It's mid-October. The weather is bleak and chilly. The Ghetto begins to lose its appeal. What's a UD student to do on a weekend evening such as this? The answer ... get your scare on.

This Halloween season, there's a variety of local haunted attractions around Dayton, and the following is a guide to a few of these frightful locations.

If you're craving a mild scare, check out the Riverside Jaycees Haunted House. In its 19th year, the local Jaycees' sponsor this event to raise money for community projects. They scare because they care. Cost is $8 per person. The house is open from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday until Oct. 30. Check out http://www.riversidejaycees.com or call (937) 254-2576 for more details.

Beware: The Psycho Path 2005 is not for the faint of heart. Psycho Path is Dayton's only indoor-outdoor-underground haunted trail. Here you can experience the Maze of Madness, a pitch black labyrinth sure to give you the creeps.

If you're into the bizarre, the Freak Show Deluxe is sure to entice you. The main attraction, The Haunted Trail, will get your heart racing and make your palms sweat.

General admission is $10. Tickets to the Freak Show Deluxe are $5, and $3 will get you into the Maze of Madness. For those brave souls, $15 covers the cost of all three attractions: the Package of Death. If you want to avoid the crowd, you can even buy a 'RIP Pass' for $20, which will get you to the front of the line. As an added bonus, you can bring your X-Fest ticket stub and save $1 off admission.

Psycho Path is located at Caesar Ford Amphitheatre in Xenia. The attraction is open through Oct. 29, every Friday and Saturday from 8 p.m. to midnight. For more information, call 376-4358 or visit http://www.BlueJacketDrama.org. Visit the Web site for $1 coupon for Psycho Path or the Package of Death.

Paramount's King's Island has its own event to entice adrenaline junkies. This attraction is targeted towards children 12 and older. 'FearFest' has six 'spine tingling' attractions to offer attendees.

Open through Oct. 30, FearFest runs every Friday and Saturday night from 8 p.m. to midnight. Admission is free with park admission, as well as to season pass holders. Otherwise, the ticket is the cost of regular park admission. For more information, call (800) 288-0808.

The 21st Annual Boonybrook Halloween Haunted Farm Hayride is more of an interactive experience. The hayride features costumed actors, story telling, live action, breath taking frights and sudden surprises for in-your-face fun. The ride is famous for its elaborate sound and special effects.

'The Haunted Hayride is as professionally presented as an amusement park ride, with impressive and imaginative scenery and settings,' The Dayton Daily News raved.

The Hayride is available, weather- permitting, Friday and Saturday evenings from 7:30 to 11 p.m. Located in Centerville on Clyo Road, it's easy to find coming from campus. Call (937)433-6393 with questions or go to http://www.boonybrookcountryfarm.com. Admission is $8.

Nightmare on Valley Street is guaranteed to 'scare the yell out of you!' By day, Valley Street may seem like a normal downtown street, but by night, beware! Valley Street's Haunted Trails boasts twenty five frightening scenes with more than forty live monsters, for a truly sensory experience.

Nightmare on Valley Street is $10, which gets you in and covers the cost of parking. The attraction is open from dark to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 30. Check out the website: http://www.nightmareonvalleystreet.com for a two-dollar-off coupon.

Grab some friends and take advantage of one of the many fun opportunities to get off campus for a scare. There's no better way to get in the mood for Halloween then by hitting up one of these chilling and thrilling attractions.