The candied apple—that shiny, cherry-red treat—was never actually meant to be edible.

Candymaker William Kolb first made them in 1908 as a window display for his Newark, NJ, confectionary shop. At the time, he was experimenting with red cinnamon candy to sell at Christmas and decided the glazed apples would be an enticing way to showcase his sweet. Kolb speared apples with sticks, dipped them into the glaze, then arranged them in his display window.

To his surprise, passersby wanted to buy the apples, so he sold them at five cents apiece. The crackly creations were soon selling by the thousands, before becoming a circus staple and boardwalk treat—and then a part of Halloween history.

These days the mirrored red orbs are still popular at the height of apple season. You can get them all over town, from Kilwins in Fells Point to pretty much any local grocery store. And while you can sometimes find them drizzled with chocolate (or their caramel cousins coated in nuts), the original stop-sign red apples at Woodlea Bakery, pictured above, have remained unchanged since the store first opened in 1943.

Most recipes for the glaze contain the same ingredients—a mix of water, corn syrup, sugar, cherry flavor, red food dye, and cinnamon—but Woodlea sets itself apart by using high-quality fruit.

“We buy fresh apples from the orchards,” says Charles Hergenroeder, the fourth-generation owner of the Baltimore bakery. “Once peaches roll out and fresh apples arrive in the first week of October, we start making apples. We get them from local orchards like Shaw, Baugher’s, or Susquehanna.”

In season, Woodlea sells some 80 apples a day between the original location in Gardenville and their second shop in Bel Air.

“Of course, the week of Halloween, we sell a lot more,” says Hergenroeder. “The adults buy more for themselves than for their kids.”

Since its debut in 2009, the Baltimore Rock Opera Society (BROS) has become known for its fantastical performances that often incorporate elements of sci-fi, action, gore, and horror. So it might come as a surprise that the troupe has never put on an actual Halloween show.

“It feels like it’s been a long time coming,” says BROS artistic director Aran Keating. “There’s always been a close affiliation with BROS and Halloween. The art around Halloween just matches so well with the core of what we try to put on stage.”

It wasn’t until one of the BROS recent “pitch parties”—in which the company invites the community to submit their original rock opera ideas—that the group was inspired to explore the possibility of producing a show tied to the spooky holiday.

“This is our take on Halloween attractions,” Keating says. “It’s not a haunted house, it’s not a magic show, and it’s not a theatrical show. It’s some sort of combination of all those things. You come in and you’ll have a seated experience in this sort of creepy, old museum.”

The Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture downtown will be the venue for Lurid Happenings: A Night of Mischief and Devilry, which runs October 26-28 with a special performance on Halloween night. Each evening will feature an early performance at 7:30 p.m., followed by a later show at 9:45 p.m.

The story follows The Amazing Allerdyce, played by local actor Rex Anderson, and his peculiar assistant Sinifredo, played by magician Lucas Gerace, who have recently returned from a globe-trotting exploration of the dark arts. Incorporating magic and audience participation, the show promises to “test your fears, and perhaps even provide a little guidance from the spirits just beyond your vision.”

“It’s about the depths of human desire,” Keating explains, being careful not to reveal too many details. “Where does following those desires lead you? And what types of unsavory turns might you take? It explores the ways it can all go wrong when people band together and human nature takes over.”

Though the summer’s Incredibly Dead was billed as the BROS’ final performance of 2018 and they normally just host a Halloween party, Lurid Happenings felt like a nice way to expand on those festivities.

“We all wanted to do something more than just throw a party,” Keating says. “We’ve experimented with little scripted narrative performances that happen at those parties, but it never gives us full access to an audience’s attention. We really want to take you through something that grips you.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a BROS Halloween event without dancing and drinks. Each evening will feature a party in The Peale Center’s top-floor gallery space where attendees can sip cocktails and enjoy interactive entertainment while jamming to live music from local rockers Quattracenta October 26-27, Voodoo Pharmacology on October 28, and HexGirlfriends on October 31. The reception is set to begin after the first performance of the evening, and it will be open to audiences of both shows.

While Keating is looking forward to closing out the year with Lurid Happenings, he is also excited for what’s to come in 2019. Aside from planning new productions (he teases an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure rock opera as a possibility for next year), the company is preparing for a big move.

Thanks to a crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $75,000 after the society was forced out of its former headquarters inside the Bell Foundry building in 2016, the troupe is finally closing in on a new permanent home.

“There is really good news on the horizon,” Keating says. “We don’t have all the dots together yet, but we’re very much in the process of this big transformative moment where we can really put down roots.”

From costume contests and concerts to Halloweekend bar crawls and devilish dance parties, celebrating Halloween is tons of skele-fun for everyone—not just for the kids. So leave your little monsters at home and check out these Baltimore events for a holiday celebration full of booze, boos, and witch’s brews.

Creepy Crawls

Federal Hill-O-Ween: Creep and crawl over to Federal Hill’s 10th annual Halloween tour-de-bar on October 27 from 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Drink your way through 14 of Federal Hill’s spookiest saloons and take advantage of the drinks deals, including $3 Miller Lites, $4 Blue Moons, $4 Leinenkugel’s Harvest Patch, $5 mixed drinks, and shooter specials. If you don’t go, it may haunt you forever.

Baltimore Halloween Crawl Fells Point: Calling all ghouls, ghosts, and goblins! Mark your calendars for the official Fells Point Halloween Crawl on October 27 from 1-9 p.m. A $12 ticket gets you a haunted mug, cover-free access to nearly a dozen Fells Point bars, food promotions, and an entry into a raffle to win prizes. Drink specials include $3 beers, $3 rail drinks, and $4 haunted shots. They’ll also be prizes for the best dressed participants. South Broadway

Power Plant Live Baltimore Horror Story: Creatures of the night unite for Baltimore’s biggest Halloween party at Power Plant Live on October 27. Pre-order a $5 ticket for access to all 11 bars and nightclubs, including Mosaic, Luckie’s Liquors, and Rams Head Live, and each bar will represent a different season from American Horror Story. The event will feature a costume contest with over $10,000 in prizes and a DJ spinning the spookiest tracks. 34 Market Pl., 410-727-5483

Supernatural Soirees

Power Plant Live! Halloween Rally: Start your Halloweekend early at Power Plant Live’s 6th annual Halloween rally. On October 25 from 10 p.m.-1 a.m., there will be an epic rave complete with live entertainment, confetti cannons, a photo booth, glow sticks, and tons of other spooktacular fun. General admission is $35 and includes five drink tickets, good at over 10 Power Plant bars and restaurants. 34 Market Pl., 410-727-5483

Rocket to Venus: This annual Halloween costume ball returns for its 12th year on October 27. DJ Ghoul Guy and Creepy Worm will spin tracks from 10 p.m.-2 a.m., and there will be cash prizes and drinks specials all night long. The costume contest judging starts at 1 a.m., so bring your ghoulfriends and zombaes and get ready for a scary good time. 3360 Chestnut Ave., 410-235-7887

Hollywood is Dead Party: Check out The Owl Bar’s Hollywood is Dead Party on October 27 from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Come dressed as your favorite dead celebrity and be ready to boo-gie at this spirited shindig. The event will feature a DJ playing party tunes, a costume contest, and tons of food and cocktail specials that you won’t want to miss. The cover charge is $5. 1 E Chase St., 410-347-0888

A Very Wicked Affair: Baltimore nonprofit HASA will host a Halloween-themed event at Boordy Vineyards on October 26 from 6-9:30 p.m. The $85 ticket includes bottomless wine, a fall harvest menu, live music by John Silver, and a commemorative wine glass. And the proceeds will benefit children and adults through HASA’s interpreting, educational, and therapeutic services. 12820 Long Green Pike, Hydes, 410-318-6780

Lee’s Block Party: Celebrate Halloween with 20,000 free oysters at the 6th annual Shuckin’ in the Street festival. The block party goes from 12-10 p.m. on October 27 and features performances by DJ Nick Paros, Crushing Day, and Honey Extractor. There will also be a costume contest with a $1,000 prize. Get access to the event with a $10 donation at the door—a portion of the proceeds go to Kennedy Kreiger & The Chesapeake Oyster Recovery Partnership. 2844 Hudson St., 410-327-2883

Monster Melodies

The Glow Ball with Dos Santos: Do the monster mash at Creative Alliance’s annual costume dance party. The festivities start at 8:30 p.m. on October 27, and Chicago-based quintet Dos Santos will be taking center stage. Pre-ordered tickets are $13, and tickets at the door are $16, so get ready for a night of dancing and debauchery. 3134 Eastern Ave., 410-276-1651

Halloween Baltimore: Believe in Music and the Maryland Science Center are back with their annual Halloween extravaganza on October 27, featuring a diverse lineup of musical guests playing on seven unique stages. The acts include Dan Deacon, Natural Velvet, Prismatic, DJ James Nasty, Electric Love Machine, and many more. There’s also a costume contest with the first prize winner claiming a $1,000 prize. 601 Light St., 410.685.5225

Halloween Costume Party: Eat, drink, and be scary at The Windup Space’s Halloween bash on October 26 at 7 p.m. The $10 cover charge will get you access to tons of live entertainment, including performances by Ca8al, Kit & The Chardonnay Boys, AM I DEMON, Voodoo Pharmacology, and Rooney’s Shoe. 12 W North Ave., 410-244-8855

Halloween at the Symphony: Listen to the banshees belt and the sirens sing at this Halloween-themed musical event. Starting at 6:30 p.m. on October 26, the event will feature a costume contest with prizes, access to backstage tours, light fare and candy, as well as musical activities. Tickets are free for BSO members and their families and are $15 for non members. 1212 Cathedral St., 410-783-8000

Mondo Baltimore Halloween Bash: Celebrate Halloween’s spookiest screenplays at The Windup Space on October 27. The event is from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. and will feature the Mondo Baltimore Band, covering cult classic bad movie tunes, as well as clips from classic Halloween flicks to get the party started. 12 W North Ave., 410-244-8855

Halloween Happenings

Bike Party: Halloween Ride!: Gather your friends on October 26 for the scariest bike party of the year. From the Incredible Hulk and Spiderman to Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn, this Halloween hangout will surely attract all of Baltimore’s muscle-y monsters. The ride starts at 6:30 p.m. 600 N Paca St.

AVAM’s Free Fall Halloween Celebration: Boos and ghouls of all ages are invited to the American Visionary Art Museum’s Monster Mash-Up Workshop on October 30. From 4-7 p.m., visitors can create boo-tiful paper monsters, and the Halloween-day festivities are free of charge. 800 Key Highway, 410-244-1900

Fells Point Ghost Tours: There’s no better time to get to know Baltimore’s haunted history than on Halloweekend. Learn about Charm City’s supernatural past, share spooky tales, and maybe even see a ghoul or two in historic neighborhoods Mt. Vernon and Fells Point. 731 S. Broadway, 877-293-1571

Harry Potter Halloween at Johnny’s: Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s famous fantasy novels, Johnny’s in Roland Park is transforming into a wizardly wonderland on Halloween night. Come in costume to order spooky specials—in addition to the regular dinner menu—from servers decked out in Hogwarts-inspired attire. In keeping with the theme, the evening’s treats will include butterbeer cupcakes, Dragon’s Breath macarons, Troll Boogie bonbons, and more. 4800 Roland Ave. 410-773-0777

Halloween is our annual opportunity to step outside of our normal selves and embody someone (or something) else for a night of revelry. Whether you’re aiming for spooky, silly, or sexy, we’re of the mindset that the best place to source your best festive look isn’t Amazon or Party City. If you’re willing to dig a little deeper, vintage shops are a treasure trove of inspiration and unique pieces that will bring any look to life. We asked local vintage mavens to put together costumes pulled from their racks and give us hot tips on shopping used for a memorable look.

“A costume doesn’t have to be blatantly obvious—explaining the gist of your idea to people can be half the fun,” says Sara Autrey of new Charles Village vintage mecca Get Shredded Vintage. Autrey’s “Eccentric Yacht Couple” couples’ costume, is the perfect example of that sentiment. On their own, each of the pieces can be worn in normal life for an on-trend nautical look or worn all together, with a sprinkle of wanderlust attitude, the costume comes to life.

Looking to party hard this All Hallows Eve? The Halloween queens at Milk and Ice Vintage have you covered. “Don’t hesitate to ask the owners at a vintage store if they have any ‘wounded birds,’ meaning cool vintage that’s not for sale because it’s flawed in some way,” says Kate Thomas, who co-owns the store with Angie Gavin. “You can often get super rare and more interesting one-of-a-kind pieces at a discount, and you don’t have to worry about damaging them if you’re out partying!”

Once you’ve got the basics of your holiday ‘fit picked out, the last piece of the puzzle to a successful costume is all in the attitude. “The key to pulling off a DIY costume is going all out,” says Morissa Rothman-Pierce of Bottle of Bread. “Go the extra mile and paint your face. Roll around in a pile of dirt if you’re being Pigpen. Just go wild, because Halloween is an excuse to be your wildest self.”

We asked our favorite vintage owners from Get Shredded, Keepers Vintage, Bottle of Bread, and Milk and Ice to style (and model!) some of the best potential Halloween looks in their stores.

Les Miserables
Oct. 9-14. 12 N Eutaw St.. $54-199. Two years after the end of its second Broadway revival, this Tony Award-winning musical will come alive on the hallowed Hippodrome stage during a six-night stint in Baltimore. Rediscover the timeless story of love and redemption in this updated production presented by famed British producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh. With an iconic soundtrack, including “I Dreamed A Dream” and “On My Own,” and an intricate set inspired by creator Victor Hugo’s original artwork, this rendition of the timeless tale will leave audiences wishing the show lasted one day more.

---

AVAM’s Parenting: An Art Without a Manual
Oct. 6-Sept. 1, 2019. American Visionary Museum, 800 Key Highway. Free-$10. The American Visionary Art Museum considers parenting to be “humanity’s most essential performance art,” and, for the next 11 months, will showcase work that explores the experience of parenting and being parented. This highly anticipated exhibition features a wide range of pieces by 36 artists, including locals such as Francisco Loza, Bobby Adams, and Chris Wilson (“Momas Boys,” pictured).

---

Made in Baltimore: Short Film Festival
Oct. 6. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.. 7:30PM. $10. With hometown auteurs such as John Waters and Barry Levinson, this city certainly has film in its DNA. During this one-day extravaganza at the Creative Alliance in Highlandtown, celebrate the city’s up-and-coming directors, producers, editors, and actors with screenings of 12 short films that view the world through a uniquely Baltimore lens. Revel in the chance to view works by the next generation of area filmmakers and join fellow cinephiles to applaud the talented winners who take home the night’s top prizes.

---

Doors Open Baltimore
Oct. 6-7. Location varies. 1PM. Free. For one weekend, get free access to more than 60 of Baltimore’s architectural wonders, along with lectures and guided tours of local historic structures and neighborhoods. During this fifth annual tradition, stop by tourist attractions such as The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House and the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory, or delve into more recent, lesser-known additions such as the mid-century modern Highfield House landmark designed by architectural revolutionary Mies van der Rohe. Whether you stop into one spot or turn the building hop into your entire afternoon, take advantage of this weekend’s open-door policy and explore the city’s hidden gems.

---

Baltimore Beer Week
Oct. 12-21. Location and prices vary. It’s no secret that Charm City’s beer scene has exploded over the past decade with more new breweries, beer-centric events, and homebrewers than ever before. During this nine-day celebration of all things hoppy and frothy, check out annual brew week events such as the Baltimore Beer Legends Hall of Fame at the Mt. Washington Tavern, the Maryland Brewers Big Wheel Race at Max’s Taphouse, and endless pairings, new releases, and tap takeovers across the city. Prices vary, baltimorebeerweek.com.

---

Oysterfest
Oct. 13-14. 36 E Cross Street. Free-$100. As the oft-repeated quote goes, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.” The owners of Ryleigh’s are no strangers to the one-of-a-kind delicacy, and they’re hosting their 12th annual oyster festival just in time for the official start of the R-month season. Stop by the Federal Hill bar and restaurant for two days of al fresco local brews, live music, and tons of mouth-watering mollusks. Be sure to stick around to watch some of the region’s best shuckers compete in the annual competition on Saturday afternoon.

---

Immigrant and Refugee Food Festival
Oct. 14. Canton Waterfront Park, 3001 Boston St.. $15. With the motto #BreakingBarriersByBreakingBread, this food festival celebrates the diversity of the city’s dining scene with dishes by some of the best immigrant and refugee chefs in Baltimore. Spend the afternoon at Canton Waterfront Park sampling authentic eats from local vendors such as Cocina Luchadoras, Man Vs. Pho, and Thai Street, listening to live performances by Madagascan band BeMaeva and DJ Nikilad, and catching an appearance by Maryland Democratic primary candidate Krish Vignarajah.

---

Baltimore Running Festival
Oct. 20. $55-270. Lace up your sneakers for the city’s most anticipated race of the year. Whether you’re trying out the 5K or taking on the full marathon, join more than 17,000 runners in circling the city and seeing picture-perfect views of the waterfront along the way. For the first time in its 17 years, the finish line will be at the Inner Harbor, where participants and spectators alike can celebrate a successful run with food, drinks, music, and family-friendly activities.

---

Maryland Science Center & Believe in Music Halloween 2018
Oct. 27. 601 Light St.. 8PM-1AM. $35-75. Halloween music doesn’t have to consist solely of “Thriller” and “Monster Mash,” and the Maryland Science Center and local nonprofit Believe In Music are hosting an all-out dance party to prove it. Across seven stages featuring Baltimore musicians, prepare to dance with headlining electronic artist Dan Deacon, sing along with folk legend Caleb Stine, rock out to post-punk group Natural Velvet, and wander throughout the center’s exhibits in your finest costume.

---

The Great Halloween Lantern Parade and Festival
Oct. 27. Patterson Park at Eastern & Linwood Aves.. 3:30PM. Free. It’s not truly Halloween in Baltimore until this glow-in-the-dark spectacular takes over the hills of Patterson Park. Each year, on the last Saturday in October, the city green space transforms into a family-friendly festival, complete with lantern-making classes, hayrides, and local beers, followed by the sunset illuminated parade featuring artists, musicians, and dancers in a park-wide procession.

---

As fun as Halloween is, it can also be stressful. Thinking of that perfectly spooky yet witty costume to simultaneously impress and terrify your friends can be a challenge. Whether you’re a Party City groupie or an avid DIY crafter, your makeup choice can make or break your costume. We asked local beauty experts Hannah Walker and Emily Boulin to give us four step-by-step makeup tutorials that will leave you feeling ghoulishly glamorous.

Scar Face

What You’ll Need:

• Mehron Makeup Rigid Collodion
• Mac Cosmetics Pink Lip Pencil—any light pink color will do
• Ben Nye Neutral Set Colorless Setting Powder
• Mac Cosmetics Concealer—any concealer will work as long as it matches your skin tone

Step 1: Draw your scar with a light pink lip pencil.  You can make this line a little thicker and darker, by going over it a second time. Gently “smudge” the line with your finger so that the pink isn’t too bold. 

Step 2: Apply one layer of rigid collodion to the line you have created.  Repeat this step 5-10 times until you have reached your desired scar depth. Make sure to allow time for the rigid collodion to dry in between applications. 

Step 3: Apply translucent setting powder with a brush onto your scar.

Step 4: Using a brush, apply a tiny amount of concealer to the outside of the scar and begin to blend the concealer into your skin to camouflage the edges by using your finger or a brush. 

---

Final Cut

What You’ll Need:

• Ben Nye Nose and Scar Wax
• Vaseline
• Makeup Spatula
• Ben Nye Zombie Wheel
• Ben Nye Coagulated Blood (prefer to use scab blood) 

Step 1: Scoop out a small amount of product—a little goes a long way. Before applying the wax to your skin, dip your fingers in a little bit of Vaseline.

Step 2:  Begin smoothing out wax on skin carefully.  Overtime you will need to reapply a small amount of Vaseline to your fingers.  Don’t worry too much about the mound in the middle, as you smooth out the edges you’ll take some of that mound away.  However, if you feel that you have applied too much modeling wax, you can use a spatula to remove excess product from the edges.

Step 3:  Apply a small amount of Vaseline to a flat spatula and begin to create a cut in the middle of the mound of modeling wax.  Wiggle the spatula back and forth to create more of an opening, if necessary. Flatten out edges of cut with fingers.

Step 4: Use a red cream paint to paint your cut to add some depth. You can use some translucent powder to take away shine from the modeling wax. This will make the wax look more like skin. For added effect, you can add coagulated blood.

---

’80s Cartoon

What You’ll Need:

• Urban Decay Electric Palette
• NYX Cosmetics glitter glue
• NYX Cosmetics gold pigment
• Pink glitter from Michael’s
• Lime Crime Mermaid Palette Highlighter
• Sticker sheet from Michael’s 

Step 1: Take a pink liner and draw a geometric inspired by ’80s cartoon Jem and the Holograms shape on each side of your face and fill in each shape with neon pink eyeshadow.

Step 2: Marry your geometric shapes into your previous eye makeup by connecting them with the neon pink eyeshadow and blending.

Step 3: Apply glitter glue on top of your geometric shapes and plink glitter on top. 

Step 4: Apply gold pigment beneath your bottom lid to add dimension and shine and use a fashion-toned highlighter wand swipe through cheek bone area.

Step 5: To embellish, add stickers to make any of your added designs easily applied, unique, and removable.

---

Burn Out

What You’ll Need:

• Liquid latex
• Skin Illustrator Starter Palette
• Ben Nye Zombie Wheel
• Ground Coffee
• Toilet Paper (1 ply)—can use tissue paper
• Vaseline
• Mehron Coagulated Blood Gel

Step 1: Prep hair that may come into contact with liquid latex by applying a thin layer of vaseline, in this case eyebrows and hairline.

Step 2: Apply liquid latex in thin layers and allow time to dry in between each. Once the final layer is applied, use a makeup spatula and fingers to tear holes into the latex.

Step 3: To give my burn some texture, add a few different mediums into the latex. Add a layer of liquid latex wherever you want to add your medium. While that latex is wet, add your medium (in this case, it’s coffee beans).Then add later of latex on top of beans.

Step 4: While this layer of latex is still tacky, begin to pull the latex apart to get holes and depth of the wound. Use toilet paper to give the illusion of charred skin. Repeating the steps you did for the coffee beans: Apply a layer of latex where you want to add toilet or tissue paper. Apply the paper and then a layer of latex over top. Before the latex and paper dries completely, begin to use your spatula or finger to rip holes in the latex.

Step 5: Wait for latex to completely dry before painting. Take your paint palette and fill in holes and edges of latex with dark brown color. Smudge colors around to make the wound splotchy and uneven by using fingers sponges or brushes for the edges of the latex.

Step 6: Take a red color and paint over everything—again the color can be splotchy and uneven (that’s what we are going for). Begin to fill in holes with darker colors: purples, blacks and browns. Be sure to use a cream paint in a red color around your eye area since alcohol activated paints can sting. You can also use your red cream paint on the wound itself to make areas brighter than others.

Step 7: Real burns have a lot of moisture. You can achieve this look by adding Vaseline or lubricant to the wound. Feel free to add some scab or coagulated blood for extra effect. 

Whether you’re dressing up in costumes, taking the kids trick-or-treating, or carving pumpkins for your front porch, you’re never too old for Halloween. In Baltimore, there’s something for everyone during this spooky season, so make the most of October with theater performances, fitness events, live music, and kids’ activities. 

DEADLY DANCE PARTIES

10/26: WTMD’s Halloween Spooktacular

In partnership with local horror film extraordinaire Chris LaMartina, WTMD presents this Halloween bash complete with costumes, poetry, a séance, and, of course, local music. The live broadcast will feature area artists covering familiar Halloween jams, including The Lexington Arrows performing “She’s Fallen in Love with a Monster Man,” The Lushpockets reinterpreting “I Put a Spell on You,” Eze Jackson taking on “Haunted House of Rock,” and more. 1 Olympic Place, 8-11 p.m., $15-17

10/28: Believe in Music & Maryland Science Center’s Halloween
Come dressed to impress for lots of live music, local beer, and scientific fun on the harbor. This year’s lineup includes local acts Black Sage and Bond St. District, as well as Weezer, Allman Brothers, and Old Crow Medicine Show tribute bands. Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St. 8 p.m. $35-70

10/28: Glowball

After the kids are tucked in, head to the Creative Alliance to hit the dance floor with afrobeat headliners Underground System at this annual party following the Lantern Parade. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., 9:30 p.m., $10-13

10/28: Star Wars Cosmic Cantina Party
This Halloweekend, don your best Darth Vader or Princess Leia getup and head to Showroom—the new cafe and bar inside Motor House in Station North—to dance the night away at an all-out cosmic celebration. The galactic-themed party will feature beats by DJs Isabejja and and Alexander Jarman, as well as a special performance by local R&B queen Cas Mackenzie. 120 W. North Ave., 6 p.m.- 1 a.m., Free, 410-637-8300

10/28-10/30: Rocky Horror at Blue Pit BBQ
Get out of your seat to do the time warp at this spirited drag performance in Hampden. The weekend-long fundraiser for local organization Youth Empowered Society also features a nightly costume contest at midnight. Blue Pit BBQ & Whiskey Bar, 1601 Union Ave., 443-948-5590

10/28: The Hallowiener Doomtacular: Evil Science Summit
Party all night with The Baltimore Rock Opera Society (BROS), which is taking over the Ottobar yet again for this science fiction-inspired soiree featuring live tunes by The Lushpockets, Manners Manners, Well Pain Scientist, and DJ Pancakes. Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St., 8 p.m., $15, 410-662-0069

10/28: Federal Hill-O-Ween

Shake your bones at multiple Federal Hill bars (think Mother’s, Wayward, MaGerk’s, and the like) at this annual pub crawl. Boo-zy drink specials will include $3 Miller Lites, $4 Blue Moons, and $4 Leinenkugel’s Harvest Patch cans. Multiple locations including 1113 S. Charles St., 5 p.m.-12 a.m., $10

PETRYFYING PERFORMANCES

10/13-11/5: The Woman in Black
This Gothic thriller, set in the English countryside, comes to life in Fells Point. Fells Point Corner Theatre, 251 S. Ann St. Times & prices vary.

10/21: The Addams Family Burlesque and Variety
Head to the Ottobar for this sexy show featuring Fester, Morticia, Gomez, and other creepy and kooky characters. Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St., 8 p.m.,410-662-0069, $15

10/26: The Stoop in the Dark
Stoop Storytelling presents tales of the unseen, unknown, and untold in a completely dark theater. The Senator Theatre, 5904 York Rd. 8 p.m. $2.

10/27: Burlesque-A-Pades Halloween Spooktacular
This NYC burlesque troupe celebrates the scary season with a show full of thrills and chills. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 8 p.m. $22-25

10/27-11/25: Little Shop of Horrors
Pet plants turn deadly in this comedic, science-fiction horror story. Vagabond Players, 806 S. Broadway. Times & prices vary.

COSTUMED CARDIO

10/14: Zombie Zoom
For five bucks, wrap yourself in toilet paper (or whatever costume you crave) and run to support Baltimore City Recreation & Parks in this scenic 5K. Gwynns Falls Trail, 4921 Windsor Mill Rd., Gwynn Oak. 8 a.m. $5

10/28: KidsPeace Trick-or-Trot
Join the Baltimore Orioles for this dress-up 5K run or 1-mile walk to support kids in foster care. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 333 W. Camden St. 8 a.m. $35-40.

KID-FRIENDLY FRIGHTS

10/26: Toddler Time Halloween
Dress up your tykes for this B&O Railroad Museum bash, offering kid-friendly crafts, treats, train rides, and a costume parade around the museum. 901 W. Pratt St., 10:30 a.m., 410-752-2490, $12-18

10/27-29: ZOOBOOO!
The local zoo transforms into a frightfully fun affair with costume contests, trick-or-treating, bounce houses, carnival games, and more. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1 Safari Pl. Fri.-Sun. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free-$19.

10/28: Spooky Science
Spend your afternoon with scary experiments, slime-making workshops, and a pumpkin roof-drop. Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St. 12-4 p.m. Free-$28.95.

10/28: BOOseum Bash

The kids’ museum hosts an afternoon of creepy-crawly creatures, Halloween music, and a costume parade. Port Discovery, 35 Market Pl. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free-$15.95.

10/28-29: Witches & Wizards Weekend
Learn about the magic of railroads with train rides, edible potions, and quidditch games for the kids. B&O Railroad Museum, 901 W. Pratt St. Times vary. Free-$18.

10/28: Great Halloween Lantern Parade & Festival
Bring the entire family to enjoy lantern-making, live music, crafts, hayrides, and food truck fare before the 18th annual procession steps off from Patterson Park after sunset. Patterson Park Pulaski Monument, 3:30-8 p.m., Free.

10/28: SoBo Halloween Bash

Head to Riverside Park to celebrate the haunted holiday with friends and neighbors at this annual event featuring live music, crafts, beer and wine, and its own book nook. Riverside Park, 1800 Covington St., 1-5 p.m., Free

10/28: Trick or Treat at the Market
Bring the kiddos to collect treats from participating merchants at Lexington Market’s annual event, which will also feature live music, pumpkin decorating, and live cooking demos from Chef Egg. Lexington Market, 400 W. Lexington St., 2-4 p.m., 410-685-6169, Free

10/29: Trick or Treat for Tots
Come in costume for this self-guided adventure around the Robinson Nature Center, highlighting music, crafts, live animals, and healthy treats from MOM’s Organic and David’s Natural Market. Robinson Nature Center, 6692 Cedar Lane, Columbia, 410-313-0400, $5-10

10/29: Trick or Treat at the Square
Dress up your little monsters for this fan-favorite Halloween soiree at Belvedere Square, which features pumpkin decorating, trunk-or-treating, goodies from the market’s merchants, a “Thriller” dance lesson, and, of course, the annual costume contest. 529 E. Belvedere Ave., 410-464-9773, 1-4 p.m., $5 entry for costume contest. 

10/29: Trick or Tape
Nineties nostalgics will get a kick out of this fun screening that features special Halloween VHS tapings of Doug, The Simpsons, and Garfield with vintage commercials intact. The evening’s quadruple-feature lineup will also highlight It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and Disney’s 1986 made-for-television movie Mr. Boogedy—which starred Charm City’s own John Astin. New America, 429 N. Eutaw St., 4:30-7:30 p.m., Free, 443-388-8576.

10/30: Sugar Skull-Making with Artesanas Mexicanas
Bring your little monsters to make sugar skulls with the Creative Alliance for Día de los Muertos. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 158 N. Linwood Ave. 3:30 p.m. Free.

STARTLING SIGHTS

10/6-11/4: The Nevermore Haunt
This Charm City-inspired haunted house tells the story of mangled factory workers and vengeful sailors. The downtown attraction offers free shuttle service from the corner of Thames and Ann streets, so be sure to swing by one of the Fells Point bars beforehand for a little liquid courage to calm your nerves. 450 Mott St., 410-696-3313, $25

10/6-10/28: Watermark’s Historic Ghost Walk
Tiptoe across the creaking floors of the historic Sands House—one of the Annapolis’ oldest homes—on this creepy ghost tour, where costumed guides lead you around the capital’s most haunted sites. Tour departs from Historic Annapolis Museum, 99 Main St., Annapolis, 410-268-7600, $14-22

10/7: A Toast Among Ghosts
Honor the life and legacy of Edgar Allan Poe in this former cemetery where the iconic poet once applied to be headmaster. With the Foundation for the Baltimore County Public Library, enjoy live music, local beer, food trucks, and ghost story readings for a good cause. Baltimore County Public Library, Reisterstown Branch, 21 Cockeys Mill Rd., Reisterstown, 7-10 p.m., $20-40

10/13-11/5: CarnEVIL
 Witness Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods transform into the ultimate Halloween carnival, complete with escaped circus animals and creepy clowns running around the menacing midway. There will also be plenty of fair foods, local Jailbreak brews, and spine-chilling cocktails to go around. Merriweather Park, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, 6-11 p.m., $21-63

Mysterious Ways
Oct. 7-Sept. 2, 2018. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Free-$16. There is something intrinsically mysterious about art—the way its creator’s inspirations or intentions are partially hidden in the lines, curves, and crevices of the work’s colors and composition, always holding more than meets the eye. Even after spending hours at an art museum or gallery, we always leave with a little something left to the imagination. This month, the American Visionary Art Museum unveils a new exhibit dedicated to that very theme—mystery. Drawing on mystery writers, theoreticians, poets, psychics, and even astronauts, The Great Mystery Show delves into that one secret power behind great art, science, and sacred pursuits. Through more than 250 works, this fantastical show takes viewers on a search for truth, both personal and universal, through colorful sculptures, celestial illustrations, and even one larger-than-life candy depiction of Edgar Allan Poe. From October 7 through September 2, 2018, revel in the strange and wonderful, and ultimately embrace a mystifying notion: Maybe some things are meant to remain a mystery. 

---

Tomás Saraceno
Oct. 1-Jul 22, 2018. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr. Wed.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. 443-573-1700. Next time you walk into the BMA, be sure to look up. For just about 10 months, the ceilings and walls of the recently renovated East Lobby will be adorned with futuristic installations by Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno. Get lost in his immersive, iridescent works that evoke giant bubbles, spider webs, and clouds in a clash of beauty and strength. After, explore the rest of the museum, as more of his works will be on display in the European Art galleries. 

---

KESHA
Oct. 6. The Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. 8 p.m. $174-316. 301-960-9999. It’s been a long road for pop sensation Kesha, but after an ugly break with her former producer Dr. Luke and a new album climbing the charts, the singer-songwriter is headed back to the top. The L.A. native has just released Rainbow, her first album in nearly five years, with its righteous lead single, “Praying,” that launched to critical acclaim. Celebrate Kesha’s comeback at the Fillmore with old hits such as “Die Young” and “TiK Tok,” and new favorites featuring a newly empowered voice you might not even recognize. 

---

Pigtown Festival
Oct. 14. 700-900 Washington Blvd. 12-7 p.m. Free. 443-908-7038. Baltimore is known for its races­—Toilet Bowls, Preakness, and, for one Saturday afternoon, the Pigtown Festival’s annual Squeakness. Watch the piggies go for the gold, with live music, food trucks, craft beer, and arts and crafts in the South Baltimore neighborhood.

---

The Color Purple
Oct. 17-22. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. Tues.-Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m., Sun. 1 & 6:30 p.m. $42-199. 410-837-7400. It’s not often that a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel can be transformed into a smash-hit Broadway musical, but The Color Purple took the theater world by storm thanks in large part to its magical score. A lively combination of gospel, jazz, ragtime, and blues music breathes new life into Alice Walker’s triumphant coming-of-age story about a group of African-American women in the rural South during the first half of the 20th century.

---

Baltimore Running Festival
Oct. 21. Locations & times vary, starting at 7 a.m. $15-280. 410-605-9381. Whether you’re a recreational jogger or diehard runner, grab your sneakers and hit the streets during the city’s 16th running festival. From team relays and 5Ks to half and full marathons, there’s something for everyone in this run around town.

---

The Rocky Horror Show
Oct. 26-31. Motor House, 120 W. North Ave. Times vary. $45-55. 443-637-2769. For the second show of the season, Iron Crow­—our 2017 Best of Baltimore breakout theater company­—presents its yearly fundraiser with the cult-classic The Rocky Horror Show. The twisted comedy is set in a mysterious castle on a dark and stormy night, with wild characters, elaborate rock songs, and a plot that thrills, no matter how many times you’ve seen it. Come dressed to impress and prepare to sing along.

---

The Great Halloween Lantern Parade
Oct. 28. Patterson Park, Eastern & Linwood Aves. Festival: 3:30 p.m.; Parade: 7 p.m.; After party: 9:30 p.m. Free. 410-276-1651. Every Halloween weekend, the hills of Patterson Park transform into a spooky spectacle as hundreds of illuminated lanterns, kids in costume, and live music performers partake in this beloved tradition. Join in the parade or ogle as an onlooker, but be sure to swing by the park for the pre-parade festival, full of food and family fun, as well as the adults-only Glow Ball after-party at the Creative Alliance. 

---

Doors Open Baltimore
Oct. 28-29. Locations & times vary. Free. For one weekend this fall, the city instates an open-door policy. During Doors Open Baltimore, explore more than 50 notable structures at sites throughout the city—open for free, self-guided tours. Immerse yourself in local architecture as you learn about Baltimore’s past at historic spaces such as the Arabber Preservation Society and Baltimore Immigration Museum. Or look to its future at forward-thinking venues like Le Mondo and School 33 Art Center. Wander through museum exhibits at the Reginald F. Lewis, marvel over natural wonders at the Rawlings Conservatory, and even climb the Phoenix Shot Tower to see Charm City in all its glory.

Do you think people are intimidated to try a DIY costume?
AG: Sometimes I feel like people just don’t think about it. But that’s what we are here for. We want to walk with you on this journey.

KT: We take people to a different level of costume. It’s not just going to a Halloween store and finding a pre-made “sexy” Raggedy Ann thing. You can come here and get an actual red and white gingham house dress and possibly even wear it again. You can get a cape and be so many different characters, but then you can wear a cape for winter.

There is nothing worse than “sexy _________” costumes.
AG: Yeah, we are so not into that. We find it funny when we are like, ‘I’ll be this gross thing.’ And maybe that is a confidence thing, but don’t be afraid to be something different. Like if you are a dude and you want to do a tight shave on your head and be Eleven from Stranger Things, you should go for it.

KT: In some cases, you gain confidence after you have everything on. I mean, I was dressed as Doc Brown yesterday from Back to the Future and, as soon as I had it all on I was like, ‘Man, I look fucking cool.’ And it wasn’t exactly what he looked like, but we made it work with everything that we had.

What is the key piece or item to pull off a DIY costume?
AG: We always say that accessories are really important. If you don’t have the exact outfit or color that the character wears, you can still pull it off with accessories. Like if you are being Jackie Kennedy Onassis, you don’t have to have a ’60s pink two-piece suit, you can wear a blue one. But get the pill box hat, gloves, pearls, and all the little things that are nuance-y. Wigs and makeup can help a lot, too. We always tell people for $20 you can do a head-to-toe look in our shop and then spend the rest of your money on a wig and/or makeup from a specialty or Halloween store.

What is your favorite costume you’ve put together in the store?
AG: I think Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding was pretty funny because it really was random. We found these ‘60s leotards and of course we didn’t have ice skates or anything but I think the angle worked.

KT: That one was really fun because it was so random and we were like, “Huh, we have these leotards, what are we going to do?” And then we had to research to characters to make sure Tonya was the one with the baton.

What are you being for Halloween this year?
AG: After doing this now for three years, we always end up doing something avant-garde and really out there for our personal costumes because we have all month to think about it. If we have funny things that we have ideas about we get that creativity out through the month of October for the store.

KT: Last year we were the sun and the moon, but it was very ’30s style. We had pin curls, gowns, and big headpieces.

I’ve noticed you guys also do amazing Halloween window displays each year. How do you come up with the theme for the windows?
AG: This year we did Stranger Things, which kind of caters to vintage. We felt like we had to do it. The timing was so perfect.

KT: Our first year we did witches and they were all in crazy vintage black gowns. Last year we did Carrie with a mannequin in a vintage prom dress, and then someone pulling the cord to pour the bucket of blood, which was actually metallic streamers, onto her head.

ANNAPOLIS

Two companies lead ghost tours here: Tours & Crawls of Annapolis and Watermark. The former offers a 90-minute walking tour of the downtown, detailing creepy characters from an undead gravedigger to a headless man. A pub-crawl version of the tour exists, too, as does a “Twisted History” bar hop that revels in tales of “murder, mayhem, sex, and scandal.” Watermark’s Historic Ghost Walk runs on Fridays, Saturdays, and some Sundays and traffics in unnerving anecdotes about drowned watermen, apparitions , and uncanny coincidences.

ELLICOTT CITY

The old EC bills itself as “perhaps the most haunted town in America,” a place where “spiritual energy somehow pockets.” Decide for yourself by taking Ye Haunted History of Olde Ellicott City Ghost Tour, where guides relate both recent and ancient accounts of paranormal activity at area establishments. For those interested in both alcoholic and etheral spirits, there’s the Spirits of Ellicott City Tour with stops at watering holes such as Ellicott Mills Brewing Company and the Diamondback Tavern, said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman with flowing hair.

FREDERICK

Fredrick possesses some pretty powerful local lore. There’s the one about a mysterious man in black who was executed for his loyalty to the British crown in 1781, and a yarn about staunch Unionist Barbara Fritchie, who is said to haunt her historic district home. These tales and more can be heard on the Candlelight Historic District Ghost Tour, while the Evening Cemetery Tour takes intrepid interlopers through the graves, crypts, and monuments of Mt. Olivet Cemetery, the resting place of Francis Scott Key, Fritchie, and other famous Marylanders.

FELLS POINT

From shanghaied sailors to bloodcurdling bordellos, Fells Point has a colorful—and sometimes creepy—past. Several tours recount the madness, including the Original Fells Point Ghostwalk, the Original Fells Point Haunted PubWalk, and two different “Wicked History” pub tours, all run by the venerable (since 2001) Baltimore Ghost Tours. Tours and Crawls of Baltimore is a more recent arrival on the scene, but also offers a ghost tour and a pub crawl that indulge in terrifying tales of a spectral boot maker and the so-called “Night Nurse” who haunts the Admiral Fell Inn.

MT. VERNON

An offshoot of the Original Fells Point GhostWalk, the Mt. Vernon GhostWalk introduces tour-takers to the timeless phantoms inhabiting the city’s cultural district. Between guests that never checked out of The Belvedere Hotel, séances-gone-wrong, and bygone society matrons who refuse to leave their historic mansions, Mt. Vernon is full of odd happenings, sure to rattle even the bravest of souls.

SAVAGE MILL

Once a textile mill that wove canvas for clipper ships, Civil War tents, and silent-movie screens, Historic Savage Mill has been reinvigorated as an upscale shopping center. But that doesn’t mean the past is gone. Store owners have reported whispers coming from empty rooms, sightings of mischievous child spirit known to trip shoppers, and even a literal ghost in the machine, said to emerge sporadically from an office computer. And don’t get locals started on the bell in the tower that seems to ring by itself. Hear these stories and more during Ghost Walks at Historic Savage Mill.

Charles Kennard always had his eye out for a chance to make a buck, but he was not the greatest, nor the luckiest, businessman.

It appears that he wasn’t the most honest guy, either.

The second child of a successful Delaware merchant, Kennard moved to Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the late 1880s after developing “secret” bone-mix recipes for fertilizer. (In fairness, everyone in the fertilizer business claimed a “secret” recipe.)

Following initial success, his Chestertown plant went to auction due to a combination of drought, competition, and debt. But all was not lost.

A Prussian immigrant named E.C. Reiche kept an office next to Kennard’s on the first floor of the four-story, wood-frame hotel in Chestertown’s tiny business district. A furniture maker turned coffin maker turned undertaker—not an atypical career progression for the day—Reiche was also an inveterate tinkerer and Kennard had another plan.

Back story: Two generations earlier, a pair of girls in upstate New York named the Fox sisters, claiming to be mediums able to interpret mysterious “knocks” from the other side, had launched a spiritualist movement that continued to hold sway across the country.

In fact, in the aftermath of the Civil War, with so many husbands, fathers, and sons lost in the conflict’s bloody battles, spiritualism—the belief the dead can speak to the living—had only gained steam with people desperate for a connection to departed loved ones and greater meaning for their own lives.

It’s in this context in 1886, during the period Kennard and Reiche shared a hallway, that newspaper reports began appearing about a “talking board” phenomenon sweeping Ohio, including an Associated Press story that ran in the local Kent County News.

It’s also about this time, according a later Baltimore American story, that Kennard and Reiche—most likely inspired by the AP account—began collaborating and making at least a dozen of their own “talking” boards.

“Reiche, the biggest coffin maker in town, is making these on the side,” explains Robert Murch, the world’s foremost talking-board historian, and it’s these prototypes that became the Ouija board. “But it’s Kennard, when he leaves Chestertown for Baltimore in 1890, where he continues in the fertilizer game, and starts a real-estate business, who begins pitching what he says is his talking-board invention to potential investors.”

After numerous rejections, Elijah Bond, a local attorney who claimed his sister-in-law was a strong medium, finally took an interest.

Soon enough, the Kennard Novelty Company, which incorporated the day before Halloween 125 years ago, began manufacturing Ouija boards much as they appear today.

Bond was right about his sister-in-law, too: Helen Peters proved convincing enough with Kennard’s new talking board to win over a skeptical U.S. patent office. She not only gets credit for earning the stamp of legitimacy from the federal government, certifying the board delivered as promised, but also for “receiving” the O-U-I-J-A name from the board itself, which told her the strange word meant “good luck.”

(In truth, the name “Ouija” was written on the necklace locket that Peters was wearing at the time.)

So, yes, an undertaker and an opportunist named Kennard invented the only patented board game—billed as both a mystical oracle for communicating with the spirits and wholesome amusement—ever to outsell Monopoly in a given year.

“It comes straight from the 19th-century séances,” says Nic Ricketts, curator at The National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY, noting that a glow-in-the-dark board and a classic version are still sold today. “There has never been another brand board game like it, and I don’t see it fading away any time soon.”

The story of the Ouija board, however, is more than a tale of snake oil salesmen duping the Victorian masses or, subsequently, a game of harmless fun at a million junior-high sleepovers.

While it remains an amazingly enduring pop-culture phenomenon—tied to the rise of the horror movie/paranormal industrial complex—its saga is also about the universal desire to find answers to life’s biggest questions, the history of psychology, and even the development of neuroscience.

“It’s always been a board game, a parlor game, but it has always been more than a board game for some people, too,” Murch says. “In the 19th century, people had a much different relationship to death than we do today—it was much closer to their everyday experience.

“Now, we do everything we can in hopes of avoiding aging, let alone engage in any real thoughts of death. But in the 1800s, people only lived to be 50 years old. Mothers would have 12 children and six of them would die. Their parlor rooms were also their funeral rooms.”

Not surprisingly perhaps, there’s a dark side or two buried in Ouija’s origin story. There always is when money is at stake, and by the early 1890s, some 2,000 Ouija boards were already being sold a week.

William Fuld, who worked for and invested in the Kennard Novelty Company—and eventually gained control of the Ouija business after the founder cashed out too early—went on to make millions manufacturing the board in Baltimore and elsewhere, but only after his brother was cut out of the company.

Their ensuing lawsuits were no mere spat. William’s brother, Isaac, became so embittered that he had his baby daughter exhumed and relocated from the Fuld family gravesite during a cemetery renovation. The two sides of the family would not speak for 96 years.

And, tragically, William Fuld would suffer a fatal accident at his Harford Avenue factory, one he claimed in a 1919 Baltimore Sun story that the Ouija had told him to build. (“Prepare for big business.”)

Overseeing the installation of a flag, an iron railing gave way and he fell off the roof of the structure, which still stands and has been converted into a senior apartment complex.

“On his death bed—the coroner’s report said a broken rib pierced his heart—he made his children promise to never sell the Ouija out the family,” says Murch.

Of course, Fuld’s family did sell—but not for four decades—to Parker Brothers, which promptly moved Ouija to its base of operations in Salem, MA. In 1967, the first year it was headquartered in the town infamous for its witch trials, Ouija sold two million boards.

By comparison, Monopoly—an early version was invented in 1903—wasn’t popular until the Great Depression, when it fulfilled a kind of fantasy escapism. Ouija, on the other hand, was a sensation from the outset, long before even its first film appearances, which date back to Hollywood’s beginnings.

But Ouija’s public image has always been complicated. Initially, the “mysterious oracle” was marketed as a game to enliven a party or encourage a little light-hearted intimacy for romantic—or would-be romantic—couples, who are often depicted in early advertisements with the board resting on their knees as they sit across from each other, both of their hands on the planchette.

Norman Rockwell, who was fond of depicting the revealing moments of everyday life, painted a well-dressed suitor and young woman, chairs pulled face-to-face, playing with a Ouija board for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in 1920.

Less well known is the Ouija board’s use as inspiration or as an “automatic” writing tool by acclaimed novelists and poets, such as Sylvia Plath, who wrote “Dialogue over a Ouija Board,” and Pulitzer Prize winner James Merrill. Merrill used notes from Ouija “consultations” in his 560-page epic poem, The Changing Light at Sandover, which contained messages from W.B. Yeats, friend Maya Deren, and the Archangel Michael.

But over time, the relative innocence of the Ouija board—or at least its nonpartisan relationship between good and evil—gave way to a more sinister reputation as Hollywood began utilizing it for darker purposes.

After The Exorcist, in which actress Linda Blair’s character Regan explains to her mom, played by Ellen Burstyn, how she used the family’s Ouija board to ask questions of “Captain Howdy”—the demon who eventually takes possession of her soul—the board’s occult status was cemented.

Since then, it has shown up in more than 20 films, and made countless appearances in the ever-growing number of paranormal-themed TV shows.

Forums around Ouija-associated phenomena populate the internet, of course. Most recently, the 2014 movie Ouija did so well at the box office that Ouija 2 is already in the works. When it was released last fall, the movie so dramatically boosted board sales that petitions by evangelical Christian groups to ban the Ouija started popping up again. Catholic.com, a lay-run Catholic apologetics and evangelization website, describes Ouija as “far from harmless.”

Still, the most interesting thing about the Ouija board might be the latest research around it from University of British Columbia that shows it actually does work—just not in the way we might assume.

A few years ago, Sidney Fels, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UBC, brought out a Ouija board at a Halloween party attended by graduate students, including many who were foreign-born and unfamiliar with how it works. They assumed it required batteries.

“‘No, you don’t need batteries. It will move,’ I told them,” Fels recalls. “I gave them some mystical explanation tied into Halloween and they had a good laugh.”

But lo and behold, when Fels returned later, the grad students were enthralled because the planchette was moving on its own. Or so it appeared.

The mechanism at work was actually something known as the ideomotor effect, which refers to the influence of the unconscious mind on muscle movements. (First identified in 1852, preceding Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind by decades, Dr. William Benjamin Carpenter discovered the ideomotor effect while investigating the unconscious mind’s ability to direct motor activity. Shortly thereafter, other researchers began linking that discovery to—you guessed it—spiritual phenomena.)

Days later, still fascinated by the students’ experience, Fels shared the story with colleague Ron Rensink, a psychology and computer science professor, and that got the ball rolling about whether the board could serve as a tool to look at unconscious knowledge.

“We didn’t know if we’d find anything, but when we did, the results really surprised us,” Fels says.

When study participants were asked to answer or guess at a set of challenging questions, they were correct about 50 percent of the time. But when responding while using the board—which participants believed had the ability to “receive” correct answers from another person teleconferencing via a robot Ouija partner—they scored correctly upwards of 65 percent of the time.

In actuality, the robot was a ruse; it was not responding to the video-conferencing player, but subtly amplifying the study participants’ tiny, unconscious movements.

“It was significant how much better they did on these questions,” Rensink says. “If you don’t think so, consider the difference playing roulette when the odds are 50-50 versus 65-35.”

The implication is that one’s unconscious is much smarter than anyone knew, capable of pulling up bits of stored information not accessible to the conscious mind.

Results in a follow-up study replicated the findings, which they reported in the academic journal, Consciousness and Cognition.

Rensink believes the results open greater possibilities for further study. For example, is unconscious memory affected by Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases in the same way as conscious memory?

It’s work that William Fuld—the guy who fell from the factory roof and is considered the “father” of the Ouija (he was also a state delegate and philanthropist)—would probably appreciate. When asked directly by a reporter if he believed in the Ouija’s mystical powers, he replied: “I should say not. I’m no spiritualist. I’m a Presbyterian.”

The discovery of the Ouija’s ability to tap into unconscious knowledge is not the only development in the talking board’s 125-year-old story, however. The reconciliation of William Fuld’s family with his brother Isaac’s clan after nearly a century of silence is the other compelling occurrence.

The two sides had long lost contact until Murch began posting his research on the web nearly two decades ago. That’s when Stuart Fuld, the then-sixty something grandson of Isaac Fuld, and Kathy Fuld, the granddaughter of William Fuld, separately reached out to Murch, in hopes of learning more about their ancestors.

“I was talking to each one individually at first without the other one knowing it,” Murch recalls. “I was aware of the feud and didn’t want to upset either one, but then Kathy called one night and asked for Stuart’s phone number.”

“It turned out we were living five miles apart while growing up and didn’t know it,” says Kathleen Fuld, Stuart’s wife. (Stuart Fuld passed last year.)

The two sides of the family, which now include great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren of the brothers, have been getting together regularly ever since.

While some of the descendants did hold on to Ouija and other talking-board memorabilia—Isaac later attempted to launch a talking board competitor named the “Oriole” board—no one, apparently, ever took a serious spiritual interest in Ouija. Not even when they were kids.

“Not me,” says Kathleen Fuld, chuckling. “I was a good Irish Catholic girl. I had eight cousins who were nuns.”

She adds, however, that Stuart did take a great deal of interest in learning about his grandfather and ancestors, as well as the history of the former family business—if not the surrounding mysticism—especially as he got older.

“I’ll tell you a funny story,” she says. “We went up to the Poconos for a golfing trip one year and there was a conference of priests taking place at the hotel where we stayed. I don’t remember why or how it came up, but Stuart ends up telling a group of priests we’re talking with that his family once made the Ouija board.

“All the priests immediately started making little crosses with their fingers,” Fuld continues. “They started asking Stuart all kinds of questions. They wanted to know the whole story and got the biggest kick out of that.”

Even better, the priests invited the couple to take advantage of the conference’s complimentary evening cocktail parties for the weekend—which they did.

“But it didn’t matter,” she adds. “Every time we saw those priests, in the elevator, or wherever, they’d start making those crosses with their fingers.”

From spooky kid parties to spirited adult soirées, don your Halloween best and get bewitched this month with a cauldron of candied, costumed events.

Deadly Dance Parties

THE HAUNTING OF POE: A BURLESQUE MASQUERADE
10/30: Don your ballroom masks for this sexy show about Edgar Allan Poe’s life and literary works. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., 410-276-1651

HALLOWEEN FLASHBACK DANCE PARTY
10/31: Do the “Monster Mash” at this retro Halloween dance party, with ’90s hip-hop artist Biz Markie, ’90s tribute band Here’s To the Night, and ’80s cover band The New Romance. The Fillmore, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, 301-960-9999

HALLOWEEN ’80S DANCE PARTY
10/31: If costumes and covers sound like the makings of a perfect party, sip $3 drinks and shake your bones to ’80s classics from the likes of The Cure, Talking Heads, and The Smiths at this haunted bash. The Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St., 410-662-0069

HALLOWEEN PARTY AT MICHAEL’S CAFE
10/31: Dance the night away to the ’80s New Wave sounds of Synful Pleasure, enjoy Halloween-inspired eats and drinks, and rock a ghoulish get-up for a chance to win up to $400 in the costume contest at this Timonium bar. 2119 York Road, Timonium, 410-252-2022

Boo-zy Bar Crawls

HALLOWEEN AT POWER PLANT LIVE
10/29-10/31: As always, this downtown nightlife destination is going all out for the haunted holiday with live music, costume contests, and plenty of drink deals. The festivities kick off with a glow-in-the-dark Halloween Rally on Oct. 29 featuring complementary glow sticks and live DJ entertainment, and on Oct. 31 the space will transform into a haunted carnival with every bar boasting a different theme. 34 Market Place

FEDERAL HILL-O-WEEN
10/31: Gather some friends and hit the bars in Federal Hill to sip boozy slushies at Stalking Horse, down drafts at Mother’s, and enjoy $3 Miller Lites, $4 Redds Apple Ales, and $4 Blue Moon bottles at more than 10 other participating spots. Multiple locations including Mother’s Grille, 1113 S. Charles St., 410-244-8686

SINNERS & SAINTS BLOCK PARTY
10/31: Canton favorites Claddagh Pub, El Bufalo Tequila Bar, Portside Tavern, and Jokers n’ Thieves are getting in on the fun by hosting this creepy crawl. Show off your creative costume and enjoy food specials and discounted drinks all night long. Multiple locations including Claddagh Pub, 2918 O’Donnell St., 410-522-4220

BOATHOUSE MONSTER BASH
10/31: The Boathouse Canton is throwing this all-inclusive bash on Halloween night, highlighting a photo booth, candy stations, live DJ entertainment, ‘horrors’ d’oeuvres, and an open bar until midnight. Prizes up for grabs in the costume contest include a $100 Boathouse gift card, a free happy hour for you and 20 friends, and $500 cash. 2809 Boston St., 410-773-9795

HALLOWEEN BALL AT 14FORTY
10/31: Make your way to this multi-level lounge inside Horseshoe Casino to sip spirits and enjoy live music performed on its elevated stage. Lucky winners sporting the best costumes of the night will walk away with up $5,000 in free slot play. 1525 Russell St., 844-77-7463

Family Frights

ZOOBOOO!
10/23-25: Lions, and tigers, and bears—oh my! Spend a spooky weekend at the zoo with face painting, trick-or-treating, costume contests, and live entertainment. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Drive, 410-396-7102

AR-BOO-RETUM
10/23: Nothing says Halloween like the Cylburn Arboretum’s 1860s mansion decked out in spooky splendor. Grab the kids and take a tour of the house, decorate trick-or-treat bags, learn about nocturnal creatures, and embark on carriage rides at this family-friendly event. And, if the little ones haven’t experienced a full-blown sugar rush from all of the candy, IcedGems Baking will also be onsite to dish out its signature confections. Cylburn Arboretum Mansion and Formal Gardens, 4915 Greenspring Avenue, 410-367-2217

GREAT HALLOWEEN LANTERN PARADE
10/24: Bring the kids for an afternoon of hayrides, costume contests, and family fun, culminating in the Great Halloween Lantern Parade, now in its 16th year in Patterson Park. Pulaski Monument, Eastern and Linwood Aves, 410-276-1651

TRICK-OR-TREAT AT THE CAN COMPANY
10/24: The Canton Can Company is hosting its first-ever Halloween party this year, complete with pumpkin decorating, a kids’ costume contest, and even a “Thriller” dance tutorial led by the White Marsh Ballet Academy. Stroll around the plaza, enjoy live music spun by DJ The Show, and visit the Can Company’s restaurants for treats at the door and festive food and drink specials. 2400 Boston St., 443-577-4826

TRICK-OR-TREAT AT THE SQUARE
10/25: Now in its 4th year, this fun-filled Belvedere Square celebration features thrills such as complimentary caricatures, pumpkin decorating, and trick-or-treating at each of the merchants. The event’s costume contest charges a $5 entry fee and all proceeds will benefit the Enoch Pratt Free Library. 529 E. Belvedere Ave.

HALLOWEEN EVE CAMPFIRE & HIKE
10/30: Enjoy s’mores and stories around the campfire, followed by a hike in the woods. Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum, 300 Oella Ave., Catonsville, 410-887-1081

FALLOWEEN
10/31: Dress up with your little ones and learn about the science behind popular Halloween traditions. Port Discovery, 35 Market Place, 410-727-8120.

HAUNTED HALLOWEEN SKATE
10/31: Mix up your Halloween routine this year and head to Patterson Park for a night of ice skating, prizes, and family fun. Mimi DiPietro Family Skating Center, 200 S. Linwood Ave., 410-396-9392

KIDSPEACE TRICK OR TROT
10/31: Join KidsPeace, the Orioles, and the Showalter family in a 5K run or 1-mile walk to benefit children in foster care. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 333 W. Camden St., 410-685-9800

WIZARDS & WANDS
10/31: Take a trip to Hogwarts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, performing a magical night of the Harry Potter film scores. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., 410-783-8000

TRICK AND TREATS
10/31: Grab your costume and gallivant through the woods in search of holiday treats. Oregon Ridge Nature Center, 13555 Beaver Dam Road, Cockeysville, 410-887-1815

Midnight Music

GLOWBALL
10/24: Keep the party going after the Great Halloween Lantern Parade at this annual concert hosted by the Creative Alliance. After the kids are in bed, grown-ups are invited to jam to the horn-heavy funk sounds of Joe Keyes and The Late Bloomer Band at the parade’s official after-party. The Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave., 410-276-1651

KIP MOORE
10/31: Hear country music star Kip Moore perform at WPOC’s Jam-BOO-ree Halloween event. Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place, 410-244-1131

SAME AS IT EVER BOS: HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA
10/31: Spend the night getting down to the sounds of local soul sensation Bosley, as the band covers Talking Heads classics at The 8×10. 10 E. Cross St., 410-625-2000

HALLOWEEN AT THE SCIENCE CENTER
10/31: Once again, eat, drink, and be scary as the Science Center teams up with Flying Dog Brewery for their annual craft-beer-and-costume bash with food trucks, local brews, a costume contest, and live, local music from the likes of ELM, Cris Jacobs Band, and a Save your Soul dance party on the roof. 601 Light St., 410-685-5225

Late-Autumn Art

ZOMBIE PROM
10/16-11/8: Part high-school romance and part sci-fi thriller, this modern-day musical follows a zombie as he tries to win back his crush and take her to prom. Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, 817 St. Paul St., 410-752-1225

HALLOWEEN HAVOC
10/17: Sip your spirits while dressed in your Halloween best at this lively art competition in Remington. The Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St., 410-662-0069

MICA HAUNTED HOUSE: FEVER DREAM
10/22-10/24: Now in its eighth year, MICA’s student-run haunted house is a must-try if you’re looking for a thrill that’s guaranteed to give you goosebumps. If you dare: Stroll around this season’s twisted dreamscape-themed house adorned with fog machines, strobe lights, and other mysterious sights and sounds. 1601 W. Mt. Royal Ave

FLYING DOG SCARY MOVIE SERIES
10/28 & 31: Flying Dog Brewery presents classic horror flicks and craft beers with A Nightmare on Elm Street on Wednesday, followed by Invasion of the Body Snatchers on Halloween night. Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick St., Frederick, 301-600-2828

AVAM’S FREE FALL HALLOWEEN
10/30: Spend your Mischief Night at the American Visionary Art Museum with lantern-making, food trucks, and an outdoor screening of The Goonies. 800 Key Highway, 410-244-1900

A TALE OF THREE COFFINS: LIVING AND DYING IN ST. MARY’S CITY
To 12/6: This eerie exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society displays three lead coffins that represent the only remains of Maryland’s founding family, the Calverts. Learn about 17th-century life and check out the coffins up close before they’re reburied in St. Mary’s City in early December. 201 W. Monument St., 410-685-3750

JASON’S WOODS
OCT. 3-NOV. 8: Jason’s Woods, 99 Stehman Rd., Lancaster, PA. Fri-Sat. 7-10 p.m., Sun. 7-9 p.m. jasonswoods.com. Six attractions, including a Horrifying Hayride and a cursed corn maze.

MAKE-YOUR-OWN GLASS-BLOWN PUMPKIN
OCT. 23: Corradetti Glassblowing Studio & Gallery, 2010 Clipper Park Rd., Ste. 119. 6, 7, and 8 p.m. corradetti.com. Create your own four-inch pumpkin. Wine served!

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
OCT. 24: Cromwell Valley Park, 2002 Cromwell Bridge Rd., Parkville. 6:30-8 p.m. cromwellvalleypark.org. Learn wilderness survival skills you would need if modern technology fails. Ages 10 and up.

ZOMBIE HORDE SCAVENGER HUNT
OCT. 24: Robert E. Lee Park, 1000 Lakeside Dr. 7 p.m. relpnc.org. Escape zombies and win prizes for collecting items along the trail.  Ages 12 and up.

ZOOBOOO!
OCT. 24-26:The Maryland Zoo, 1876 Mansion House Dr. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free-$17.50 marylandzoo.org. Celebration full of trick-or-treating, fun carnival games, and live entertainment. 

ANNUAL HALLOWMARINE CELEBRATION
OCT. 25-26: National Aquarium, 501 E. Pratt St. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. aqua.org. Celebration with crafts, a costume parade, and animal encounters.

SPOOKY SCIENCE
OCT. 25: Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St. 12-4 p.m. mdsci.org. Enjoy creepy crafts, activities, and fang-tastic demonstrations.

HARRY POTTER HALLOWEEN
OCT. 25-26: Oregon Ridge Nature Center, 13555 Beaver Dam Rd., Cockeysville. 1 p.m. oregonridgenaturecenter.org. Enter the world of Harry Potter with wizard crafts and a visit from a magical creature. Ages 5 and up. 

15TH ANNUAL GREAT HALLOWEEN LANTERN PARADE & FESTIVAL: KALEIDOSCOPE
OCT. 25: Patterson Park, 3:30 p.m. creativealliance.org. Annual lantern parade and festival. Parade at 7 p.m.

GLOW BALL DANCE PARTY & COSTUME CONTEST
OCT. 25: Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 8:30 p.m. creativealliance.org. Adults-only Lantern Parade after-party.

HAUNTED HALLOWEEN HIKE
OCT. 25: Robert E. Lee Park, 1000 Lakeside Dr. 6:30-8:30 p.m. relpnc.org. Solve a Halloween mystery while encountering witches and wildlife along the way. Costumes welcome. Ages 5 to 12. 

15TH ANNUAL GOODWILL GRIDIRON HALLOWEEN PARTY
OCT. 27: Dave & Busters, 7000 Arundel Mills Cir., Hanover. 7 p.m. goodwillgridiron.com. Party with the Baltimore Ravens that includes food, open bar, a costume contest, dancing, games, and a silent auction.

TRICKS AND TREATS AT OREGON RIDGE
OCT. 31: Oregon Ridge Nature Center, 13555 Beaver Dam Rd., Cockeysville. 4:30 p.m. oregonridgenaturecenter.org. Wear your costume and discover the tricks and treats that plants and animals present along the way. Ages 5 and up. 

HALLOWEEN 2014
OCT. 31: Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St., 8 p.m.-1 a.m. $35-65. halloween-baltimore.com. In its third year, this Halloween extravaganza features craft beer, live music across four unique areas, a costume contest, all of the science exhibits open, and a new art gallery.

Jen Burke, full-time mom and part-time lab tech: “It’s got to be Rodgers Forge with its row homes and lots of young families.”

Shannon Nickey, bartender, Holy Frijoles: “Violetville is a safe, family-oriented neighborhood, and the police are prevalent to make sure there are no troublemakers!”

Helene Luce, senior director, educational initiatives, Community Law in Action: “Patterson Park is pretty amazing. There have been tons of kids born the last couple of years, and the families have stayed.”

Beth Laverick, owner, B Scene Events & Promotions: “In Butchers Hill, a lot of local families meet after trick-or-treating for a community potluck. Parents get to enjoy festive food and drinks while kids tear into their Halloween treats.”