At downtown club The Attic Friday night, it seemed like Halloween came a little early.
About 90 people passed under plastic bats as they entered the club for Goth organization Heart of Darkness's "Release the Bats" event, a dance party to benefit the Florida Bat Conservancy.
Heart of Darkness was established in 2005 when Barry Mitchell, who is now the organization's president, noticed that the Goth scene was dying in Gainesville.
"A club would close, and it would take months before another dance night would start up. In the time in between, the people would lose touch with each other," Mitchell said.
They formed the group as a way to make the scene more community-oriented, and began organizing social events, like their weekly Goth Night.
Mitchell wanted to incorporate community service into Heart of Darkness as a means to broaden the social group's impact, but was selective when it came to picking a charity. He wanted to find an organization that complemented the Goth image.
"Goth started in London in a club called Batcave, and all of the younger members [of the Goth scene] are called Baby Bats. There has just always been a bat theme that goes with [Goth]," Mitchell said.
The Florida Bat Conservancy, which rescues orphaned and injured bats and rehabilitates them, seemed like a perfect match.
"Bats don't get a lot of fund raising," said Florida Bat Conservancy executive director Cyndi Marks.
On the dance floor, people swayed to the thumping music of the DJ, green, blue and red strobe lights pulsating over them. Out in the foyer of the club, a silent auction featured books on bats and bat themed jewelry, hand made in Nepal.
Marks, who traded in her normal attire of jeans and a Florida Bat Conservancy polo for fishnet sleeves and violet clip-in hair streaks, gave club goers information about Florida bats. Her white display board glowed a brilliant shade of lavender in the club's black light.
"This is the only club in town I come to," said Acacia Ramey, an attendee donning a crushed-velvet cape and black fingerless gloves. "It's the only place I can dress like this and not be judged."
Among the Goths in attendance are law students, small business owners, war veterans and mechanical engineers.
"People are still prejudiced about Goths. This might soften our image," Ramey said.
