Zombies, Lady Gagas and Mario Kart characters wandered the dark streets across from campus, praising other people’s costumes and wreaking havoc. It was Halloween on Hillsborough Street.
The Haunted Hillsborough Hike took place from sundown until the early hours of the morning Sunday. Many came out to hit the bars and clubs in their costumes while others came to observe the mayhem.
“We came to see what it’s all about,” Curtis Martin, a freshman in chemical engineering, said. Martin dressed as Batman for the Haunted Hike.
Hannah Crigler, a freshman in education, dressed as his sidekick, Robin.
“We’ve never been before,” Crigler said.
The Haunted Hike is an annual tradition. Some people spend a great deal of time on their costumes in preparation for the event. This year, a group of students dressed as characters from the video game Mario Kart with handmade cardboard “go-karts” they raced up and down the street.
Other creative costumes ranged from the cast of Inception to Alice and the Mad Hatter. There was even a group dressed as the Publisher’s Clearing House staff, complete with a camera and a huge check. Partygoers ran up to accept their award and gave tearful speeches into the camera.
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street holds a similar kind of celebration, but some people from UNC-CH made the trip down to Hillsborough Street to partake in the festivities at NCSU instead.
“We came because it’s fun and closer than UNC,” Kendal Draper, a senior in art and design at NCSU, said.
Some people go to the Haunted Hike not for the partying, but to observe the different costumes people wear. From the humorous — such as Zach Galifianakis’s character from The Hangover — to the bizarre — such as a ghoul in tattered robes with glowing red eyes.
“I like going and seeing all the creative costumes,” Mary Burkey, a junior in physics, said.
Security for the event was increased this year. There were at least two or three Raleigh police officers on every block, observing the partygoers and keeping the peace if necessary.
The Haunted Hike, while still crowded, was not as unruly as it used to be, according to Officer D.C. Davis with the Raleigh Police Department. Davis has worked on Hillsborough Street for 12 years, and said the crowds were a lot worse.
“It’s a lot more tame than it used it be,” Davis said.
