What does Halloween mean to you? Costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating? Hayrides, haunted houses, and horror stories? Many do not know the truth about Halloween, and Penn State Berks plans to change that when Erica Pulaski, Michele Ramsey and Cheryl Nicholas present “The Truth About Halloween” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27, in the Perkins Student Center Auditorium and via Zoom. This presentation is free and open to the public.
All three presenters share a love of the Halloween season, as well as a great deal of knowledge about its history. Pulaski, director of enrollment management, organized the college’s first Fall Fest in 2018, which included “witching hour” haunted tours. Ramsey, associate professor of communication arts and sciences and women's studies, teaches a course titled “Rhetoric of American Horror Films.” She and Nicholas, associate professor of communication arts and sciences and global studies, have organized student trips to Salem, Massachusetts to study the witch trials of 1692. For Nicholas, one of her main areas of research deals with Hantu (ghosts) in her homeland of Malaysia, how people of different faiths and cultures have adopted ghosts into everyday life, and how those ghosts can be used to explore fears and taboos in society.
Penn State Berks reserves the right to limit the photography and/or recording of any program. The permitted or prohibited activities during a particular program will be announced at the beginning of the event and/or included in the printed program. All media requesting interviews and/or access to photograph and/or tape any program must contact the Office of Strategic Communications at 610-396-6053.
This presentation is a part of “Halloweek,” a week-long celebration with activities and events sponsored by Penn State Berks student Lion Ambassadors, the Campus Activities Board, Student Government Association, and the Arts & Lecture Series.