This weekend on the Pentacrest, visitors will be able to leap into universes they only ever imagined and to peer into the worlds of characters such as Captain Kirk, Marty Mcfly, and Harry Potter.
The eighth-annual Creepy Campus Crawl is a free event beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at the Museum of Natural History and Old Capitol Museum.
“It was discussed that once the Old Capitol Museum reopened in 2006 that the two museums, with the Department of Geoscience, join together to do a larger event open to the public,” said Shalla Ashworth, the associate director of Old Capitol Museum.
Ashworth said that in the first year of the crawl, more than 1,000 visitors attended in two hours. This year, museum officials plan on making it even bigger and better with a collaboration between the two museums.
This year marks the first time the two museums have used collaborative themes for the event. Between the two of them, past themes include thing such as “Night at the Museum,” “Clue,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
“This year’s theme is ‘Adventures Through Time & Space,’ ” said Casey Westlake, who works as the Assistant to the Director/ Communications Coordinator for the Pentacrest Museums. “The Museum of Natural History will focus on space travel, featuring activities and decorations inspired by shows and movies such as Star Wars, Dr. Who, Star Trek, and Firefly. In the Old Capitol, the theme will focus on time travel and feature activities from stories like Harry Potter, Back to the Future, and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.’ ”
To help with these activities, the Old Capitol and Natural History Museum have partnered with scientists and historians from various university departments.
“Students, staff, and volunteers will be dressed in costumes from these great tales to help our guests on their journey,” Westlake said.
Both she and Ashworth look forward to seeing guests come in costumes to have a good time.
“This is a great program to get folks into the museums from all walks of life,” Ashworth said. “It really is a magical evening for all involved.”
— by Isaac Hamlet
