Campus Safety Services (CSS) organized its first-ever Halloween Hijinks earlier this month, offering students a chance to paint pumpkins, toast s’mores and listen to the a capella group Ephlats perform—all in the basement of Hopkins Hall, which had been transformed into a spooky lair. Later in the evening, willing participants listened for paranormal voices around campus on a ghost hunt.

CSS’s Community Engagement Coordinator Zeffa Kinney says the event was a chance for students to get to know some of the CSS staff: “We know that students are much more likely to call when they need to if they know us as people and not just folks wearing yellow neon at a game, performance or other all-campus event.”

Many staff members participated in the activities. Dispatchers were present throughout the night, reminding students that CSS’s door is always open and that students can stop in at any time, even if just to say hello. Dispatch officer Gary Scarfone painted an elaborate haunted house on a tall pumpkin. And dispatcher Paul Oleskiewicz led the ghost hunt, which was inspired by a “lunch and learn” CSS event last year about the process of paranormal investigations, during which some students reported that they had been hearing creepy sounds on campus.

Oleskiewicz conducts paranormal research throughout Berkshire County and Southern Vermont and says that while he has never seen a ghost himself at Williams, he has heard many stories of strange and unexplainable encounters. Though no definitive evidence was found Sunday night, the group did detect some staticky voices on the balcony of Griffin 3. Oleskiewicz likened ghost hunting to fishing, with the appeal being the “thrill of the hunt.”

Jeff Palmer, who joined Williams as CSS director in July, hopes the Halloween Hijinks will be the first of an annual fall tradition, in addition to an annual spring event and one of many activities that CSS either organizes or participates in to build community.

As Daylight Saving takes effect on Nov. 3 and darkness falls earlier in the evening, officers will be stationed at crosswalks along Main Street in Williamstown, reminding students to use lights in a “Push the Button” campaign. And on the Wednesday and Thursday after Election Day, the department will again increase their presence along Main Street to encourage civility among passersby and students during a tense election year.

All the activities, says Kinney, are meant to serve and train the community on health and safety education. “It’s our job to make all space safer, even when it’s decorated with scariness!”

Above photograph by Katie Maier ’26

Bryan DiFebo-Byrne is a student worker in the Office of Communications at Williams College.

With additional reporting by Regina Velázquez, associate editor and senior writer in the Office of Communications.