Looking to Scare Up Fun? : Likely Haunts for a Spooky Night

Having trouble deciding where to take that special date tonight? An insane asylum, a graveyard or a swamp might be alternatives to that humdrum dinner-and-a-movie routine.

A bevy of bewitching goings-on and haunted happenings are scheduled today for stouthearted souls looking for a little Halloween terror.

Celebrating its 25th Halloween in the fright business, Scream in the Dark is haunting a new habitat this year at the Cajon Speedway in El Cajon. Students from several high schools have donned their most ghoulish garb and will lead terror seekers into Frankenstein’s Lab, The Mortuary, The Torture Chamber and The Graveyard, to name a few.

Chamber of Horrors

The not-so-meek can also venture to the Museum of Man in Balboa Park, where the rooms have been turned into a chamber of horrors, a mad doctor’s laboratory and a gruesome graveyard. In its 15th year, the haunted museum has added a jungle area with dinosaurs, as well as a carnival. The haunting begins tonight at 7 p.m.

The Children’s Museum of San Diego has been transformed into a spooky spot with its first Mystery Museum. Geared for children between the ages of 2 and 12, mask-making, face-painting and fortune-telling will figure in the festivities.

If you’re looking for a monster bash, the first Broomstick Ball, sponsored by SERVE San Diego and XTRA NewsTalk Radio, will be held tonight from 5 to midnight at the Omni Hotel in downtown San Diego.

Costume Parade

For North County revelers, a new house of horror has joined the ranks. The doors of the Poway City Haunted House, 13094 Bowron Road, will creak open at 6 p.m. tonight. A costume parade for children 3 and older will be held at 7:30 p.m.

The Downtown Business Assn. of Escondido is readying a bewitching but safe Halloween. More than 40 stores, which have been decorated, hoarded treats for pint-size trick-or-treaters and put together an elaborate haunted house. The haunted house will be open from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Civic Center Shopping Plaza.

On a safety note, Alvarado Hospital, Mission Bay Hospital and Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group will offer free X-ray screening of candy Halloween night.

Free trick-or-treat bags containing safety hints for children and parents, fluorescent strips of tape and penlights will be distributed in the front lobby of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla today from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.