Camp Creepy
FORWARD TWP — Green glow necklaces could be seen moving through the darkness last weekend when hundreds of Girl Scouts converged at Camp Redwing to celebrate Halloween.
There, troops of various age groups sampled S'mores, embarked upon a haunted hike or ventured into a funhouse maze.
The event that began before dark and lasted until 9 p.m. Oct. 23 was divided into Camp Creepy to accommodate younger Scouts, and Haunted Hallow for older troops.In addition to outdoor activities spread throughout the 123-acre camp on Rader School Road, indoor options included Creepy Crafts and a Mad Scientist's Lab staffed by Mad Science of Pittsburgh.Dressed in a white lab coat, scientist William Cody mixed warm water, dish soap and dry ice to make Wonderful Bubbles, prompting "oohs" and "aahs" from spellbound Scouts as it erupted from a flask.At the bonfire outside, Julie Kopp, 10, of Harmony showed the results of her favorite craft activity: making a toy ball."It was really, really slimy and then it turned hard," said Julie, a member of Harmony's Troop 22216.To access more grownup fare, some Scouts crossed a suspension bridge by way of a walking path.Bouncing and swaying under a waning full moon, the bridge over Connoquenessing Creek opened up to dark woods where lights adorned distant activity stations.Those included a haunted carnival hosted by members of Troop 20115 in Saxonburg, who staffed an electronic fortune teller, eyeball kerplunk game, dart the bloody glove booth and baby head toss.Sixteen-year-old Katie Wilson, attending with Troop 50563 in Moon Township, arrived at the carnival after a grueling trip through the nearby funhouse maze, where a volunteer Girl Scout knocked from inside a coffin and strobe lights lent drama to dark halls partitioned with hanging tarps.
Throughout the maze, oversized spiders dangled randomly on fishing line and bubble wrap popped underfoot."It was pretty good," said Wilson, describing how her group lost its way in the maze.After playing the carnival games, Wilson and others navigated toward another site in the distance, where paranormal investigators would offer the concluding program.Afterward, one challenge remained: The Scouts would traverse the unlit path back to the hanging bridge."The bridge was one of the scariest things we did all day," Wilson said.According to Cori Begg of the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, about 500 were registered to attend the second annual event, which also included story tellers, UFO disk golf, hay rides and trick-or-treating.
