Naper Settlement hosted its annual All Hallows Eve event on Oct. 17-18. It featured magic shows, haunted houses and live music. This year saw the biggest turnout for the event ever, with over 50,000 tickets sold in total.

All Hallows Eve takes the historical backdrop of Naper Settlement and transforms them into haunted houses, with performances by auditioned actors. 

“All the actors are giving 110%… they really want to do it, they enjoy it, they try to make it as fun as possible,” said Jen Turning, a volunteer at All Hallows Eve. 

Throughout the event, actors snuck up behind people in lines and gave them jump scares. They stay in character the entire time, even when escorting people in and out of the house. 

Some of the new events this year include a bubble performer, sword swallower and laser tag. 

Denise Cartina, Public Relations and Social Media Team Leader of Naper Settlement, says the bubble performer was one of the most popular attractions this year. 

“[The bubbles] were there for a local organization called joyful bubbles, and so they made these huge unique bubble wands and made their own unique cool bubbles,” Cartina said. 

Whitney Adams is a mother of two. This was her second time at All Hallows Eve. 

“Some of the things could be a little longer, and there could be more things for people to do, since a lot of people show up,” Adams says. 

Most of the haunted houses only lasted one to two minutes, while the lines were up to 45 minutes. 

All in all, Adams says it was worth it.

“I mean for twenty bucks, it’s a pretty good deal. There isn’t that much you can do for twenty bucks,” she said. 

Another highlight for many visitors was the live music from the School of Rock. 

“My favorite part of the event was the live music. I like the whole center part of it with the food and music,” said Aubrey Hormadka, first time visitor to the event. 

For next year, Cartina and the Naper Settlement team are hoping to “add more activities by looking at what activities were successful this year.” 

She was excited about the record attendance. 

“Overall, it was really successful and we had a great turnout, which is awesome and so we’re kind of just … looking forward to next year,” Cartina said.