A FRIGHTFUL TIME; DINNER, HAY RIDES, HALL AND VILLAGE TOURS WILL BE A LITTLE SPOOKIER AND A LOT MORE FUN THIS WEEKEND

Wandering ghosts and goblins looking for something to do this weekend have a plethora of spooky activities for their consideration.

Besides the traditional haunted houses, area businesses and organizations are offering everything from dinner to hay rides with a Halloween theme:

Perhaps the most civilized of the events will be the Glenn House Murder Mystery Dinner sponsored by the Historic Association of Greater Cape Girardeau.

Guests will be served a dinner catered by H.R.H. Dumplins and a mystery provided by the association. The event occurs Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Glenn House, 325 S. Spanish. Tickets are no longer available.

Earlier that day, the association is sponsoring children's activities at 1:30 p.m. Children can bring their pre-decorated pumpkin to a decorating contest, listen to a ghost story and participate in a costume contest.

If dinner and a mystery aren't in your plans, the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department has the Fourth Annual Haunted Hall of Horror at the A.C. Brase Arena Building.

The hall will be open tonight until Halloween from 7 to 11 p.m. Tickets -- $3 for adults and $2 for youths -- are available in advance at the Arena Building.

Event coordinators point out that folks waiting to tour the Haunted Hall of Horrors will be allowed to wait inside, shielded from the weather.

A "frightfully good time" is promised this weekend to visitors of the Haunted Village of Hanover in the Black Forest. Guided tours of the village complete with ghosts, goblins and other traditional spooks will be available Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 10 p.m. Adult tours are $3, and youth tours are $2 (event coordinators caution parents with young children).

The Black Forest is four miles north of Cape Girardeau on County Road 638.

Everyone has a chance to go on the wagon for $3 a person this weekend at Rocky Holler U.S.A., off Highway 61 between Jackson and Fruitland on County Road 303.

Live spooks, monsters, Elvis and a bonfire greet participants of the haunted hayrides Friday and Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m., the fifth year the rides have been offered.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources also has the Halloween spirit this year. The department is sponsoring Halloween storytelling Friday from 7-9 p.m at the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site.

The public is encouraged to bring lawn chairs and hear storytellers Michael and Sharai Smith. Light refreshments will be served at the free event. For more information, contact the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site at 243-4591.

Tuesday, the night of Halloween, West Park Mall will host its annual trick or treat and costume contest.

Trick or treating will occur from 6 to 8 p.m. Costumes will be judged in three categories: 12 and under, 12 and over, and group costumes (e.g., Batman and Robin).

Prizes, mall gift certificates, will be awarded at 8 p.m.

More than 1,000 children attended last year's event.