Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. students and the community participated in a showing of the 1993 Emmy-winning “Halloween Tree” in the Pomeroy Planetarium.

   The “Halloween Tree,” by Ray Bradbury, tells the story of nine boys that begin a Halloween adventure. The premise of the Tree stems from the story “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” which Bradbury watched, and a Thunder Child review said he was disappointed in. He adapted a pumpkin tree that had many faces, each more distorted than the last.

   In the movie, Pipkin, the quasi-leader of the group, has medical problems that do not allow him to follow with his friends to a supposed haunted house. Pipkin sends his friends ahead and ultimately catches up with them, only to be borne away by a creature. The abduction leads the other eight children on a voyage through time and symbolism to find the meaning of Halloween and various holiday icons.

   Mummies, skeletons, goblins and witches, and the origins of each, are taught to the children in a voyage across time:

• Mummies come from Egypt. Their incorporation in Halloween comes from the Egyptian belief that to create a good afterlife they must mummify the bodies and bury them with treasures that will be used by the deceased in death.

• Skeletons come from Mexico. The symbolism ties in closely with the Anglo Halloween due to the Mexican Dia De Los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead.

• Goblins, a French invention, come from an adaptation of the Gargoyles on Notre Dame Cathedral.

• Witches, prevalent in England, were once thought to be the “wise ones” of their tribe. Though today the old thinking has mutated into broom-flying hags the children see the origins in a new light.

   The event coordinator Joe Guenter, assistant professor of physics and director of the Pomeroy Planetarium, said he switches between “Halloween Tree” and the Garfield Halloween special.

   “The movie has a real neat moral,” Guenter said. “At the end Pipken, stricken with appendicitis, (this is symbolized by the creature’s abduction of him) dies. All of his eight friends offer one year of their life to save his.”

   In past presentations, Guenter showed “Secret of Seven Devil’s Swamp” and “Bloody Tower” as well as his own creations.

   The planetarium, constructed around 1975-1976, has been in Guenter’s care since. He said he does have some misgivings though.

   “I have mixed feelings because it is not entirely Astronomy related,” Guenter said. “It is not a typical star-gazing event. I do this for the kids, to familiarize them with the planetarium. The ‘Christmas Star’ event that I do for Christmas has a bit more of that to it.”

   The “Christmas Star” will show around Dec. 11 at the Pomeroy Planetarium.