The ghosts are back! So are decorative pumpkins, social mixers and frightful music – as PennWest Clarion prepares for the Halloween season.

To kick off the week, Clarion’s University Activities Board (UAB) and the Black Student Union (BSU) will host two social events for all Clarion students.

Clarion’s BSU is preparing for their annual Halloween social mixer from 7-9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27 – which will feature music and enchanted costumes. The student with the best costume will walk home – or fly on a broomstick – with the grand prize.

Monster musicians and cursed comedians will hit the stage in Gemmell Rotunda from 8-10 p.m. on Thursday for the Halloween Open Mic Night. Perform with your friends or relax and watch the show.

UAB will also host a pumpkin-painting mystical soirée from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28 in Gemmell multipurpose room. Students can bring their friends and paint their pumpkins along with the creepy crew.

Dr. Todd Pfannestiel will return to the Clarion campus at 8 p.m. Oct. 29 for “Ghost Talk” in Hart Chapel. Current Clarion students are invited to hear him present ghost stories from campus and the region: Who haunts Givan, Becht and Wilkinson halls, and other buildings at Clarion?

Pfannestiel, former interim provost at Clarion who is the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Utica College, helped to develop the popular Clarion University Ghost Experience, a local Halloween tradition since 200. He also advised Phi Alpha Theta history Honor Society, CU Ice Hockey Club and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.