path of peril

The veil that separates the spirit world and the material world is thinnest at Halloween, allowing for eighth graders to be transformed into ghosts. Our school's traditional "perilous path" sends upper grades students on a macabre journey through delights and frights performed by the eighth grade class. Paired with the "protected path" of the lower grades, its purpose is to give the adolescent something to singly and courageously overcome, a rite of passage.

This year, our perilous path was called "Lucinda's Curse: A Rescue Mission." It was set in Renaissance Florence, Italy, where the Pazzi family kidnapped the fictitious Lucinda de Medici, sister of Lorenzo and Giuliano. It was reported that Lucinda was taken and held prisoner at the Pazzi Castle, in some secret underground dungeon. She was never found. Fast forward to the present, and archaeologists have discovered a secret entrance to the dungeon, and they may have found evidence to support that Lucinda was there.  But the archaeologists go missing! A rescue team is mobilized to find the missing scientists. Then members of the rescue team go missing too! And supposedly, creepy sounds, scary occurrences, and sightings of ghosts have come from the subterranean catacombs. At the perilous path, the story continues as the student going through the path becomes a new recruit to the rescue team and is sent through tunnels and freakish rooms with zombies, poisoned rescue team members, and the ghost of Lucinda haunting every nook and cranny of the path! Needless to say, the eighth grade students had a blast!

With a wonderful set of class parents, we pulled it off. The mission was a success!