Towards the end of October, Southwestern was lively with celebrations filled with creepies and crawlies alike. Just a week after a successful homecoming, Southwestern welcomed the spooky season with decorations and a myriad of fun Halloween events. One particular highlight was the return of the haunted house on campus.
For those who don’t know or are new to campus, Southwestern used to host a haunted house for students during the Halloween season. However, the last time SU hosted a haunted house was the Fall of 2023 in the McCook-Crain building (if you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone as the building was demolished the following November).
Three years later, Alpha Phi Omega partnered with Student Activities to bring back the haunted house, and open it up to not just students on campus, but also the local Georgetown community. In true APO spirit, they also partnered up with the Pirate Pantry to help stock up on non-perishable foods through the haunted house entrance fee, making it so that each person who arrives at the house must give at least one donation to the Pirate Pantry.
Beginning in late September, APO used the vacancy of the old Field House, formerly the home of Korouva Milk Bar, and later that of SUPD. Teaming up with IT Department’s Audiovisual Services Coordinator Randy Avenell, who was working to build and set-up the various ghoulish gadgets, from fog machines to speakers. Volunteers from APO labored to help set up the haunted house in order to ensure it was as spooky as possible. From sorting through boxes of previous haunted house decorations, creating body bags, laying out spiderwebs, or spray painting the firefly symbol from The Last of Us, APO spent multiple days putting the house together so that guests who arrive will be entertained with terror while having fun in the process.
On the evening of Friday October 30th and Saturday October 31st, between 7 to 10 p.m., the night arrived for APO to officially debut the return of the haunted house. Students in APO who volunteered to be scare actors were divided into different rooms of the house, such as the laboratory (with evil mad scientists), vampire room, zombie hall, and of course, a variety of jumpscares in-between, giving actors endless opportunities to be creative with their dastardly performances.
There were also tour guides to help lead and entertain each group who came to the haunted house, leading them into each area and building suspense until suddenly dragged away screaming, and killed by Jason Voorhees in front of the terrified onlookers. Along with the aforementioned rooms, there was also a hall of horror movie killers, creepy clowns, the Headless Horseman, and a room of spiders. Students, visitors, and even families came by for a witches’ brew of terror, amusement, suspense, and of course entertainment. By the end of the second night, around 90 people had visited and given non-perishable foods for the Pirate Pantry, with some people even donating full bags of food.
It is safe to say that the haunted house was a resounding success. Not only did many students come by to visit the house, with some alumni even stopping by, but families from the Georgetown community came forward and donated their goods so that they could have fun as well. Meanwhile, with so many boxes of donations, the Pirate Pantry is now able to stock up and provide a variety of goods to students. With the welcoming reception and excitement of the night, we can’t wait to see what next year’s haunted house will bring!