NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans fans dressed up for the world's largest Halloween party.

An adjudicator from Guinness World Records verified that at least 17,777 fans attending Sunday night's game between the Saints and the Pittsburgh Steelers came in costume, setting a record for the largest gathering of Halloween revellers.

According to the Guinness website, the record coming into the game had been set by 508 costumed people at a night club in Bloomington, Ind., last year.

Crowds for Saints games in the Louisiana Superdome routinely exceed 70,000. Many of the thousands in costume at the game dressed with Saints themes. The winner of a costume contest, identified as Glenn Mehrtens, dressed as Saints coach Sean Payton. A female companion was dressed as a package of Juicy Fruit gum, which Payton is known to chew during games.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, handed out Halloween treats to area children and military families at the White House Sunday evening.

Local students between 6 and 14 years old, along with children from military families, were invited to celebrate Halloween on the North Lawn.

The president and first lady, along with Mrs. Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, spent about 30 minutes passing out goodie bags. Obama wished each child a happy Halloween as he distributed the treats, pausing occasionally for hugs or to comment on costumes.

Later, the military families continued the celebration inside the White House.

LOS ANGELES — There are horror movie geeks, and then there is Eli Roth.

The writer-director of Cabin Fever and the Hostel movies and producer of The Last Exorcism has encyclopedic knowledge of the genre. So with Halloween coming, we asked him to take over the Five Most space and pick his five favourite horror movies. He responded so quickly and thoroughly, it was scary.

Here are Roth’s choices in descending order, including his detailed analysis, with the last one being his favourite:

A group of rural students will wear Halloween costumes tonight that hundreds of Manitobans have to endure in every day: that of someone living on the streets.

Fifty students from L' École/Collège Régional Gabrielle-Roy will spend the night eating and sleeping on the grounds of the Îles des Chênes school, warding off the October chill as best they can to show solidarity for homeless people in Manitoba.

"It's preparing them to be young, strong, responsible adults and not just dumpers of blame on the rest of society," school adviser Monique Guenette said in a statement.

On Monday, the students will cap off their experiment by heading to Winnipeg's Siloam Mission, where they will donate warm clothing to the Exchange District shelter.

WASHINGTON - The walking dead have infiltrated the Energy Department.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu shared a picture of himself as a zombie on his Facebook page in an effort to teach users about saving electricity.

"To date, there is no scientific evidence about the existence of zombies, but what about vampires?" Chu asked in a Facebook note.

He went on to warn readers about so called "vampire appliances," such as computers, stereos and DVD players, which use power in standby mode.

VANCOUVER - Vancouver Police are warning about a true threat hiding among Halloween celebrants this weekend.

Police say they'll be out in greater force after receiving some information about a high probability of an increase in gang-related violence.

Vancouver Const. Jana McGuinness said on Saturday that police felt the information was concerning enough that they should issue the public notice.

But that doesn't mean police want people to cancel their party plans.

Eating isn't usually thought of as scary, unless it's wondering where the 10 bags of miniature Almond Joys went and why there is coconut between your teeth.

But food can be scary if it's not clean, or if the hands of those serving it aren't. Men's Health calls this list "dirtiest foods," but in honour of Halloween, we're calling 'em scary. We culled their 10 to five.

Washed prepackaged lettuce: Lettuce accounted for 11 percent of reported food-poisoning outbreaks linked to produce from 1990 to 2002, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. When you bring it home from the grocery store, rinse every leaf under running water. And please don't wrap it in the towel you just used to wipe up chicken juice.

Chicken: In a word, yecch. Recent testing of 484 raw broilers found 48 per cent contaminated with an unpronounceable, particularly nasty form of bacteria. When you open a package of chicken, pop it right into the baking pan. Cook till the thickest part reaches 180 degrees.

WINNIPEG - Halloween weekend will be a quiet one for Winnipeg escape artist Dean Gunnarson, mostly because he'll spend it buried six feet underground.

Up at surface level, however, there was a lot of noise as a chained and bound Gunnarson was placed into a steel coffin Friday night to begin an escape attempt designed to culminate on Halloween night.

Complicating the stunt will be the fact Gunnarson won't have any food or water for the two days.

He says the challenge will be to survive "without panicking or going insane."

EDMONTON - Dracula, make the change on your calendar.

Frankenstein, you better update your itinerary.

Sexy nurse, your Sunday shift has been moved up.

Halloween will be happening a day early in some Alberta towns this year.