In honor of Halloween, the French Club hosted an event framed by a classic novel and world-renowned musical: The Phantom of the Opera.
The Phantom of the Opera, which follows a series of events in the Paris opera house, has captivated audiences from Broadway to the West End for decades—and on October 29, 2025, BYU’s French Club brought the opera house to BYU campus in celebration of Halloween. Attendees solved encrypted clues to find a lost Christine and, in the process, made new friends, practiced their language, and embraced creative applications of the French novel The Phantom of the Opera.
Solving the Mystery of Christine
Students joined the French Club’s Halloween celebration dressed in their best costumes, ranging from pirates and cursed dolls to Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts. With hot chocolate and donuts in hand, the students in attendance settled down for a presentation on The Phantom of the Opera.
While Assistant Professor of French Jim Law (Historical Linguistics) introduced the novel’s plot, the French Club president, who was dressed as Christine Daaé, was taken from the room by the Phantom. This kick-started an impromptu scavenger hunt to find her again. Attendees promptly broke up into groups, receiving and then solving riddles regarding Christine’s secret location.
These clues took students across the Wilkinson Student Center (commonly referred to as the WILK), prompting them to solve numeric codes, look in hidden nooks and crannies, and scour the scene for new information on the French Club president’s whereabouts.
Twenty minutes in, the Phantom struck again, this time poisoning Law and directing the students to the bowling alley to find Christine and the poison’s cure. The event concluded with a costume competition, where a group dressed as the infamous Louve robbers stole first place.
Camaraderie Found in Culture
The French Club’s ability to blend holiday celebrations with French culture makes it the perfect place for French speakers to practice their language and meet new people. And, by focusing on a novel written by French author Gaston Leroux, the club’s presidency showed students that learning about culture and customs isn’t confined to a classroom setting—it can be learned anywhere, even the WILK.
Join the French Club here.