The normally bright, cheerful environment of the Abbot Hall cafeteria was transformed into a spooky place to eat Wednesday night.

Students entered through a tunnel guarded by a spider hanging from the ceiling, and were met inside by an alien spaceship, a glowing ghost and a bleeding, headless man.

Education senior Sarah Kidd, who dressed as Winnie the Pooh, said she has been working at the hall for four years, and this year’s Halloween decorations have been the best so far.

“It’s a great time for all the employees and students to have a good time for the holiday,” Kidd said.

Mario Porco, who works at the cafeteria, said he and co-worker Adam Koivisto decided to decorate the cafeteria to put a smile on students’ faces.

“After the bad things that happened a month ago, we wanted to do something fun,” Porco said.

The cafeteria also showcased pumpkins carved by Abbot residents. One patriotic pumpkin was carved with the Statue of Liberty, fireworks and the words, “God Bless America.”

But Abbot residents weren’t the only ones who have shown their Halloween spirit. Dorms across campus were decked out Wednesday with creepy skulls and other Halloween decorations.

Grant Woodman, complex director for Williams, Yakeley and Gilchrist halls, said some halls celebrated early by hosting Residence Hall Safe Halloween on Monday - an invitation to kids from local communities to trick-or-treat in the hall.

Armstrong Hall’s front desk handed out candy to residents, while Bailey Hall residents had haunted houses and dressed up throughout the week.

Butterfield Black Caucus members wanted to give people an opportunity to do something in their hall, so the caucus decided to show scary movies in the lobby.

Holmes Hall cafeteria had an air-filled Frankenstein and many spooky decorations surrounding students as they ate their ghoulish potatoes - with graveyard gravy - Wednesday evening.

Don Donagrandi, food service manager for Holmes Hall, said the cafeteria employees also had a costume contest.

“So far we have a fairy princess, Elly May Clampett and Baby Herman from Roger Rabbit,” he said.

Residents who visited the Holmes cafeteria also received a special treat with flavored popcorn night.

“We have 10 gourmet flavors, such as cookies and cream, peanut butter with butter chips, jalapeno, barbeque, cheddar and pina colada,” Donagrandi said.

So even if the Halloween decorations didn’t give residents a thrill or two, the weird popcorn may have.