We all know what next Thursday is, don't we? Yes, Halloween. And we all like to be scared, just for fun, don't we? And we would all be disappointed if Isthmus didn't give us a story appropriate to the occasion, wouldn't we?
Thanks to contributor Alan Talaga, we aren't disappointed. There are, in Madison, dedicated "Ghost Hunters," as the title of his article announces. They are members of Mad City Paranormal Investigations, a group of regular citizens who don't necessarily believe in ghosts or other paranormal phenomenon, but just want to be sure there aren't things going on that truly don't have an explanation outside the normal.
And then there is Madison Ghost Walks, a local enterprise that seeks to encourage our suspension of disbelief. This tour deals in Madison lore with a tinge of the unexplained or the just plain weird. We have plenty of that in Madison. Forget about Austin; we have our own brand of scratch-your-headedness.
After next weekend's freaking and frighting, we'll be ready for a return to normalcy. The Nov. 1 issue will feature the results of Isthmus' annual Independent Business Awards, sponsored by Monona State Bank. The winners, chosen from businesses nominated by the general public, will be profiled in the cover story and feted at an event on Monday, Nov. 4, at the Madison Concourse Hotel for the benefit of Dane Buy Local.
Tickets for that event are $25 and available through danebuylocal.com or at the Isthmus office. More information on this event will come to you next week. But for now we'll satisfy ourselves with the delicious chills that emanate from our spookiest of holidays. We might also recall the religious origins of these secular festivities, All Souls and All Saints days, just to restore a little of the sacred to the secular.
