When wispy clouds creep across the harvest moon
this month, will you be out shivering in the cold
-- or snug inside, rubbing shoulders with ghosts
and goblins on GEnie?
  
Besides a costume party and the great files you'll
read about in a minute, you can have a high time
during two system-wide Halloween events this year.
Both begin on Thursday, October 27th, and run
through All Hallows Eve itself, Monday, October
31st. They promise gobs fun for the whole family.
  
Scavenger Hunt
  
GEnie's Halloween Scavenger Hunt will have you
romping quickly through Bulletin Boards and
Libraries in search of hidden Halloween treasures.
And you won't go hoarse hollaring, "Trick or
Treat!" because these goodies will speak to you
with obviously Halloween-type clues. Just to keep
things interesting, some hidden treasures may fade
like ghosts, so collect every one you see when you
see it (you'll know it when you do) since GEnie
members who find the most will win delightfully
ghoulish prizes including free time online.
  
You won't have to hunt blindfolded since a list of
RoundTables and Services where Scavenger Hunt
treats are hidden will be available at a
not-so-secret place online. Type HALLOWEEN at any
GEnie prompt to get there, and then start
scavenging.
  
Monster March
  
Keep your eyes wide open while you're in Real-Time
Conferences (RTCs) throughout GEnie in late
October, too. You could be the victim of a GEnie
monster! Rather than scaring you, these monsters
will award GEnie Gifts of Time to clever members
who recognize them for who -- or what -- they are.
Be sure check out any SKELETON or VAMPIRE you meet,
or anyone calling himself FRANKENSTEIN.
  
Learn more about GEnie's Scavenger Hunt and Monster
March (including likely RTC haunts) by typing
HALLOWEEN at any GEnie prompt starting on October
21st. That's where you'll need to report your
Scavenger Hunt finds, too. Another hint is that
Scavenger Hunt treasures will be uploaded and
posted by the same monsters that roam the RTCs.
  
Winning Scavengers will be announced on the
HALLOWEEN Page on November 1st.
  
Hold On!
  
Those aren't the only high Halloween times you'll
find online.
  
The Family RoundTable is throwing a Haunted House
Costume Party in their Real-Time Conference on
Sunday, October 16th, starting at 9:00 PM Eastern
Time. Wear your best ASCII Halloween costume so you
can visit with vultures and hobnob with the other
hooligans there. Virtual hot cider and doughnuts
will be served while everyone enjoys a rousing game
of Bobbing for Answers Trivia, with the highest
scorer being treated to $6 in GEnie usage credit
and truly untold fame. Type the keyword FAMILY or
M1235 to get there from any GEnie prompt.
  
For more productive fun, visit the WordPerfect
RoundTable and check out their great collection of
WordPerfect Halloween clip art along with a couple
of nicely creepy fonts you can use in your own
documents. File names and numbers are shown in this
month's FileFinder (a separate file named
LW9410FF.TXT that accompanies all multimedia
issues), and in the clickable Halloween button in
the multimedia issues on the page you're reading
now, right over there to your left.
  
Other Halloween files are being organized as we go
to press, including a magnificent collection of
Amiga Halloween art that's being converted to GIFs
so that all types of computers can display them.
Visit the *StarShip* Amiga RoundTable Gallery 44
Library (Page 555, keyword AMIGA) for a truly
special graphics treat. And the Multimedia
RoundTable (keyword CYBERSPACE) is working on a
multimedia Halloween presentation for
IBM-compatibles that features a horrifying graphics
slide show complete with spooky backg round music
-- just the thing for entertaining your Trick or
Treaters. Check the banner on Page 2000 for
specifics.
  
And what's Halloween without a good scare? Round
out your holiday with some great horror from the
original "penny dreadful" novel being serialized in
the SFRT1 Library on Page 470. A new chapter of
"Varney the Vampyre, or The Feast of Blood,"
thought to have been written by James Malcolm
Rymer, has been uploaded there every week since
late last year. The opening chapter is in File 7381
VARNY001.TXT. Find the others easily by selecting
menu option 3 in the SFRT1 Library and searching on
the term VARNEY. Each quick download is a scarey
treat, perfect for reading outloud by the light of
that spooky harvest moon.
