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No, that wasn’t a real cow you saw grazing outside the campus center or a male hula-dancer with coconuts as breasts. Those go-go girls or that Jewish Uncle Sam just couldn’t be found at any other time of the year other than Halloween. If you thought students at Wesleyan couldn’t get any stranger looking, then you obviously missed all the bizarre characters that visited campus over the weekend.

Many students know the historical background that surrounds dressing up for Halloween. It originated in Ireland where people feared that on All Hallow’s Eve ghosts and spirits would roam free. Scary clothes were necessary to ward off these spirits.

But just by walking around campus and taking a look at many of the costumes, one can see that the concept of Halloween has changed greatly over the years.

On Friday and Saturday, Halloween costume parties at Intercultural House, Eclectic and Psi-U gave students the chance to show-off their costumes.

For the most part there were few costumes that had the intent to scare. Many students used the holiday to dress as they wouldn’t normally. Some dressed in a fashion that society would normally shun. Others dressed as someone or something they aspire to be in real life.

"Halloween is an opportunity to be something you aren’t normally with no stigmas attached," said Erin Larkin ’03.

Instead of donning an actual costume, many females dressed in tight or skimpy clothes.

"For women a lot dressed sexy," Larkin said. "If you can’t come up with an interesting costume many dress as scandalously as possible."

This was the case with a group of female friends who supposedly went dressed as Skittles.

"Despite the cold, people still wanted to show some skin. I saw a group of people in different colored bikini outfits with their bodies painted different colors," said Emily Barth ’01, who went as Britney Spears.

Some costumes straddled the line between sexy and creative.

"I’m dressed as cotton candy but my friends call me the pink slut," one partygoer was heard saying.

But apart from the costumes that showed a lot of skin, there were also many costumes that showed a large amount of creativity. There were also group costumes, some of which were quite successful, as they were easily identifiable by other students.

One group of friends came as Harry Potter characters complete with a Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Madame Trelawney and an unnamed Quidditch Seeker.

Other people came dressed as concepts rather than people. A group of friends were various holidays. They had a menorah, a Christmas tree complete with lights, one person who was the Fourth of July and another who was New Year’s.

But many times groups didn’t work out. This was the case with a lonely Tigger whose Piglet and Eyeore wimped out on her. 

Some ended up being characters from the same work accidentally. An unrelated Peter Pan, Wendy, and Tinker Bell all were found Saturday night.

Pop-culture reared its ugly hear in many a costume including both male and female Britney Spears and Ricky Martins.

Stu Sherman ’03 thought of an imaginative costume. He embodied Magritte’s surreal painting "Son of Man" by wearing a suit and tie, and a Bowler hat with an apple taped to the front.

"The best costume I saw was someone dressed as a frat alum. He was unshaven and greasy and wore a white T-shirt that said ‘frat alum,’" Larkin said.

Some people put a lot of work into getting the perfect costume.

Adam Hann-Byrd ’04 told of his pains taking attempts to get his costume.

"After ditching the idea of becoming a public safety officer because I couldn’t get a costume I was driving down 66 and saw a Dunkin’ Donuts and thought I’ll be Fred the donut guy. So first we buttered the people working there by buying half a dozen donuts, then I asked if I could purchase a visor," Hann-Byrd said.

But unfortunately, they refused. Being an implacable Wesleyan student, Hann-Byrd decided to give it another shot remembering the other Dunkin Donuts establishment on Main Street.

"I said to the people working there that I have a peculiar request and would like to buy a visor. They said that we’ll just give you ours but they didn’t have them on them so I had to come back the next day. When I came back they had the whole outfit except for the visor. After searching for five minutes she finally found it in a bucket of dirty water with a mop in it," he said.

Fortunately for his friends, Hann-Byrd laundered the visor prior to wearing the costume.

"Now Fred the donut guy is ready to make donuts," he said.

Students have really put some work into this holiday celebration. Perhaps it’s a regression to childhood, or maybe just the result of a bunch of college students having a little fun.