Naperville Settlement hosted its annual  All Hallow’s Eve celebration this month on Oct.  20 and 21. Spanning a total of 12 acres and including a total of 24 haunted attractions, this year’s event was a spooky success.

Emma Vodick, a volunteer and social media coordinator for the event, helps put the event on every year.

“This year’s All Hallows Eve was definitely a successful one,” Vodick said. “We had nearly 4,000 visitors attend [the event] this past weekend.”

A recreation of H. H. Holmes’ Murder Castle in the Martin Mitchell Mansion was included in the lineup this year, according to student volunteer and junior Julia Newcomb. Designed by former Disney artist, R. J. Ogren, it attracted the largest crowd.

“The mansion is always a really big deal,” Newcomb said. “The line gets all the way across the grounds, and sometimes there will be up to an hour wait.”

There were some other new additions to the event, all of which received a positive response from event-goers.

“Since we have so many amazing performances that all end up attracting a line it’s hard to pick just one [favorite],” Vodick said. “However, we had some new attractions that did incredibly well.”

The event included Magical Starlight Theatre’s new Harry Potter performance titled “Escape from Gringotts.” Also included was a new haunted house performed by the Kaneland Arts Initiative, based off Lindsay Currie’s middle grade book, “The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street.”

There were returning favorites that include the fire-spinners from the Ohio Burn Unit.

“They put on an incredibly entertaining performance,” Vodick said.

Because of the busy schedule, Vodick encourages more volunteer work from the student body.

“This year relied heavily on adult volunteers during the actual event, however there were some opportunities for student volunteers to get involved,” she said. “Opportunities included setup and breakdown before and after the event, and a limited number of volunteer opportunities for distributing programs during the first few hours of All Hallow’s Eve was also open to high school students.”

Naper Settlement’s All Hallow’s Eve is promoted as a festive way for friends and family to get outside and explore the museum grounds.

“It’s a great opportunity to get out of the house and celebrate Halloween,” Vodick said. “It’s also a great community event with local theater groups, actors and volunteers all helping to create an incredibly successful event. We love seeing the wide range of age groups and are incredibly happy to put together such a community-based event that everybody can enjoy.”