Creature Features: An Exploratorium Halloween
Saturday, October 31st, 2009, 3-8pm
A Haunted House, Mad Science Experiments, Cemetery of Dead Science, Pneumatic Monsters, Leeches, Bats, Live Spooky Music, Classic Scary Science Films and More
Candy for Kids. Cash Bar for Adults Opens at 5pm
Haunted Neverwas Haul can be Previewed October 27-31

This Halloween, take in a double feature of spooky science and frightful fun. Creature Features: An Exploratorium Halloween offers a host of eerie attractions ranging from giant insects to the Neverwas Haul, a haunted Victorian house on wheels, all on Saturday, October 31st, from 3-8pm. A cash bar for adults opens at 5pm. Join us in costume for this 2nd annual extravaganza of scary science. We’ll explore the scientific and cultural phenomena behind Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and a host of creeping, crawling, flapping, and otherwise fascinating creatures. This event is included in the price of admission to the Exploratorium. Come in costume, and receive a discount on admission!

As a preview to the Halloween event, a haunted Neverwas Haul will be on the museum floor from Tuesday, October 27-Saturday, October 31st. Neverwas Haul staff, in period costumes, will be on hand to talk to visitors about the Haunted Haul. Tours will only be available during the Halloween event on Saturday, 3-8 pm.

Self-propelled, three-stories high, and replete with period details such as a camera obscura, the Neverwas Haul invokes the imaginary worlds of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and other writers inspired by steam technology. Venture through its rooms, then visit ghosts of theories past in our Cemetery of Dead Science.

In addition to mad science experiments, pneumatic monster machines, and a garden of carnivorous plants, you’ll encounter fascinating (and frequently misunderstood) creatures. Meet leeches, black cats, tarantulas, giant insects, bats, scorpions and more! We’ll display decay at Energy from Death, and the rambunctious jug band of filmmakers and musicians known as The Goat Family will play homespun instruments to accompany their playfully spooky films. Watch for truly creepy features: Ladislaw Starewicz’ The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) was animated entirely with insect skeletons while Jean Painlevé’s The Vampire (1945) documents a vampire bat to a jazz soundtrack. Spectrology (2009, 11 min.), by Kerry Laitala, breathes new life into the pre-cinematic spectacle of phantasmagoria, offering a filmic take on the ghostly projections that remind viewers of the “fate that awaits us all.”

In need of something sweet? Artist Irma Ortiz will shape skulls from molten sugar and invite you to decorate one of your own. Come by in costume anytime from 3 to 8pm on Saturday, October 31—we’ll have plenty of candy for the kids and a cash bar for adults. For more information, please visit www.exploratorium.edu/halloween.

Children and adults are invited to drop in before trick-or-treating or before your Halloween festivities begin—we’ll have plenty of candy.

For further information on alternative safe Halloween events in San Francisco such as this one, go to www.homeforhalloween.com.