Costumed students ran amok Friday night at the University Student Union’s annual Matador Nights Halloween.

The event took place outside the USU and included a wide variety of events, such as a fortune teller, a haunted house, a magic and comedy act, a hypnotist, carnival games and dance lessons from the dance group Black Reign, who performed Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller.’

Staff members were disappointed at the end of the night due to lower-than-expected turnout.

‘Last year we did it in November. We had about 2,000 people,’ said Debra Hammond, executive director of the USU. Attendees at Friday’s Matador Nights Halloween totaled approximately 550.

Hypnotist David Skale’s performance was very popular among the attendees. One of his tricks included making students think they were James Bond. Under Skale’s spell, the students ran around the audience looking at T-shirt tags for a secret code.

Richard Duryea, a CTVA freshman, was by far the most active participant of Skale’s show, and leapt off the stage on command like an acrobat.

‘It’s kind of like a dream,’ said Duryea, who was dressed up as Prince Zuko from the cartoon, ‘Avatar.’

Roxana Martinez, a freshman biology major, was also part of the performance. At one point she was made to think she was three years old.

‘It was really fun, but I don’t remember everything,’ said Martinez. ‘I was aware of the general stuff.’

Some students didn’t respond to Skale’s commands at all.

‘Different people respond differently to the stage format,’ said Skale. ‘If you’re not in a place where you feel you can let go, it won’t work.’

Magician and comedian Kerry Rossgave two performances over the course of the night. They included a Houdini-style straitjacket escape and a guillotine act, in which Ross chose a victim from the crowd to appear to have his head cut off.

A costume contest was held at midnight. Cedrick Kern, a sophomore kinesiology major, won the contest with his costume of an Irish man hiding an enormous penis under his kilt.

‘I’m Irish, and there’s a stereotype that Irish men have small penises,’ said Kern, who explained that the penis was an attempt to show his ‘black side.’

The night wouldn’t have been complete without the requisite political costumes, especially with the presidential elections only a few days away. Maribel Serrano, a junior journalism major, dressed up as Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

‘It’s very controversial right now, and she’s a very fun character,’ said Serrano. ‘I’m not going to vote for her, though.’