Halloween is now in Burlington -- More than a week of activities kicks off this weekend

By Janine Anderson

Saturday, October 22, 2005 2:05 AM CDT

BURLINGTON - Halloween starts a week early in Burlington, with tours of the haunted woods near Honey Creek and midnight showings of the 1968 flesh-eating-zombie classic "Night of the Living Dead."

The tours and movie this weekend are a preview for the annual Spooky City events on Oct. 29, when Downtown Burlington becomes a Halloween paradise.

Mary Sutherland, a Burlington resident and paranormal researcher, runs the weekend tours in a wooded park near Honey Creek. She said the woods are home to many spirits and that she has found portals and gateways into other spiritual realms there.

"I've actually ran out of the woods a couple times myself," she said. "People feel the spirits touch them on their face, lift their hair, write on their backs. It gets a little scary but people love it. It isn't demonic or anything like that. The spirits get excited that people are there. Some are pranksters, some want attention. They want to make their presence known.

"I've never had an encounter there with anything demonic. I would never, never take somebody anyplace I felt was like that. I believe too much in this stuff."

More people come on the tours around Halloween, she said, and while the people that come out this time of year may be more thrill-seeker than true believer, she's happy to have them around.

"People love the paranormal," she said. "That's why sci-fi is so popular. People love it. They love the idea that there's something out there besides what they see in their everyday life. I think we are all a little bit thrill seekers. That's our human nature."

For those thrill-seekers, the perfect place to end up after a tour of the haunted woods is the midnight Spooktacular show at the Plaza Theater. Theater owners Kevin and Janell Alvarez have lined up one of only five theatrical copies of "Night of the Living Dead," the classic 1968 zombie film. The film will be shown at midnight tonight. Next weekend, the midnight film is "Nightmare on Elm Street 2."

Kevin Alvarez said the movie is a perfect choice for a pre-Halloween outing. The movie is rated PG-13, a popular rating for horror movies, he said.

"It makes you think you're seeing gore and stuff," he said. "It keeps you on the edge of your seat. If it's PG-13 the teenagers come out in droves. They love it. When you get to the R movies people shy away, but PG-13 seems to be where it's at."

Sutherland and Alvarez said Halloween is a great time for families to get out and do something different together.

"Burlington provides a safe environment for kids to go out and have a good time," Alvarez said. "This is a real good event for the community. I think all the kids have fun. I like to see parents and grandparents bringing their children. I like seeing it when grandma looks at their son or daughter and see the smiles on their faces."

For Sutherland, Halloween is one of the few times during the year when more people take a serious look at the unexplained, the spooky and the weird, things she looks into every day.

"It's nice to have a little magic in your life," she said. "All we do is have a 9-to-5 life. We give people the alternative and show them something new."

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