Monster mashup: Ugly Bugs to haunted halls

From creepy-crawlies to spooky stories, ASU has its fair share of scares haunting the halls.

Just in time for Halloween, ASU is showcasing its creepy-crawly research, such as a reticulated python that sits coiled in the Dale DeNardo Lab in ASU's School of Life Sciences, or a blood-sucking tick that found top billing as part of the annual Ugly Bug Contest.

And there are tales of a boy with a red balloon who wanders the former barracks at the Polytechnic campus, and a mysterious sound that occasionally is heard over the library intercom system.

“The origin of Halloween and Day of the Dead are based on the belief that during a certain time of the year the veil between the spirit world and the mortal world is much thinner than usual, allowing contact between the living and deceased,” says Carmen King de Ramírez, Spanish professor at ASU.
 

Demystifying the bewitching season
Two holidays take precedence this time of year: Day of the Dead and Halloween. But just how closely related are these traditions and what are their origins?

Tour ASU's 'haunted' hallowed halls
There are things that go bump in the night for no apparent reason. ASU carries within its hallowed halls stories of spirits that purportedly haunt the university.

Ugly bugs compete in 'Wild West' showdown
A posse of newcomers is riding into town to take over from a lawless assassin. These little hombres – contenders in the 2011 Ugly Bug Contest – suck blood, hatch deadly parasitic larvae, and eat dung, making them rougher and tougher than the average Hollywood western outlaw.

Want to build a better monster? Use this manual
Monsters are springing up online all over the Phoenix metro area – possibly 16,000 of them – real Halloween horrors: furred, fanged, feathered and altogether fun. Which culprits are in control of this Frankenstein frenzy? Children – if they have a copy of “The Monster Manual."