Haunted places

? Spooks and creeps entice the adventurous to enter the Haunted Bunker at Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco, Wash. From 6 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 28 through 31, visit the grisly guardhouse for some fun and frights. Admission is free.

? Ghosts and ghouls of yesteryear haunt the Coast Guard Cutter Alert at Pier 17, behind the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, between 5 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30. The faint of heart and children younger than 9 may want to come before 7 p.m.; braver souls and children older than 9 are recommended to come after 7 p.m. Admission is free, but guests are asked to donate a nonperishable food item as admission. All donations will benefit the annual Thanksgiving Basket Drive sponsored by the Coast Guard Spouses’ Association of Astoria and Clatsop Community Action. Free parking is available in the Maritime Museum parking lot. Bags of any kind and cameras will not be permitted aboard the cutter. Children should be accompanied by an adult.

? The Tillamook Association for the Performing Arts and Steve Bauer present their second annual Haunted House, with more chills and new thrills, from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 28 through 31, at The Barn Community Playhouse on 12th and Ivy streets in Tillamook. The Haunted House is suitable for all ages, but parents should use discretion with small children. Entrance charge is $2 and everyone receives candy. Movie nights follow at 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 29 and 30. Films are PG-13 or tamer and will be announced at the door. Charge for the movie is an additional $2. For information, call (503) 296-6116 or (503) 246-9520.

Costume parties

Kids

? Children can visit Astoria’s downtown merchants from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 for a safe trick-or-treating alternative. Kids in costume can ride the Astoria Riverfront Trolley at no cost. Dress as your favorite character and join The Daily Astorian’s free Halloween Costume Ball for a chance to win great prizes. Have your photo taken in front of the Liberty Theater during the downtown Trick-or-Treat for publication in the Nov. 5 edition of The Daily Astorian.

? The Astoria Parks and Community Services’ annual Monster Bash takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds, 92937 Walluski Loop. Dress up in your scariest or most creative costume and enjoy the free fun, games and entertainment, plus hot dogs, popcorn, pop and cotton candy. For information, call (503) 325-7275.

? Enjoy a free community Halloween party from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31 at the Kiawanda Community Center, 34600 Cape Kiwanda Drive in Pacific City. Bring a donation for the South County Good Neighbors Christmas Baskets if you can and take part in games, costumes and refreshments for all ages. For information, call (503) 965-7900.

Grownups

? DeathTouch Records presents a death metal and hardcore show at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Wickiup Grange in Svensen. Bands include Embalmed, Dead Face Down, Imbroglio, Evangelist, Malignant, Symbolance and Red Light Murder. Admission of $5 also includes a costume party and free guitar giveaway.

? For those with a more mainstream ear, the classic rock-‘n’-rollers of Highway 30 will play from 9 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Wickiup Restaurant & Lounge, 40505 Old Highway 30 in Svensen. Prizes will be given for the best costumes, and rides home will be available.

? Come hear Eric Tweed perform with his band, Tweed Mob, at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29 at the Voodoo Room, 1102 Marine Drive. The band and the Voodoo Room will be celebrating Halloween, so be sure to come in disguise and vie for the best costume and win a prize. Cover charge is $5. At 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, dress up and get down at a Halloween preview at the Voodoo with Rollerball, Mesmer and Six Foot Sloth. Cover is $3.

? Lattitudes Tavern,1313 Marine Drive, hosts its second annual Halloween Costume Party from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 30. Enter to win prizes in three categories and dance to live music by Four on the Floor. No cover charge.

? Portland-based band Kickstart aims to raise the dead and make a mummy dance at Lil’ Bayou’s annual Halloween Party, 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30. Best costume wins a $100 prize. Lil’ Bayou is located at 20 N. Holladay Drive.

Other tricks and treats

? The Clatskanie Chess Club invites creeps of all ages and chess playing abilities to its Blitz/Bughouse Boooonanza Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Clatskanie Community Education Center, 555 S.W. Bryant Road in Clatskanie. You must be dressed in costume to play (please keep costumes in good taste). Blitz check-in begins at 10 a.m. and Bughouse check-in starts at 1 p.m. The event is for fun, not for ratings. Please bring clocks if you have them. Prizes are awarded for winners in both Blitz and Bughouse tournaments. The club will also have something special for chess players who did their best and learned a lot – no one goes home empty-handed. Registration is $30 for both events or $20 for one event. For information, call Kate Taylor at (503) 728-3754 or e-mail katetaylor@clatskanie.com

? It’s “trick or treat” on stage as the Seaside Theater presents an original Halloween play, “Which Witch Is Right?” a comical, spooktacular event for the whole family at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29 and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30. Come in costume if you like. Created and produced by John Salerno and codirected by Lenore Morrisson, “Which Witch Is Right?” brings together the talents of group of community actors and musicians including Audra Angelique Gandy, Jennifer Gibson, Jim Hoffman, Patrick Morrisson, Stephanie Scordia, Ray Coffey and others. Tickets are $15 at the door. Senior citizens, students and groups of 10 or more are $10 each. The Seaside Theater is located at 816 N. Holladay Drive in Seaside. For information, visit the Web site www.seasidetheater.org, call (503) 738-5052 or e-mail info@SeasideTheater.org

? Toni Von Hollen, storyteller extraordinaire, will pique the imagination of youngsters in the realm of pirates from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at A Whale of a Tale bookstore, 302 Avenue A in Seaside. Some highlights of her 10 years as Loremaster have been several trips to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to read and tell stories, working with the Columbia River Girl Scout Council to teach and tell stories, performing at school assemblies, and using the art to inspire at chapel times for Christian schools. Since Von Hollen has never grown up (and never intends to), choosing a character and costume to fit the theme of a storytime is a natural part of her presentation. Props also make the stories come alive and etch the stories on the minds of the audience.

? String of Pearls, Don Conway’s compact big band, plays a Halloween concert from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31 at the Coaster Theatre, 108 N. Hemlock St. in Cannon Beach. This popular North Coast group, featuring singer Connie Anne Conway, will present a varied program of swing, jazz, Latin and soft rock tunes. There will be room for dancing, and Halloween costumes are welcome at this family-friendly event. Admission is $12 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger.

? José Solano first presented the Septem Sermones ad Mortuos, the Seven Sermons to the Dead, in Portland during the Halloween season 12 years ago. The text was written by the renowned psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in 1916. Strange parapsychic phenomena had been occurring in his home. Jung relates: “There was an ominous atmosphere all around me. I had the strange feeling that the air was filled with ghostly entities. Then it was as if my house began to be haunted. My eldest daughter saw a white figure passing through the room. My second daughter, independently of her elder sister, related that twice in the night her blanket had been snatched away; and that same night my 9-year old son had an anxiety dream…” Jung felt himself compelled to sit down and write what he later attributed to be the words of the second century gnostic Basilides. When he sat down to write, everything calmed down and in three evenings he had completed the Septem Sermones.

Solano has been a student of Jung’s works most of his life. He has selected Dietrich Buxtehude’s organ chorale preludes harmonized by J. S. Bach to create a dialogue, a response and counterpoint to the Septem Sermones. The organ preludes will be performed by Heidi Cook, pianist and music director of the Nestucca Valley Presbyterian Church.

Jung’s cryptic work and Buxtehude’s organ preludes will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 as a Halloween experience at the Pine Grove Community House, 225 Laneda Ave. in Manzanita. Tickets are $8 and reservations are advised by calling (503) 965-2204.