A spooky evening of pumpkin carving nearly became a horror show when approximately half of the 60 uncarved pumpkins disappeared from their position situated outside of Reed. Event hosts included Behrend Bookworms, Greener Behrend, and Random Acts of Kindness (RAK), with donated newspapers curtesy of the Behrend Beacon.

Held between 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday Oct. 8, the event began with only half of the anticipated pumpkins, despite eager students gradually filing into McGarvey Commons. It wasn’t until around 6:15 p.m., roughly 45 minutes after the pumpkins were initially discovered missing, they were tracked to Wilson Grove and promptly returned to Reed, much to the excitement and relief of the students and organizers involved. 

When asked about the confusion, Alivia Schell-Hernandez, president of Behrend Bookworms and RAK, attributed the misplaced pumpkins to what she viewed to be a pattern of miscommunication by Student Leadership and Involvement (SLI). Schell-Hernandez claimed she had only been made aware of several other pumpkin carving events approved by SLI, on Tuesday, a fact that may have altered her plans for the event had she known earlier. She suspects that one such event hosted by Psi-Chi on Wednesday at Wilson Grove likely resulted in the pumpkins being moved to the wrong location, despite clear signage labeling them as “Property of RAK”. 

Schell-Hernandez stated, “…the people who were here for setup were so stressed out. I kind of had to tell everybody ‘Go have fun. Forget about it. Carve a pumpkin.’” 

Despite its dicey start, the remaining evening quickly recovered with dozens of students carving their own jack-o’-lanterns and enjoying a warm reprieve from the cool autumn winds. Spooky music played, pumpkin juice covered old newspapers, and a constant thrum of laughter and conversation filled the air. 

All carved jack-o’-lanterns have been donated to Waldameer’s annual Pumpkin Walk, which was held Oct. 9-10 from 5:30-9:30 p.m.