The smell of autumn leaves and whipped cream lingered in the air as “Nightmare on Normal Street” attendees buzzed around the Halloween-themed room Tuesday evening.

Hosted by the Mahurin Honors College and the Honors Social Planning Board, Nightmare on Normal Street is an annual Halloween party that boasts a costume competition, a movie screening, snacks and the opportunity to pie a member of HonorsToppers, an MHC student service organization. Nightmare on Normal Street began four years ago to bring students together near the night of fright.

The event featured a variety of student costumes. One dressed as Mahurin Honors College instructor Crystal Bohlander, another as Strawberry Shortcake. There were also pair and group costumes like one duo dressed as Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus from “Phineas and Ferb.”

After the costume competition, “Hocus Pocus” was projected onto a large screen outside. The festivities continued with the Disney classic in the background.

The event that garnered the most participants was the pieing. For $3, one could pie an HonorsTopper, and for $5, they offered the chance for two pies, a balloon animal and an entry in a raffle.

HonorsToppers organized the pieing as a fundraising opportunity for Dance Big Red, an event that raises money for Norton’s Children’s Hospital Cardiology.

Abram Tingle, a junior electrical engineering major and HonorsTopper, was pied over 20 times, the most of anyone there. 

He said he was willing to be pied to benefit charity.  asked why he was willing to be pied, he said it was because it was for charity.

According to Walker Bell, a junior double majoring in Chinese and International Affairs, who serves on the DBR fundraising committee, MHC ranked number three in fundraising for DBR last year.

Through their fundraising during the evening the students raised over $250, which is more than the previous year.

News Reporter Malone Farmer can be reached at [email protected].