With werewolves howling at the full moon, children carrying dark orange jack-o’-lantern candy buckets filled to the brim with all sorts of sugary confections, and a blur of masked or painted faces seen in every direction, the night was just beginning. The crunch of the yellow and red leaves lay scattered underneath people’s feet. The soft wind began whistling through the trees, and every house on Elm St. was strewn with an abundance of spooky decorations.

Halloween is a time where individuals, both young and old, have the opportunity to take on a new persona for the night. It allows one to step outside of their comfort zone and push the limits of what is considered “socially acceptable.” Halloween bonds individuals together and allows everyone to embrace the weird, the conservative, the silly, the serious, the frightening, and the risqué.

With a mix of notorious pop-culture references and innovative do-it-yourself outfits, these seven Ashland University students have officially selected their Halloween costumes as the beloved holiday is fast approaching. As Halloween is filled with endless amounts of sweet, sweet candy, terrifying haunted houses, and lots of crazed individuals running around in costumes way past the midnight hour, anything can happen on this one unpredictable night.

Freshman Carson Chipner is dressing up as Bernie Sanders this year, whom was a candidate running for President in the 2016 election.

For his costume, Chipner is going to wear a business suit and an oversized Bernie mask, all while carrying a cane and handing out free college tuition to trick-or-treaters walking by.

Chipner says he is really looking forward to scaring all individuals with his “creepy and equally terrifying” Bernie mask this Halloween.

Freshman Allison Hensley is dressing up as a female police officer for Halloween. She acknowledged what makes Halloween worthwhile.

“I love when the kids dress up,” Hensley said. “I love seeing how creative they get with their costumes and how happy they are when you give them a ton of candy.”

Freshman Levi Sprowls is dressing up as Ron Burgundy from the hit 2004 comedy Anchorman. With the outfit suggested by a friend in his dorm hall, Sprowls was then inspired to fully embrace the Ron Burgundy character, and accompany the rest of his friends, who are also dressing as the other main male characters.

“The Ron Burgundy guys are all very classy and laid back,” Sprowls said.

Sprowls and his friends plan to stay on campus to enjoy all of the festivities the city of Ashland has to offer. 

“We are going to stay here and reenact parts of the Anchorman script around campus for social media photos and things like that,” Sprowls said.

Freshman Danelle Jenkins is dressing up as Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. She is a huge fan of anything Halloween-related, and likes this holiday in particular because it allows her to be a kid again.

Jenkins is celebrating Halloween with her two friends, who also are wearing onesies featuring a shark and Jack Skellington, a fictional character from the 1993 film, A Nightmare Before Christmas.

“My friends and I were walking around Walmart and we saw these onesies and thought they were adorable,” Jenkins said.

She felt the onesies were an appropriate choice for the costume-driven holiday because the outfits represented each of the girls’ unique, and fun-loving personalities.

“Winnie the Pooh was my childhood; Eeyore was my favorite because he was different from all of the other characters and stood out in his own, original way,” Jenkins said. “That is exactly what I want to do.”

Freshman Jacob Wenger is dressing up as the main character Brad, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. His significant other is going dressed as the character Rocky from the classic 1970’s film. He described why Halloween is one of his favorite holidays.

“I like that during Halloween you can basically be anything you want and no one really questions it,” Wenger said.

Freshman Alexis Phillips is doing something a little different this year, and is making her costume from scratch. Dressing up as a dalmatian along with her significant other who is accompanying her as a firefighter, she explained what clothing she plans on wearing to make her outfit complete.

“I am going to wear black leggings, and an oversized black shirt with white dots on it,” Phillips said. “It will be comfy, that is all that matters.”

As this is her first official year dressing up in costume since early childhood, Phillips is extremely excited about what the crazy Halloween night will bring.

Along with Phillips, senior Stephanie Magliulo is crafting her own costume as well this year. Dressing up with her two best friends, the three ladies are going as a bottle of tequila, salt, and lime.

“We are DIY’ing all of the costumes and a sombrero will definitely be involved, don’t worry,” Magliulo said. “For the salt, they will wear a white dress with an ‘S’ on it, the tequila will wear a tan dress with a tequila label on it, and the lime will wear a dark green dress with a picture of lime on it.”

With a huge sweet tooth and a passion for anything that allowed her to tap into her creative side, celebrating Halloween was a definite must in the Magliulo family.

“My mom loved dressing us up; I remember she used to go all out and paint our face and stuff like that,” Magliulo said. “It was a big thing in our house.”

Inspired by the social networking site Pinterest, Magliulo wanted to do something out of the box not a lot of people would typically think of.

“We were cracking up because we love tequila and we were like, ‘this needs to be us- this is our senior year,’ Magliulo said. “We are so goofy, these costumes really do fit our personalities.”