“This is crazy!” Nate Lehman said as he played putt-putt golf through a gruesome crime scene. On Saturday, October 29th, students at EMU gathered to celebrate Halloween in the Campus Center to play a game of Spooky Putt-Putt. Each putt-putt hole took players on a mini golf journey through the building and was decorated with a scary theme by different student groups.

Tyler Goss joked that the event was created on Friday the 13th by the Wicked Witch of the West, He Who Shall Not Be Named, and Ethel Showalter. He then explained that Campus Activities Council wanted to have a spooky and affordable Halloween activity for students. Spooky Putt-Putt seemed like the perfect option since students could join in on the fun by playing the game, dressing up, designing a hole, or voting on their favorite hole design. 

Students can participate in Spooky Putt-Putt in a variety of ways, and there are three different competitions they can compete in for the chance to win a gift card to Common Grounds.

One of the competitions was for the best-decorated hole. Earlier in the day, student groups that had signed up came to the Campus Center to decorate their assigned hole with the supplies CAC provided. The theme had to be both adequately spooky and challenging enough to keep the game interesting, since players voted for their favorite hole as they played. The first-place hole was themed “JMU Party” and was decorated by Chuck Tirtasaputra and Levi Myers. 

Levi said that “Chuck and I were just looking at the table of supplies, trying to come up with ideas and we kind of just gravitated towards some purple and gold decorations. It wasn’t until we were collecting it that we realized we were basically getting ready for a JMU themed party, so we just ran with it.” The hole was complete with streamers, red Solo cups, empty cans and glow sticks, as well as a challenging ramp at the end. 

The second place hole was themed “Construction Site Gone Wrong.” Players had to navigate fake bodies with safety vests, as well as caution tape and a knocked over ladder. The third place hole had a theme of “Climate Change” and while players tried to hit their ball down the stairs, they walked through a tornado, a hurricane, and a forest fire.

The second competition students could participate in was a costume contest. Everyone was invited to get in the Halloween spirit and dress up as whatever they wanted, and students could vote on their favorite costume in Royal Radar afterwards. Emma Burkhart and Emma Hochstetler won the competition by dressing up as dominos. Micah Buckwalter placed with his Ted Lasso costume, as did Marciella Shallomita with her Alexander from Mortal Instruments.

In addition to being a spooky decoration and costume contest, Spooky Putt-Putt was also an Intramural event for the players. Kaden Schrock took home the Intramural prize by completing the course with a score of 33 for all 12 holes. 

Spooky Putt-Putt brings students together to have some Halloween fun in whatever ways they want to. Laura Benner enjoyed her time there, saying that, “some may say that Halloween is the Devil incarnate, but I sure had fun at Spooky Putt-Putt.”