Halloween night passed without fright, as the University was sedate and many students found amusement in off-campus activities.
Many took to the streets of Chapel Hill for a festive, Mardi Gras-like scene. College students in costumes ranging from the scary to the absurd paraded down Franklin Street, with many taking ample opportunity to hit up the bars along the way.
Such a mixture of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke students is fairly rare, but a good-times vibe meant no Tobacco Road animosity on this night.
"All the ones that I didn't know, I got along with fine," said senior Katie McNabb, who said she went to Franklin Street with her friends from Carolina. "There was a little bit of joking, obviously, but it was fun."
Chapel Hill police estimated a crowd of 73,000 people flocked to the city for Friday night's festivities, with few reports of crime. The most serious incident occurred when three North Carolina A&T State University students were allegedly robbed at gunpoint at 3:20 a.m. Saturday, the Herald-Sun of Durham reported.
Some of those who did not go to Franklin Street said they had had less-than-outstanding experiences in the past. "I've been there before and it was way too crowded and it just wasn't fun," senior Ryan Heinberg said.
Competing with the allure of Franklin Street was Devil's Eve, a Campus Council fun-and-games-on-the-quad production that usually falls on Parents' Weekend but made a move to Halloween this year. Attendance was low, however, as few students showed up to enjoy the event's physical activities, beer on points and Appetite for Destruction, a Guns-N-Roses cover band.
Campus Council President Anthony Vitarelli said Devil's Eve went off without a hitch and called it successful, but acknowledged that attendance could have been hampered by competition with Franklin Street and a host of other off-campus Halloween options. Vitarelli added that the council would explore the possibility of holding Devil's Eve on Halloween again next year.
Despite the bevy of unique events, many students found themselves spending a relatively typical Friday night at a packed Shooters, where sororities Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi held a party. "Millions of people were at Shooters," said junior Peter Shults.
Others said they passed up on a big blowout and spent their Halloween quietly, enjoying the night with friends or catching up on work in classic Duke style.
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