Second Annual Haunted Lit Crawl

On Thursday, Oct. 24 the second annual Haunted Lit Crawl was held. Students and faculty of Pitt State submitted Halloween themed stories or poems, and the ones that were chosen were read at the event. The event was open to the public, and people were encouraged to dress up in their Halloween costumes. The participants traveled to the businesses Toast, TJ Leland’s, Eclectic Soul Studio, and Root Coffeehouse & Creperie to read their stories and poems.  

“I thought the Lit Crawl was outstanding,” said freshman music education major Johnathan Gauthieo who attended the event. “It shows a little bit of everybody’s creative side, and what they actually think. It just opens the listeners ears up to what is actually being said, and I thought it was really creative.” 

The guests moved from place to place, reading different stories and poems in the style of a pub crawl.  

“We started out at Toast, which is a brand-new business,” said assistant professor of English and organizer of the Haunted Lit Crawl Laurie Martin. “It was exciting to be there and be part of the community and supporting the community and [have] the community supporting us. I think that’s how it should work. My favorite part is the students are excited and involved. We get to hear their work, and I also love that it involves the community.”  

“It’s just fun to be out and around and doing stuff,” Martin said. “I feel like Halloween is the perfect time to do it, because, if it wasn’t as cold as it was tonight, you’d have perfect fall weather. You set it up with spooky stories and everyone loves a spooky story or poem.” 

The idea of a Lit Crawl was started in San Francisco in 2004, and it was adapted and first held in Pittsburg last year.  

“I participated in the Lit Crawl last year, so compared from the first year to the second year, we’ve had a lot more people,” said senior in English Alexis Melson. “The readings have only gotten better, which is great, they’re really exciting and spooky.”  

Melson’s story was one of the selected to read and read her story was read at TJ Leland’s.  

“I was super nervous, but I read here, the exact same place,” Melson said. “I started getting over my stage fright. Once you get up there, it’s exciting to have all eyes on you and be able to entice people with your story (and) get them thinking.” 

A total of about 16 people, including students, faculty, and professional writers read their stories or poems which they submitted earlier this year. Four people read their stories or poems at each location.  

“I decided to go is because I also felt like I needed some help with my creative thinking on what methods I could use for my own creative writing,” Gauthieo said. “I would recommend (going when) it happens again, because it was pretty cool just to listen to everybody, (see) what they had to say, and have them read their works, instead of just reading it from a book.”