Halloween

Allegheny County's Kane Community Living Center in McKeesport will begin accepting patients, including seniors, to its new post-acute care drug addiction unit. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says it's a sad necessity in fighting an opioid crisis that's affecting all ages.

Everyone has that one Halloween they remember -- sleeping with one eye open after a terrifying movie, gorging yourself on trick-or-treating loot and that one embarrassing childhood costume you just can't get over. Here are some tales from the WESA and WYEP offices of Halloweens past. 

How an unexplained recording can make you internet famous

Brian Siewiorek – WYEP Production Director

In a previous life, Brian worked as a reporter.

Everyone has that one Halloween they remember -- sleeping with one eye open after a terrifying movie, gorging yourself on trick-or-treating loot and that one embarrassing childhood costume you just can't get over. Here are some tales from the WESA and WYEP offices of Halloweens past. 

When your dad's inability to use tools is the scariest thing about Halloween

Megan Harris -- WESA Digital Editor/Producer

  BOO! Halloween is finally here. WESA’s Josh and Sarah and Yelp Pittsburgh’s Rachel are here with all the spooky details for this weekend! We’ll tell you where to go to celebrate Halloween, plus read on for a creepy story about the Pittsburgh Community Broadcast Center.

Seemingly, the scariest thing that can happen to a road in Pennsylvania is closing for construction. But author and Duquesne University archivist Thomas White has made driving in Pittsburgh much more frightening with his new book “Haunted Roads of Western Pennsylvania.” White sat down with Essential Pittsburgh’s Paul Guggenheimer to talk about the book and its ghastly contents.

For over 25 years sisters Suzanne Vincent and Jean Mackenzie Vincent have used their psychic abilities to help others. We’ll learn how they’ve been helping law enforcement and families solve cold cases. And in time for Halloween they’ll tell us about their experiences as ghost hunters.

The build-up of anticipation of Halloween finally comes to a peak this weekend! Pittsburgh has a spider web of events to choose from for you holiday celebration.

Friday, October 30th is the Chills, Thrills, and Gills party at the Pittsburgh Zoo at 8 PM. The Pittsburgh Zoo is partnering with the Scare House, so guests can get VIP RIP admission to the haunted house and its horrifying basement (if you dare). The zoo’s aquarium will host a DJ, and there will be snacks and a costume contest. The event is 21+.

   What’s on the agenda this weekend? Whiskey, beer, zombies, and of course, Halloween! But first, coffee.

It’s Specialty Coffee Week in Pittsburgh, and the events wrap up this weekend, starting with An Evening of Curated Espresso Beverages on Friday, October 23rd from 5-8 PM at Commonplace Voluto in the East End. You can try signature espresso beverages, espresso-based specialty cocktails, and hopefully avoid correction of pronunciation of espresso as “expresso.” Saturday, October 24th features a “Worst Coffee Competition” at 21st Street Coffee from 5-7 PM. You can get in one last coffee run at Sunday, October 25th’s Taste of KLVN at the Melwood Screening Room from 3-5 PM, providing samples from Pittsburgh’s newest roasting additions.

Halloween is the second biggest consumer holiday after Christmas. But what are its origins? Pop culture contributor Joe Wos joins us to provide a history of All Hallow’s Eve and how it’s been celebrated in the Steel City.

For over twenty years, Bill Cardille hosted Chiller Theater, a television institution for Pittsburghers. Running from 1963-1984 on Channel 11, Chiller Theater was a late-night movie program highlighting spooky films from throughout cinema history. 

Cardille also acted in the original 1968 “Night of the Living Dead,” as well as the 1990 remake of the film. He and his daughter Lori Cardille join us to discuss the show, their current projects and Bill's illustrious career on stage and screen. 

Bricolage Theatre's "Midnight Radio" has created its own stage adaptation of the horror film "Carrie," with a musical called SCarrie which casts Carrie as a senior at Alderdice High School. We'll talk with Tami Dixon, creator of this musical version, and SCarrie actor Connor McCanlus.

Halloween is a great time of year to be a thrill-seeker. Many people search for an adrenaline kick of fear in haunted attractions, horror movies and pranks. But why? What makes a good scare so thrilling? And do other cultures enjoy recreational fear in the same ways?

If you’ve visited Scarehouse recently you may have been part of research which explores these questions. Greg Siegle, Director of the Program in Cognitive Affective Neuroscience (PICAN) at the University of Pittsburgh and Pitt Sociologist Margee Kerr talk about their Ecological Emotional Experience Protocol (EEEP!) experiments and Kerr’s forthcoming book, “Scream: Adventures in the Upside of Fear.”

If you’re trying to avoid sweets, October may not be the best month to test your resolve. With Halloween right around the corner, contributor Rebecca Harris looks at the business of candy.

Each year as Halloween approaches, people flock to corn mazes, pumpkin patches and local ghost tours.

According to Samantha Bennett, storyteller and guide for Haunted Pittsburgh Tours, this city is extraordinarily haunted.

“I didn’t even know how haunted it was until I moved here." she says, "It is packed with ghosts because Pittsburgh’s history is filled with labor strife and industrial accidents which gives it a lot of spiritual activity."

Fear and fright have become big business.  Young “hauntreprenuers” thrive during the Halloween season by enticing thrill-seekers to commercial Haunted Houses and families to Halloween attractions. 

Business contributor Rebecca Harris says the Halloween attraction industry appeals to 18-34 year olds looking for a fright and the big corporation looking to grab the young market.