Halloween brings out our inner child. Dressing up in fun costumes, eating boatloads of candy and watching spooky movies all evoke an intense feeling of nostalgia.

A big part of what makes Halloween a holiday that inspires such childlike wonder is the annual tradition of putting up decorations like carved pumpkins or plastic skeletons. While childhood seems to be left at the residence hall door when coming to college, students have still managed to decorate their dorms for Halloween and relish in all the fun that it has to offer.

Hailey Arias, a sophomore neuroscience major, is a big Halloween fan. She shows off her spooky season spirit by putting decorations on her door and throughout her room.

“It’s festive and joyful, and it’s exciting to decorate,” Arias said. “As soon as it [becomes] Oct. 1, it’s time to put decorations up.”

Arias’ room has paper bats taped to the wall and fun Halloween-themed decals on the door. She said that at home, her family always buys a lot of decorations to put up. She gets into the Halloween spirit by going to pumpkin patches, carving pumpkins and shopping for decorations and costumes. Dressing up is her favorite part of Halloween.

“I feel like based on what your costume is it expresses kind of who you are,” Arias said. “You get to see everyone’s different choices and their own uniqueness. It’s fun!”

Beyza Yildirim is a first-year studying political science and film, and many doors in her dorm hall are decorated in anticipation of the coming holiday. As a fan of “The Shining” and Reese’s peanut butter cups, Yildirim is excitedly awaiting the upcoming holiday and has decorated her dorm door with decals of a jack-o-lantern candy bucket, skulls and ghosts.

“Other people were decorating their doors, and then the decorations were at Target, and we were already there,” Yildirim said. “We were like, ‘Why not?’”

Jaida Johnson, sophomore international studies and art double major, has outfitted her door with decorations to spare. Caution tape, ghost decals and googly eyes greet anyone walking past.

“I did it last year with my roommate so now we are kind of having a yearly tradition of decorating the door,” Johnson said. “I think it’s fun, I love Halloween.”

Johnson also said that her favorite part of Halloween is getting dressed up. When she was little, she dressed up as all the Disney princesses. She said that at home her family does not partake in any holiday traditions, so decorating her door for Halloween is a personal tradition.

“I was like ‘Okay, I love horror movies and Halloween is scary so I’m going to make my own little tradition,’” Johnson said. “I watch horror movies all of October and then we decorate the door.”

One residence hall is going all out to provide a fun night of frights. On Friday, Oct. 28 from 8-11 p.m., the Swashbucklers will convert the entire second floor of the Myrtle Residence Hall into a haunted house. This yearly event is both free and open to all wanting an exclusive one-night-only spook. William Turner, senior ancient Mediterranean studies and Greek double-major, said that although putting on the haunted hall is a lot of work, it is very rewarding in the end.
“It’s been a tradition for Swashbuckler Hall to put on Haunted Hall for over a decade now with the exception of the year we were all off campus,” Turner said. “It’s just a great bonding experience for the whole community to get to come together and work on a big project like this.”