Halloween Celebration at Elon College, 1923

Students Celebrate on Hallowe’en Night. . . Party Held in Boys’ Gym--Costumes of All Kinds Seen—Misses Johnson and Black Receive Prizes

Ghosts and witches were abroad last Wednesday evening, and a great many of them, together with many other unusual personages, some of them fierce-looking, many of them comical, assembled in the boys’ gymnasium at 7:30 o’clock. The way in which the college students celebrated this event was typical of the true Hallowe’en spirit. Everyone wore some extraordinary costumes. Some were clowns, some ghosts, some witches, and some—well, one could hardly say what all of them were. All were masked. There abounded a spirit of gaiety and happiness. Ghosts and witches, clowns and goblins marched around and around the big room, stopping at one corner to have their fortunes told, at another for a “drive through the wood,” at still another “to see what they could see.”

As these masked figures marched around, a committee of the faculty judged the costumes worn. Two prices were given: one to Miss Leila Johnson, whose costume was adjudged to portray best the spirit of Hallowe’en, and the other, a booby prize, to Miss Judith Black, who was in evening dress.

After the presentation of the prizes, apples and peanuts were served from two of the dark corners by ghosts and witches.

Many of the village folk and several out-of-town guests were present and took part in the celebration of the Hallowe’en festivities.

From the front page of the Maroon and Gold, Elon College’s student newspaper, Nov. 7, 1923