It is the most wonderful time of the year, Halloween!
Paranormal Awareness Week (PAW) kicked off with the annual Harvest Fest on Sunday, October 30th. The Harvest Fest was hosted by PIRO (Paranormal Investigation Research Organization), and was held in Westside 112.
There were many Halloween themed games with prizes to win. The games included witch hat ring toss, skull and pumpkin bean bag tosses, Halloween themed tic-tac-toe, pin the eye on the monster, twister, cupcake and donut eating contests and skeleton hide and seek. The donut eating contest required contestants to eat donuts attached to string without using their hands. The skeleton hide and seek consisted of players finding the hidden bones of the skeleton through the Westside lobby.
Winners of each game would receive a raffle ticket to put in for a chance to win a Halloween themed basket. There was also face paintings, which included pumpkins, ghosts, spiders and bats.
Paranormal Awareness Week’s events include a guest speaker, a costume ball, game night, and divination fair. On Halloween Monday in the Alumni lounge was the costume ball. On Tuesday, November 1 Tony Spera, Ed and Lorraine Warren’s son in law, will be speaking in Gehring 301 from 8-9 p.m. Wednesday November 2 from 10-11pm will be game night, and on the last day of PAW, in Echlin 209 from 8-10:30pm, is the Divination fair. At the fair there will be tarot readings, and much more!
PAW has been going since 2002-03 when PIRO was first founded at U.N.H.. They have kept the events mostly the same due to their success. Typically on Wednesday, rather than game night, the event is ghost stories, but they decided to shake it up this year. They also normally go on a trip to Salem, which they are planning for later in the year.
There are around 120 total members in PIRO, with many new members just this year. PIRO hosts multiple big events throughout the year including the masquerade ball in the spring, paranormal jeopardy, and May Day, which celebrates Beltane, the pagan celebration of the spring.
Executive assistant Lauren Risley says, “A lot of colleges claim to be diverse but people are still scared to talk about what they want to and I think this organization gives people a chance to come and talk about their interests and hobbies no matter how taboo they are. It’s just a good time overall for everyone.”
President Mallory Clayton said, “I think PIRO in itself is a great club for people to come out with people they don’t know and it helps build community. It’s also a safe place where people can build upon each other’s ideas. This event helps with letting people work on teams, and be adventurous.”
PIRO meets every Wednesday in HCL 301 from 10-11 p.m. Meeting topics range from talking about dreams to famous hauntings. They hope to see you at the next meeting.
