ivory tower crime

The John Cabot University gala.

With Victim in Gruesome Student Stabbing Recovering, John Cabot University Holds 40th Anniversary Gala

On Monday night, John Cabot University celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala at the New York Athletic Club. Brooks Brothers CEO Claudio del Vecchio and Valerie Salembiier of Town and Country magazine were honored, and soprano Krista Adams sang arias. It was an evening of toasts to the American university in Rome, an evening that the university hoped might supplant the brutal and seemingly senseless stabbing of one student, allegedly by another, that dominated the headlines less than two weeks before.

After clubbing and drinking for hours on Halloween night, two John Cabot students returned with friends to their off-campus apartment overlooking the Colosseum. Then, in the early hours of the morning, while Fabio Malpeso slept, his friend and roommate Alessandro Skepys Reid allegedly stabbed him 25 times. Mr. Malpeso’s sister and her boyfriend, who were also staying in the apartment that night, came to his aid. Mr. Reid, an Italian-American with dual citizenship, said he cannot remember, or explain, why he may have stabbed his friend. Read More

hurricane sandy

Will this little tiger get to go trick-or-treating this year? (Flickr via ankatank)

Halloween Post-Sandy: Parents Think Outside the Box for Tricks and Treats

John Carney, a senior editor at CNBC.com, is getting ready for Halloween. The Park Slope resident will be putting on a Tin Man outfit later this afternoon, while his wife–the director of legal hiring at a law firm, currently on maternity leave–will be the Scarecrow. And at around 4:30 this afternoon, they are taking their two small children (one 3 years old and going as Dorothy, one 3 weeks old and going as Toto) up and down the avenues of the Slope for trick-or-treating.

Ironically, the Frankenstorm is actually preferable to last year’s freezing temperatures. “This will be our first year,” Mr. Carney told The Observer. “Last year, snow killed it. The weather wasn’t right to drag a then-2-year-old through the streets.” Read More

monsters

Last year's Occupy Wall Street zombie protests

The One Question Not Answered at the DNC or RNC: How Real Is the Zombie Apocalypse Threat?

Forget about not looking back, Mr. President. We want to know if we should start taking notes while watching  AMC’s The Walking Dead.

While it’s not news that the Center for Disease Control has been warning us on proper zombie protocol for almost a year now–while simultaneously claiming there is no such thing as a zombie attack … not even when you’re high on bath salts–yesterday a new government office took up a “tongue-in-cheek” zombie cause. It’s those pranksters Homeland Security,  known for issuing fake threats just to rile up people near the holidays.

Wait … Read More

Nightlife

Illo: Peter Oumanski

The Wee Hours: Midtown's Halloween Hall of Mirrors

“I don’t recognize you,” said a man in a black negligee, black corset, black heels and two stuck-on circles of black mesh, one covering his mouth and another covering his crotch. It was early Sunday evening, Halloween eve, and he was talking to a man in a dress, with pink hair.

Somehow, he managed to nestle a cigarette into the small indentation in the spandex oral wrapping. Read More

Occupy Wall Street

7 Photos

A rich witch?

Occupy Wall Street Celebrates Halloween the Only Way They Know How [Slideshow]

Last night was technically Halloween, and though most of us hung up our costumes this weekend after our raging Saturday parties, the annual Village Halloween parade provided a more weather-appropriate outlet for large groups to coordinate their “Thriller” routines en masse. This of course, applied to Occupy Wall Street, which applied for (and got!) a space during the parade. Read More

Events

Bette Midler and Steve Wonder at the Waldorf

Bette Midler's Hulaween Party Brings Out the (Undead) Stars; Makes Trees Grow on Money

We felt woefully under-dressed as we stepped into the 2nd floor foyer of the Waldorf-Astoria, the entrance to Bette Midler‘s Hulaween party. The theme was Día de los Muertos – the Mexican Day of the Dead – and although we felt like zombies after occupying Wall Street earlier that Friday evening, we weren’t decked out in any apparel that suited the $1,000-a-plate dinner. Read More

Events

11 Photos

Heidi Klum's Annual Halloween Party(Photo via Patrick McMullan)

New York's 10 Hottest Halloween Events To Die For

You have a lot of options when it comes to Halloween parties in New York. From free parades to art shows to celebrity-hosted galas, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. That’s why we’ve found 10 of the best parties over the next four days for you to pick and choose from. So if your taste runs Read More

Don't Waterboard Me Bro!

BM_image2

The New Generation of Haunted Houses Substitutes Actual Torture for Good-Natured Scares


Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Blackout Haunted House’s creator as Josh Haskell. The creators are Josh Randall and Kristjan Thor. The New York Observer apologizes for the error.

What comes to mind when you think of a haunted house? Is it being handcuffed, waterboarded and physically assaulted by a bunch of burly men screaming obscenities? Would you pay good money for the experience of walking through a re-imagining of a “dehumanizing” “torture chamber”? If so, congratulations: one of the basic staples of Halloween culture is now catering exactly to your needs. Read More