Turtles Try for Halloween Treats

For three first-years, today’s Halloween festivities have been weeks in the making.

The students plan to go door-to-door as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and have spent the entire month of October looking for sweatpants the perfect shade of amphibian green.

“These pants are very ‘Turtles,’” said Michael W. Reckhow ’06, holding up a pair of stretchy green slacks.

The group—Reckhow, Robert M. Koenig ’06 and Pablo M. Ros ’06—has downloaded old episodes of the cartoon show and has watched them repeatedly to get into character. That’s how they decided Reckhow should be Michelangelo.

“We are still on the search for the perfect Splinter,” Ros said. “We have even tried out martial arts.”

Koenig said the group plans to trick-or-treat in Harvard Yard, with an emphasis on the “trick.”

“If I show up at someone’s door and they don’t have candy, I will blast my boombox and throw a one-man dance party in their common room to teach them a lesson,” he said.

Few students share this group’s level of enthusiasm for today’s holiday but many say they have thematic plans for All Hallows’ Eve.

A group of students in Dunster House will be making a daytime trip to Salem, Mass., home of the famous witch trials.

“We’re looking to be scared a bit,” said Kris J. Trujillo ’05, “but we’ll be back on campus for Adams House’s Drag Night. We’re doing a little bit of both Massachusetts and Harvard.”

Around the Square, employees from Herrell’s to Starbucks will be dressing up and distributing treats.

Herrell’s Ice Cream will have candy corn and pumpkin ice cream available, according to employee Arianne C. Doucette, who will be dressed as Marilyn Monroe.

First-year Harvard Business School student Emily S. Hoffman, who was shopping yesterday for flapper accessories at a crowded Hootenanny, said she plans to take an exam tomorrow in costume.

The Garage store was filled with Harvard students looking for last-minute accessories.

“I’m going for the ‘slutty witch’ look,” said Elizabeth C. Drummond ’04. “I already have a dress but need a hat to put a twist to the costume.”

Oona’s, a Square costume and novelty clothing shop, also seemed to attract customers interested in revealing clothing.

“The whole pimp and prostitute thing is still hot,” said owner Karen White.

This season’s best-selling costumes featured characters from the movie The Royal Tenenbaums, according to both White and Amy L. Lewis of Planet Aid, another Square clothing shop.

“It’s either Margot Tenenbaum or the Ben Stiller character who wears a track outfit,” says Lewis, who notes that cross-dressing is also in style this year.

“We’ve had trouble finding dresses that fit [men], so we put them in strapless numbers to accommodate their shoulders,” she said.

As for more traditional Halloween activities, the College’s Prefect Program held a pumpkin carving contest last night in the Yard and Winthrop House hosted a scary story reading.

Many House masters will be hosting Halloween open houses tonight.

The College Greens, held a “HalloGreen” party featuring candy, a speaker and a documentary film about military conflict in Iraq.

“We wanted to highlight the things in the world that really are scary,” says Stephen H. Milder ’04, a member of the group’s steering committee.

—Staff writer Maria S. Pedroza can be reached at mpedroza@fas.harvard.edu.