How Columbus organizations and institutions have celebrated Halloween

The March of Dimes sponsored a haunted house at Sunbury Rd. and McCutcheon Rd. with elaborate scenes and characters for Halloween in 1979. Bill Boyer is photographed portraying a demented doctor with a victim on the operating table played by Maryland Munk.

Halloween has largely been celebrated as a community event since the late 1800s. Let’s look at how Columbus organizations and institutions have celebrated the spooky season in the last 50 years.

The COSI Women’s Association, Centerisma, fundraised for the Columbus science educational center by hosting annual adults-only Halloween parties beginning in 1970 and continuing through 2001. These events usually included a costumed contest, a buffet, a bar, and musical performances.

The theme for the 1988 COSI Unmasked adult costume party was a haunted coal mine. Matt Taylor was dressed and ready to go even as he was placing some final decorations before the Halloween bash began that evening.

During the mid-1980s, the event became known as COSI Unmasked, and each year a new theme was used for the decorations and encouraged for the guests’ costumes. The profits raised from ticket sales would support the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) generally, or go to specific

exhibits, depending on the need.

The crowd-favorite at the Centerisma’s COSI Halloween party in 1983 was the six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon beers. After being introduced during the costume parade, the cans appeared to spray foam as if they had just been cracked open. The group achieved this effect with small fire extinguishers, and the audience loved it!

The Ohio Theatre hosted the Halloween Spookout event beginning in 1975 through the 1980s. The concept was simple: the theater would screen a silent film at midnight, and resident organist Dennis James would accompany the film on the Mighty Morton Organ in the way that silent films used to be accompanied by live music in the 1920s.

Ohio Theatre guests, many in creative costumes, enter the 11th Annual Halloween Spookout event. Costumed attendees were welcomed to participate in the costume parade on stage before Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera began at midnight.

James leaned into his role as the evening's entertainment and would typically have a dramatic entrance and a costume to match.

Dennis James dressed for the occasion of the Fourth Annual Halloween Spookout at the Ohio Theatre in 1978. James started the Spookout event in 1975 after becoming the house organist for the Ohio Theatre.

The audience was also encouraged to attend in costume and take part in a parade on stage and compete for prizes in the hour before the film began. The Spookout became a popular event for families and friends to attend and the annual event tended to sell out.

In the fall, several haunted houses would pop up across the Columbus metro area. Many of these houses were sponsored by charities to raise money for their organizations, like the March of Dimes, or to raise funds for community service projects of the sponsoring organization, like the local chapters of the Jaycees.

In 1978, the Upper Arlington Jaycees Auxiliary sponsored a Halloween House on the lower level of the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. Brian Thomas and Robbie DiPaolo demonstrated how Penelope, the talking pumpkin, would greet the children before they entered the house for games, prizes, candy and fun.

The locations for these haunted “houses” varied wildly, from a single room in a strip mall, a barn, a Victorian home, or even multiple trailers linked together to create a cave of scares. The scenery, sound and visual effects, and the costumes of the characters went a long way to creating the immersion for the visitors. Some leaned into family-friendly fun with games, food, and treats, while others were trying their best to provide enjoyably frightening experiences. Whether you went as a family for some Halloween-themed fun, or for thrills and chills with a group of friends, you would know that you were supporting your community while doing it.

Bruce Bartoo coordinated what he believed was the first 24-hour horror movie marathon in Columbus at the Drexel North movie theater in the late 1980s. As the theater's manager, Bartoo had previously started an annual 24-hour science fiction marathon in 1987, and since the first two sci-fi marathons were well-received, he started its horror equivalent for the 1988 Halloween season.

The Drexel North Theater hosted its first 24-hour horror movie marathon in 1988. This pair of cinephile skeletons sharing some popcorn in the theater were used to promote the event.

After announcing their plans for the first event, ticket orders were mailed in from around Ohio as well as Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Michigan. Suffice it to say, people from all over were excited and the event was a success. The marathon became an annual Halloween tradition, and in 2009, it became known as "Shock Around the Clock."

The marathon experience often included games, prizes, and costume contests. The event took place at Drexel North at 4250 N. High St.; at Drexel Grandview Theater, now Grandview Theater and Drafthouse at1247 Grandview Ave., and at the Drexel Theatre, 2254 E. Main St., in Bexley. This event brought horror fans from Columbus and the surrounding areas together for nearly 30 years until it ended in 2019.

The Ohio Historical Society, now the Ohio History Connection, initiated a family-friendly Halloween event called "All Hallows’ Eve" in 1985 and still holds the event in the Ohio Village each autumn. History interpreters share about 19th century folk traditions around Halloween with the visitors. The interpreters are dressed in period clothing and take on the role of villagers as they educate those in attendance.

Historical interpreter, Frank Egger, presents Ben Leland with a “soul cake” and explains the history of Halloween treats during the 10th Annual All Hallows’ Eve event at the Ohio Village.

Some of the activities include fortune telling, pumpkin carving, crafts and games – and the night ends with a reading of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The Ohio Village has been undergoing a renovation and revitalization project since 2024 so we have gone a couple of years without All Hallows’ Eve. The event returned this year on Oct. 17 and Oct. 24 to large crowds.

If you would like to learn more about central Ohio’s haunted history, you still have time. The Columbus Metropolitan Library will be a Spooky Columbus program from 6-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26 at the Linden Branch, 2223 Cleveland Ave.

Kids can create Spooky Spider Web paintings from 4-5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26 at the Columbus Metropolitan Main Library, 96 S. Grant Ave. A not-so-spooky Halloween Story Time will be offered at the Main Library on Oct. 28 from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Study Room 3; on Oct. 29 from 10:30-11 a.m. in Meeting Room 3A; and on Oct. 31 from 11 to 11:30 a.m. in the children's library area.

To learn about Halloween events at Columbus Metropolitan Library this week, check out the library's events page at https://events.columbuslibrary.org/events.

Nicole D. Sutton is Black Heritage Special Collections Librarian with the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How Columbus organizations and institutions have celebrated Halloween