All are part of a seasonal subculture that, when combined, emerge in congruence with descending leaves and temperature. Howling winds and diminishing daylight allow Halloween to be charitably celebrated by creative minds.

One such place is the Nittany Nightmare haunted house. Sponsored by the State College Area Jaycees, the Nittany Mall and Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity, 402 S. Borrowes St., the Nittany Nightmare seeks to jolt a few dollars out of visitors as a means to indirectly give it back to them.

"The proceeds go to the State College Jaycees, which return the money through charities," said Jaycee member Jeffrey Fortney.

Nittany Nightmare will be located in an empty store space by Kaufman's. Mall vendors — Spencers in particular — have contributed what they could to create an eerie ambiance.

"We have fog machines, haze machines, strobe lights and lightning disks to create a misty atmosphere. We're using a lot more fog and sound effects," Fortney said. "We also have graveyard scenes with coffins and 10 bags of leaves to decorate the floor."

Nittany Nightmare gives visitors a tour through a sleeping girl's disturbing delusions. The 10- minute tour will pass through six rooms in the child's subconscious: the overwrought girl's dark bedroom, a scene from Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, a sinister circus, "sleepy" hallow, an ominous alien abduction and a ghostly dinner party.

Despite the murky atmosphere, Fortney assured that the haunted house is safe for all ages to attend, especially young children.

"We did a lot of research and came up with three specific guidelines," he said. First, at no point will anyone ever jump out and touch anybody. Second, guides with two-way radios will coach visitors through the nightmare. And third, there will be no graphic depictions of blood.

"This is the only child-specific haunted house in the area," Fortney said.

Fortney expects 500 to 800 children to attend. Admission for children is $2 but if they show up in a costume, their cost is cut in half. Accompanying adults are free. Nittany Nightmare will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

For the Lemont Village Association, haunted houses provide volunteers an opportunity to give something back to the community after scaring them.

The fifth annual Dr. Strangelove's Haunted Granary is hardly subtle in its surreal scare machine.

"I think of it as a 150-foot-long maze with skulls, ghosts, cobwebs, and things to bite you in the ankle and rub you in the face," said co-director and retired Penn State kinesology professor Ron Smith.

Smith plans to deck out the granary with much more. After going through the maze inside the granary, visitors will tour through a haunted school bus, peek in on a crazed chiropractor show and then watch witches boiling babies in an outside graveyard scene.

"We tie in a few ghost stories too," Smith added. "College students really have a ball out there."

With help from volunteers of the Lemont Village Association and State College High School, the Haunted Granary hopes to restore the grain elevator and coal shed located on Mt. Nittany Rd, Lemont, Pa.

"The idea is to keep the outside looking like it looked in 1885, when the railroad came through," he said.

CATA will provide a free shuttle to Lemont from campus and downtown bus stops. Admission is $5 and tickets will be available at the door.

Attendance has been climbing every year, Smith said. But this year, he hopes to pull a few expected out-of-towners in.

"We might get people from Ohio because of the big Ohio State game this weekend," Smith said.

Dungeon Duel, 111 Sowers St., in association with Quik Rock, is hosting its own haunted house. Owner Jessica Heim warns the haunted house isn't for the faint-hearted because of its already dreary basement setting.

"This place is already scary to begin with," Heim said. "It's going to be very, very scary. We have mazes with incredible artwork and 3-D monsters that pop out at you."

Last year, Dungeon Duel lost about $4,000 in its effort but Heim said she wants to do it again because feedback was very positive.

"People said it blew away any haunted house they've been to," she said.

Dungeon Duel's haunted house will run from 7 p.m. to midnight today to Wednesday. Admission is $6 but includes a free pass for a game of laser tag.

In similar seasonal fashion, Harner's Market, 2191 W. Whitehall Road, is selling all sorts of autumn harvest as a way to usher in Halloween spirit.

"Fall is our busiest time of the year," said Pam Harner, owner of Harner's Market.

Corn stalks, apples, apple cider and pumpkins of all sizes sit in wicker bushel baskets on the front stage of the outdoor market. The enormous selection of pumpkins varying from large to small invites the creativity of customers hoping to carve cartoon characters and scary faces.

"The largest pumpkins we sell are about 30 to 40 pounds," Harner said.

Harner's Market also runs a corn maze behind the store. Weekends bring many visitors hoping to lose themselves in the season spirit, but weekdays in the maze give children the chance to go outside the classroom.

"We do field trips during the week," Harner said. "Primarily, its been elementary schools and church groups."