The terrorific night is just around the corner and there are plenty of local and area activities to be enjoyed: from horrifying haunted trails to All Hallow’s Eve alternatives. Here’s a list of fun events for kids and kids-at-heart:

• Locke Volunteer Fire Department: Will have its first Halloween carnival for the Locke community children in an effort to provide a safer opportunity to trick-or-treat. Join in the games, refreshments, plenty of candy Oct. 31 from 6-8 p.m. at Locke Station 62 on Mooresville Road/Hwy. 150.
  
• Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department’s Halloween Funfest: Saturday from 4-7 p.m. in First Union parking lot. Trick-or-treating with downtown merchants from 4-5 p.m.; games, activities, moonwalk and hayride from 4-7 p.m.; line up for costume contest at 5:15 p.m.; costume contest for kids of all ages at 5:30 p.m. Safety house on site from Salisbury Fire Department, and Salisbury Police Department will provide a fishing booth. Bo Weevil will stop by, and Catawba College student volunteers will be scaring up laughs with fun, safe games and activities. Stop by registration table for free trick-or-treat bag, to purchase tickets for games and for a list of participating downtown businesses. For more information, call Rodney Harrison at 638-5298 or Monica Wray at 637-7814.
  
• Wal Mart of Salisbury: will sponsor a Halloween carnival Oct. 31 from 6-8 pm. for children ages 1-12. Games, prizes and activities. There will be tables set up around the store giving children the chance to collect candy and show off their costumes. An officer from the Salisbury Police Department will be there to inspect the children’s candy which was gathered throughout the night upon parents’ request. Tickets for games will be sold for 50 cents the night of the carnival. All proceeds will go to the Children’s Miracle Network.
  
• Boogerwoods Howl-O-Ween Spooktacular for Cystic Fibrosis: Will be at a new location this year, Phaniels Church Road off Hwy. 152 between China Grove and Rockwell, Friday and Saturday and Oct. 30 and 31. Tickets will go on sale at Boogerwoods at 2 p.m. each day for that night’s 7 p.m. event. For more information, access www.boogerwoods.com  or www.gocarolinas.com/community/groups/Boogerwoods/ 
  
• Stallings Memorial Baptist Church: Will sponsor Trunk-or-Treating Oct. 31, from 6-8 p.m. in the church parking lot, 817 S. Main St., across from 50s Grill. Children can go from car-to-car collecting treats and can come in or out of costume. There will also be games and drawings for prizes. The event is free and open to the community. For more information, call 636-2052.
  
• Moose Lodge Haunted House: Presented by East Rowan High School Friday at 6 p.m. at 650 Ritchie Road. Hayrides, food and drinks available. Admission is $2 and proceeds will benefit the school.
  
• “Forbidden Forest” horror walking trail, Rockwell: Today through Saturday and Oct. 30 and 31 on Old Beatty Ford Road from dark until. Admission is $7 for adults, $2 for children 6 and younger. Concessions will be available. For more information, call 279-3635.
  
• “Scare Mare,” Calvary Baptist Church: This four-day — Friday and Saturday and Oct. 30 and 31 — alternative to Halloween will be held at 2255 East Ridge Road in the woods behind the church. Activities will be from 7-9 each night. No witches or goblins, just a frightening experience for all who dare; not for the faint of heart. There will also be a drawing each night for a CD walkman. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for children. Church groups welcome. For more information, call Dr. Rick Cockerham at 633-2567.
  
• “Eternal Dwelling,” Jackson Park Baptist Church, Kannapolis: This 20-minute walk-through drama Saturday and Sunday at 1005 Jackson St. is a touching, telling alternative to Halloween festivities that focus on the lives of three young people and their destination in the afterlife. Some of the scenes deal with sexually-explicit, violent issues and addresses alcohol and drug use; it is not recommended for children younger than 12. Counselors will be available. Reservations are preferred; groups of more than 15 are encouraged to make two reservations. For information and reservations, call 933-4026.
  
• 6th Annual Halloween Carnival, Kannapolis: Sponsored by the Cannon Memorial YMCA Oct. 31 from 6-8 p.m. for children of all ages. Free and open to public. Donations appreciated. For more information, call 939-9622.
  
• Scary Storytelling, Albemarle: The Learning Resources Center at Stanly Community College, the Stanly County Public Library children’s department and the media center at South Stanly High School will sponsor a storytelling event at the YMCA Pavilion today from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Storytellers for the evening will include Jan Magic-Banks, Roland Banks, Mike O’Brien and Penny Townsend, who will all tell some of their favorite scary stories for children. Madame Ovaree, also known as Sue McIntyre, a fortune teller, will also share stories. Children of all ages are invited to attend and can come in costume. Judges will award a prize for the best costume. Refreshments will be served. Admission for the event will be canned goods at the door, which will be donated to Stanly Community Christian Ministry. For more information, call 982-0121, ext. 222 or e-mail yandlejw@stanly.cc.nc.us.
  
• Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site’s Mad Miner, Stanfield: Can you make it through the haunted mine and past the Mad Miner or will you fall victim to his evil reign and perish underground the way legend says his mail-order bride from England did? Prepare to brave terror-filled haunted mine tours, old-fashioned hay rides, Halloween-themed children’s games and performances by Chaz the Magician Friday and Saturday from 7-11 p.m. and Oct. 31, from 7-10 p.m. at Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site. Fees are $2 for haunted mine tours and $2 for hayrides. There will also be a small fee for children’s games with their own special mine tour for ages 10 and younger. Refreshments will be available. For more information, call Reed Gold Mine at (704) 721-4653 or e-mail reedmine@dasia.net.
  
• “The Biggest Gospel Event in America,” Winston Salem: Ray Flynn Promotions will present “The Biggest Gospel Event in America” Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Christian alternative to Halloween will be filled with drama, music and ministry. Artists performing will include Tony Gore & Majesty, The Ruppes, The Whisnants, Talley Trio, The Hoppers, Michael Combs, The Edwards Family, The Primitive Quartet and The Steeles, who will be recording live. Tickets are on sale at the coliseum box office and all TicketMaster locations. Advance general admission is $14; lower reserved, $16.50; and artist circle reserved, $19.50. Tickets for groups of 20 or more are $12.50 for general admission; two free tickets come with group purchase. And children 13 and younger will be admitted free and receive a full bag of candy if dressed as a bible character. For more information, call 1-888-238-6858 or (336) 725-5635.
  
• “Scare-free” fun, Greensboro Natural Science Center: All ghosts and goblins grab your Halloween costume for a scare-free family-fun event tonight from 4:30-7:30. Watch wizards perform fantastic feats of spooky science, find out what fun is in your future from Madame Moonbeam. Grab a seat in the Edward Zane planetarium for another Halloween theater “masterpiece” produced by the Natural Science Center Players. Have your face painted and play some ghoulishly great games. Visitors 2-13 will receive a Thesaurus Shoppe bag suitable for trick-or-treating on the big day. The Natural Science Center will close 3:30 p.m. and re-open at 4:30 p.m. when the boo-bash begins. Admission will be $2 for members 2 and older and $3 for non-members 2 and older. For more information, call (336) 288-3769 or www.greensboro.com/sciencecenter.
  
• Haunted Planetarium Show, Greensboro Natural Science Center: Also at the Natural Science Center Friday and Saturday from 7-10 p.m., the stars in the Edward Zane planetarium will be replaced with screams and what lies beneath the dome will become the domain of terrors that roam through the dark. They will soar over your head and scare you out of your wits, speed past your side and send a shiver up your back, stare you straight in the face and wait and watch to see if you blink. Who they are and why they haunt the darkness under the dome can only be discovered by coming. Before taking in the show take yourself into and try to get through the giant maze, transformed into a trail of terror. What are those unnerving sounds you hear around you as you make your way through the maze? What is that red glow piercing the twilight walls that looks for all the world like eyes and are they following you? What awaits you as you turn the next corner? Maybe a light at the end of the tunnel or maybe the wrong turn that brings you face to face with who knows what. Planetarium shows start every half hour. Not recommended for children 4 and younger. Admission to the NSC, 4301 Lawndale Drive, is $3 per person.

Or if you choose not to participate in the petrifying, check out these Web sites that speak on the spooky, look at suspenseful new TV shows, address the true origins of Halloween and explain what a witch really is:

• www.halloweenmagazine.com : Yes, Virginia, there really is an ezine for those who can’t live without the spooky day. The site is “designed for the entire family … to provide the best in fun and information regarding Halloween.” There’s an official Halloween safety game that’s fun for children, a list of books for activities and links for Halloween games, recipes, activities and more.
  
• www.MysteryNet.com/Halloween : Labeled “the official online home of Halloween,” this colorfully busy site offers “see-n-solve” mysteries (in the spirit of the old “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books), a list of “mystery greats” who’ve written boo-tiful books (e.g. Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock), top picks of mystery movies and TV shows, an online store and other nifty spots.
  
• www.fearingmind.com : A site dedicated to Fox Family Channel’s newest mystery/intrigue/suspense show appropriately titled “The Fearing Mind.” Bill Fearing is a suspense writer who works out of his Oregon home while juggling the demands of his loving family.
  
• www.witchvox.com/wvoxhome.html : This is a massive news and education network about the religious system referred to as Wicca, the practice of pagans or “witches.” Here Halloween is explained and the philosophies, principles and concerns of Wiccans are addressed.
  
• www.holidays.net/halloween/ : Dancing skeletons, Halloween stories, ghosts, goblins and “jack-o-lanterns,” videos, holiday pictures for the kids to print and color and some tasty Halloween recipes stir up this site. There’s also a page that addresses origins of Halloween titled “The Story of Halloween: Romans and Christians and Druids, oh my!”