Terror Tours, Ghouls Galore Mark Full Bill for Goblins’ Big Night

Ghouls and goblins don’t stand a ghost of a chance to harm trick-or-treaters this Halloween, with all of the candy, carnivals and haunted-house screenings that have been scheduled for the most witching night of the year.

Halloween revelers with a taste for terror can get their fill at several haunted houses and other bewitching festivities organized throughout the county.

Stout-hearted souls can venture to the Museum of Man in Balboa Park, where the rooms have been turned into a chamber of horrors, a mad doctor’s laboratory and a gruesome graveyard.

‘Monster Mash’ on Tap

To get into the Halloween swing of things, the museum is also sponsoring a “Monster Mash” dance at 6 p.m. today with music provided by The Ghouls.

On Halloween itself, drama students from 14 high schools have joined to create the 22nd annual “Scream in the Dark” in its new fright quarters at the vacant Sears store on Cleveland Street. This new location has double the space of the former College Grove Shopping Center site for twice the toil and trouble. Students have decorated 21 rooms with themes from such horror films as “Psycho,” “Alien” and “Friday the 13th.” The most spine-chilling room will win a prize.

The Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park is the site of a “Halloween Terror Tour” sponsored by the Junior Theatre and the Civic Light Opera Assn. Haunted houses abound at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista and at Plaza Bonita in National City.

The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art has opted to scare people out of their socks with a double bill of horror from Italian film maker Dario Argento. “Creepers,” a film about a deformed killer who meets his match in a girl who has the ability to communicate telepathically with insects, will screen at 7:30 p.m., followed by “Suspiria” at 9 p.m.

Amnesty International is sponsoring a Halloween Ball at the Hotel San Diego at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Tarot Card Readings

A haunted house, palm and Tarot card readings, and costume contests will be featured as well as two dance floors and eight disc jockeys to spin a variety of ghostly tunes.

On a tamer note, the Promenade Shopping Center in Pacific Beach is holding a costume contest and will have magic shows beginning at noon on Halloween. A costume contest is also scheduled at Seaport Village and free psychic readings will be conducted at Mission Valley Center today and Saturday.

Walt Whitman Elementary School is holding a carnival on Halloween from 3 to 8 p.m., and Hilltop Drive Elementary School’s PTA is sponsoring a carnival with an Egyptian theme.

Three North County convalescent hospitals are offering Halloween Safe Nights for preschool and elementary school children as an alternative to door-to-door trick-or-treating. Safe Nights offer haunted houses, games, drawings, prizes and videos.

The three hospitals are: Santa Fe Convalescent Hospital, 944 Regal Road, Encinitas; Casa del Norte Convalescent Hospital, 1335 N. Nutmeg St., Escondido, and Rancho Bernardo Convalescent Hospital, 15632 Pomerado Road, Poway.

The Santa Fe and Casa del Norte hospitals will have their Safe Nights on Saturday; Rancho Bernardo’s is tonight. All three begin at 6 p.m.

To participate, a child must wear a costume and be accompanied by an adult and a large bag for candy.

Fun for Homeless Children

Another event, to keep homeless and downtown area children safe and off the streets, is a monster bash sponsored by the San Diego County Chiropractic Society on Halloween afternoon at the St. Vincent de Paul Center. About 30 chiropractors have donated their time to dress up and come to the shelter and serve meals, pass out candy and entertain.

“This is the fourth year the doctors have gone in and organized the party,” a spokeswoman for the Chiropractic Society said. “This year, we are opening the party to children in the downtown area to keep them off the street. About 200 children will participate.”

Though several hospitals in San Diego County are offering free X-ray screenings of candy as a community service, the director of the San Diego Poison Control Center said parents should do some screening of their own.

“The most important thing parents should do is to examine their children’s candy before they allow children to eat it,” said center director Dr. Anthony Manoguerra. “Anything that looks like the wrapper is torn or there are holes in the wrapper, they should just discard.”

X-rays can detect glass or metal in candy, but they cannot tell whether the candy is contaminated with poison. Therefore, it is equally important that parents know their children’s trick-or-treat route and tell their children not to eat anything until they get home, Manoguerra said.

Know Where Youths Are

“Know where your children are going to go. Don’t have them trick-or-treat in an unfamiliar neighborhood, where you don’t feel comfortable with them going.”

Manoguerra has never heard of a Halloween candy poisoning case in the San Diego area, but he agrees that it is better to be safe than sorry.

Over the past five years, there have been half a dozen reported incidents of candy that had been tampered with, San Diego Police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

“This is where needles were inserted into the candy,” Robinson said. “There have been no cases of contaminated or ‘laced’ candy, and there have been no serious injuries or fatalities.”

Hospitals offering the free X-ray screening Halloween night include Alvarado, AMI Mission Bay, Fallbrook and Scripps Memorial Hospitals in Chula Vista, La Jolla and Encinitas. Mercy Hospital will conduct free screenings Sunday morning, and Grossmont Hospital will do screenings Saturday night and Sunday morning.

A health and safety fair at Children’s Hospital last week focused on what parents can do to assure a safe night for their little goblins.

“It’s very important that parents go along with their children when they trick-or-treat,” said Children’s Hospital spokeswoman Terry Merryman. “Parents should know what route their children are taking if they don’t accompany them, and they should always tell children never to go into a house with strangers. A good rule is just to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood and at houses they know.

“As far as costumes go, it’s important that parents rely on safe painting and avoid masks which inhibit vision and breathing. Costumes should come well above the ankles so children don’t trip, and they should be brightly colored so they are highly visible to motorists.”