Friday the 13th--not another sequel

Campus recognizes infamous day with some fun events...and registration

Whether it is avoiding the plaque embedded in the center of Tappan Square or rehashing ghost stories about Finney Chapel or one of the co-ops, Oberlin has a place in its heart for superstition. This Friday the 13th there are a couple of events to occupy thrill-seekers but surprisingly few in comparison to the interest in the unexplained which exists on campus.

The Student Union is hosting a series of scary movies to entice students. They suggest coming in costume (with a prize for the scariest provided) to see The Silence of the Lambs at 10 p.m., The Birds at 12:15 a.m. and Texas Chainsaw Massacre II at 2:20 a.m. The movies are free and with a large enough turnout should be a fun Friday the 13th late-night activity. If all of the strange things which usually occur have not done their share of spooking, a good film about murderers who are good at their trade could not hurt. Everyone needs a good outlet from those stressful papers and exams; it may as well be come from being scared silly.

Also on the calendar for Friday is the traditional organ pump. At midnight Finney will shake once again with organ music, this time played by senior Christopher Wells and graduate student Aymeric Dupre la Tour. The concert has not been publicized very much but will hopefully packthe chapel full of appreciative listeners by the time of the concert. Traditionally, audience members end up lying prostrate on stage to hear and feel the vibrations simultaneously and this in itself can be startling to a latecomer. During past concerts students have come looking particularly Goth, but this may be due to the crowd the concert draws, not the event itself.

Throughout the weekend other events take on a rather grim tone, while not directly related to the 13th. The dance group Troika Ranch will be performing in Oberlin both Friday and Saturday, with one of their pieces, entitled Vera's Body, revolving around someone who has died but then returns to the living. Sunday, Dr. Eugene Chadbourne and his band Horror Part One will be playing at the Cat in the Cream, and with such a name this "avant-folk troubadour banjo anti-legend" could prove to be anything.

Unfortunately, the unlucky day (or lucky day, depending on one's view) falls right around registration this year. This, at the least, may provide an excuse for why as a senior a student is not allowed to register for a class which is still very empty. Many a complaint has been heard about the frustrations of trying to register in general, and with such an unlucky day falling around the same time, complaints have some direction.

Certainly the many stories released during Halloween in the OSCA newsletter, The Mill, will evolve as the 13th influences the spirits around Oberlin. Harkness's and Old B's ghosts will probably be just as active as they have been before, fogging mirrors and knocking on doors. As for any cut-and-dry answers, however, these stories may rest with the yet unproven tales of government cover-ups of alien visits and the unexplained circles in the hay fields.