Ready to be spooked? Do something different this year!

Halloween is right upon us, so do you know what you're doing yet? As always, Champaign-Urbana has a flood of events for this grand holiday, so it's not hard to find something to do. However, every year it seems that fun activities that are different the conventional Halloween party or haunted house slip past unnoticed. This year, how about doing something different?For most people, Halloween is the time of year that they don't mind being frightened. Something that's sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up is some eerie music-the Sixth Annual Illinois Brass Quintet Halloween Spooktacular will take place on Halloween in the Foellinger Hall at the Krannert Center. It's a Halloween tradition that music lovers enjoy.

As well as an abundance of spooky tunes, there will be other entertainment as well. Apart from the UI Brass Quartet, the concert will also feature the Yankee Ridge Dancers from the Yankee Ridge school in Urbana. The time of the show is at 7:30pm, but there's a costume contest for kids 12 and under at 6:30. Tickets can be bought online at the Krannert Web site. So if you want some good, healthy, culturally stimulating fun, this concert is perfect for you.

What is Halloween without a few scary stories? The story-telling tradition used to attract people from miles around in the days before radio and television. Why not hearken back to the past? On Saturday, October 24, the Lake of the Woods in Mahomet is hosting the event Halloween Howl: Ghost Stories at the Lake, which will take place in the Elks Lake Pavilion. It's a two-part event; the earlier concert is specifically aimed towards children, the other for adults. For some of you, the duality allows a little bit of everything.

The children's show, which includes traditional folk tales, some from China and England, begins at 4pm and costs $3 for adults and $2 for children. For those who don't mind being told scary stories in the dark, there's another showing at 7:30 for the adults, which costs $5 and encompasses more of urban legend stories, as well as folk tales, too. All the profit made from this event will go to the Mahomet Area Youth Club.

There will be two professional storytellers, Kim Sheahan and Camille Born, both members of the Champaign-Urbana Storytelling Guild, and, according to Born, have been telling scary stories for "quite some time". It's sure to be a night full of frightful splendor, so to find more information about this event, go to illinoishomepage.net.

Another place to satisfy a scary story fix would be at the Spurlock Museum on the 31st. They're hosting the event So You Think You've heard Ghost Stories. It's an adults only event, so 16 plus only, please. According to the Spurlock Museum's Web site, the stories told that night are "for the strong of heart," so be wary. The storytellers at this event are Dan Keding, Kathe Brinkmann, and Kim Sheahan, as well as people from the UIUC Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

The show starts at 7:30pm, and the suggested donation is $5. Like the Halloween Howl, all the money made from the concert will go to something beneficial, like the museum's education programs and the Center for Children's Books. Halloween wouldn't be the same without a few scary stories, so be sure to check the Spurlock Museum out on Halloween.

Ok, so one haunted house can't hurt. But you can't just go to any old haunted house. The Chamber of the Dead is an attraction where all of the profit goes to American Cancer Society. The ticket cost is $8 per person, and the target audience is mature, so if you scare easily, be prepared. There will be plenty of creepy, scary things there for everyone to experience. The dates that the haunted house is open Oct. 23-24, as well as the 30-31. It is located on the corner of Windsor and Duncan, or 2411 Village Green Place (though it wont be hard to find-it's a haunted house).

Halloween is a very fun time of year, with a lot to offer, so take advantage of the holiday and do as much as you can-it only happens once a year.