Last weekend, Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, Hillsdale College Campus Recreation, and Simpson Dormitory organized spooky surprises for campus. Although the most “horror” I watch is NCIS, I stepped outside my comfort zone to review each haunted experience.

DSP Haunted House

As I wandered through DSP’s haunted house, I felt like a character in Disney’s “Monster House.” With tarps hanging from the ceiling, flickering lights, and a winding route throughout the house, scares came from almost anywhere. Hands reached out from underneath tarps. The swaying of the sheets left me wondering if a figure hid just around the corner. 

Although I tried to prepare for the unexpected, I still jumped every time someone appeared out of the shadows at us. Even though being atw the back of the line should have given me time to prepare after initial jump scares, I kept falling for it. 

If the jump scares weren’t enough, only one group went through the house at a time. The emptiness gave scarers a great chance to keep the spookiness alive by following our group through the rooms. I soon realized the back of the line was worse than the front.

Along with human scares, a live snake made an appearance in the living room. 

The worst, or best, part of the experience was the clown in the kitchen. Intense strobe lights bounced off the tiles. I found it hard to focus on the clown slowly creeping toward us when it was hard to see. However, the treacherous descent down a narrow spiral staircase into the basement came immediately after the clown. While my friends made slow progress down the stairs, I forced myself to make small talk with the clown to cope with my fear. 

After almost tripping down the stairs, I found that once I finally reached them, the unfinished basement didn’t need any extra decorations. Finally, a dark figure chased us out of the basement through an outdoor cellar door and into fresh, haunt-free air. 

According to junior and DSP member Oliver Hunsbedt, the preparation process helped active members and pledges bond.

“It took two days and every brother to get the whole thing set up,” Hunsbedt said. “It required every brother to participate and contribute in their own way.”

Along with providing a thrill for Hillsdale students, DSP raised money for local nonprofit ARE, or Activities Recovery Empowerment. The organization operates two drop-in houses in Hillsdale and Jackson.

According to senior and DSP President Carson McNellie, ARE assists “people recovering from mental illnesses achieve their goals of sustained recovery.”   

Trail of Terror

As I entered Hayden Park on Friday evening for Trail of Terror, I tried to remind myself that the people jumping out of the woods at me were the same people reffing my flag football game the day before. Unfortunately I forgot that fact as soon as we started walking down the trail. 

With rapidly fading sunlight, narrow trails, low-hanging branches, and ominous moonlight, the woods provided an excellent haunted setting only enhanced by the cannibal baby dolls hanging from the trees. 

The beginning of the path brought a towering clown and shadowy figure crawling towards us on all fours. Continuing into the woods, I imagined every branch hid another scary pair.

Sophomore and Campus Rec employee Lizzie Penola appreciated the natural scare of the park.

“The woods does a lot of the work for you because it was a spooky path,” Penola said. 

I agree with Penola. As I wandered around the woods, my imagination conveniently reminded me of a horror film I accidentally watched about a woman trying to evade a bad guy alone in the woods. To ensure I didn’t end up alone, I dragged my friends close behind.

Coming across animal bones is always a possibility in the woods. On Trail of Terror, animal bones on the path were a fitting reality. 

“I saw a pile of deer bones on the path, so I just spread it along the trail with my foot,” Penola said. “That’s a natural prop there. That’s the horror of the woods.”

Simpson Asylum

The final haunted experience of the weekend was Simpson Dormitory’s annual asylum on Saturday night. A tour guide led people through the different floors of Simpson and through the basement lobby. 

Overturned furniture, dim lights, and a variety of materials hanging from the ceiling created a narrow, treacherous path through rooms and hallways. Television screens and record players added an eerie, auditory element to the dark lighting. 

With suite style rooms and winding paths providing numerous places for scarers to hide, I was constantly on edge while walking through Simpson Asylum. Immediately after entering, a clown jumped out at us. After that, I tried to peek around corners to see what was coming next. 

Another jump scare came from a resident hiding on the toilet. With the shower running, I expected a scare from the shower instead of the other direction. One visitor was so shocked she fell into the running water.

Staying true to the name of Simpson Asylum, we wove through a hoard of residents in the basement lobby begging for our help to escape the asylum. Residents wholeheartedly and convincingly played their parts. 

Simpson Asylum was a community effort. The dormitory donated all proceeds to Helping Hands Pregnancy Center in Hillsdale. 

Freshman and Simpson resident Patrick Hamilton appreciated the community aspect of the haunted event.

“There were a lot of people from the town who came so it was an all-city event,” Hamilton said.

Overall, I felt the closest to a character in a Halloween movie in the DSP Haunted House. After the variety of scares I’ve experienced at these events, I hope I could do a better job escaping the bad guy in a movie than most star actors.