Halloween History and Top Haunted Events in Southern Illinois

Once upon a time, just more than a decade ago, a city called Carbondale in southern Illinois was the place to be for Halloween. Throngs packed the streets and the costumes were outrageous and original and funny and everyone had one.
Fraternity brothers came as a six-pack of their favorite beer, the ghost of Halloween’s past complete with broken glass and used condoms wandered the streets, and the 15,000 or so visitors to the small university city made a huge mess that city and university officials got sick of cleaning up.

By the early 1990s, the city of Carbondale and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale were making a collective effort to end Halloween in Carbondale. The problem was that way too many people were crowding the city streets on the weekends closes to Halloween and they weren’t playing nice. Each year, several were charged with crimes ranging from mob action and arson (someone tried to light a Ford Festiva on fire, via a shirt in the gas tank used as a wick) to public urination, underage drinking and disorderly conduct.

The community and the university got sick of seeing their black eyes every November splashed all over the national media. And, the university wanted to ditch the image as a party school and develop a reputation for academic excellence.
The first step on the way...end Halloween...and spring fling and any other celebration that resulted in riots in the streets, property damage and house parties with in excess of 200 guests. It even meant cleaning up the student ghetto. But first and foremost, it meant killing Halloween.

The university did its part by ordering a fall recess, at first for a week surrounding Halloween, and in later years for just a few days close to the weekend of Halloween. The dorms were closed, the parking lots emptied and anyone without prior authorization to park on campus during the weekend was ticketed and towed.