reynolds Price will read ghost stories at Lilly Library from 7 to 8 p.m.

During the afternoon prior to the festivities, Student Health officials will be at the Bryan Center in costume, offering flu vaccinations free of charge at their annual Halloween inoculation clinic. Students who brave the shot will be rewarded with candy.

"It's tradition," said Jean Hanson, assistant director of student health. "The reason it's particularly important for students to get the flu shot is any time you're living in close quarters, as in a dorm, there's lots of opportunity to spread illness, and flu is very easily spread."