Aggielife
The Battalion
Page 3 • Wednesday, October 29, 2003
MONIED HiUDE? *
By Nancy Dubinski
THE BATTALION
Mil
ttVw
/J/j/L
m
I
1/
A'
s the fall air begins to grace Aggieland
with its presence and the ghosts and
.goblins prepare to make their annual
return. Aggies are reminded of the delightfully
haunting experiences of Halloweens past.
Through the trick-or-treating, endless amounts
of candy and ever-amazing plethora of creative
costumes, one memory tends to come alive in the
minds of many: The ever-frightening stroll through
a haunted house.
For some, nothing can compare to the thrill of
not knowing what is lurking behind the next turn or
the anticipation of not knowing what to expect.
“1 love that kind of stuff. The kind that gets your
adrenaline rushing,” said Amy Mitchell, a senior
agricultural economics major.
Mitchell attended Kappa Sigma’s “Wicked
Woods” two years ago with a friend.
“He was more scared than I would have expect
ed most guys to be, and when something jumped
out at us or anything, he would jump,” she said.
“Actually, he grabbed my arm one time and kind of
bent it backwards.”
Mitchell has a passion for scary movies and
haunted houses.
“I like the stuff that jumps out at you and the
sudden loud noises. Even when I know it’s coming,
I still always jump,” she said
“Wicked Woods” is the Kappa Sigma fraterni
ty's annual fundraiser for the American Red Cross,
the Brazos Valley Food Bank and the Mental
Health Association. It holds this fright fest at the
fraternity house every year through the latter part
of October. It has become one of College Station’s
main spooky attractions over the past several years.
Many Aggies have attended “Wicked Woods”
and can recall the screams, the terror, and for some,
the pain.
Jason Banon, a senior agricultural development
major, remembers a “Wicked Woods” adventure he
won’t soon forget
“A friend of mine and I took a couple of girls a
few years ago. We were going because the girls
wanted to and they didn’t want to go alone,”
Barron said. “We had a good time and it was funny
because 1 actually spent most of the night pulling
fingernails out of my back.”
Barron explained that he wasn’t scared, though.
“You go to those things and you sort of know
what’s going to happen,” he said.
Educational human resource development
graduate student J.K. Kovasovic also had an inter
esting night in the “Wicked Woods.”
“It was really muddy the year I went, so you
add that to the endless line and your classic yells
and screams, and you have yourself a pretty crazy
night,” Kovasovic said.
Bryan Ehlert, a senior biomedical science
major, made an attempt to try out the “Wicked
Woods,” but it didn’t quite work out.
“I remember trying to go to “Wicked Woods,”
but the line was always too long,” he said.
Instead, Ehlert ended up visiting the Veterinary
Medicine school haunted house. His favorite part
m / i
was being chased by someone with a chainsaw, a
token ingredient in the recipe for a successful
haunted house. Overall, he recalls the experience
as a good one.
“There was a lot of screaming and people were
always trying to grab onto you,” Ehlert said.
Cassandra Behr, a junior biomedical science
major, said her favorite haunted house memory is
set in the halls of Hotard Hall at the residence
hall’s annual scare factory, “Hotard from Hell.”
The residents’ rooms are temporarily converted
into sanctuaries of fear for their adrenaline-filled
guests to explore.
“One of the scarier things that I remember was
a room that was completely covered in black tarps
and was completely dark other than a strobe light,”
Behr said. “They closed us in there and some guy
appeared and chased us around this tiny little room
and we couldn’t see to get out. Overall, ‘Hotard
from Hell’ was definitely scary. I screamed the
whole time.”
Another haunted house that invokes fear in the
hearts of Bryan-College Station residents is the
Girls’ Club Haunted House hosted by Alpha Phi
Omega service fraternity. The event is funded par
tially by the fraternity and partially by donations
from businesses in the Bryan-College Station com
munity. Proceeds go to benefit the Girls’ Club
after-school programs.
Approximately 65 members of Alpha Phi
Omega put on the haunted house, doing everything
from getting donations, building and decorating
the rooms and playing haunted characters and
guides.
“It’s a lot of fun. We get to dress up and scare
the kids,” said Matt Kainer, a senior civil engineer
ing major and Alpha Phi Omega member.
Kainer said his favorite haunted room is filled
with students, including himself including himself
dressed as terrifying clowns. He also described a
room with an electrical chair, one with a scary sur
geon performing an obviously unsuccessful opera
tion, another with a seemingly lowering ceiling
and a wall-o-hands. The wall-o-hands is a black
wall decorated with inflated, white surgical gloves
and a few members of Alpha Phi Omega wearing
all black except for their white gloves that move
torturously toward their potential victims. No
haunted house is complete without the chainsaw,
which Alpha Phi Omega has not failed to include.
It’s possible that there are other locations
around this exciting college town that have some
sort of haunted history. Senior psychology major
Rebecca Branom had what she originally thought
was a supernatural experience.
“I was in Langford the other day and the guy
sitting next to me randomly asked if I had just seen
the Confederate soldier that just walked by. I
looked around and saw nothing of the sort and told
him that I thought maybe he was seeing things,”
Branom said. “But was this a ghost? No. A few
minutes later I saw a guy dressed in a Confederate
soldier’s uniform walking down the hall and I’m
pretty sure he was real because he stopped to talk
to a girl in my class.”
Whether it’s creepy excursions or a little trick-or-
treating in the Halloween plans for this year, there’s
no question that Aggies just want to be scared.
There’s nothing like a good haunted house to quench
that yearlong, much anticipated thirst.
Graphics by Paul Wilson • THE BATTALION
'‘I '
A
if
r"
Animat Industries
building
In 1>>65, a professor
CLit his leg and hied
to death while doing
meat preparation.
Sounds of his
screams for help and
his footsteps are stiii
rumored to echo in
the halls.
fcairy Science
Center
while lights flicher, an
image of a man
standing hrj the grain
silo has caught more
than one person’s
erje.
Francis Hall
4 o ^
shadow apparitions
have heen seen
trolling up and down
I Trancis’ halls.
Strange noises that
seem to relocate on
their own add to the
spoolc factor of
Francis Hal
Seth Freeman *THE BATTALION
Source ‘TEXAS AGGIE MAGAZINE
ii^.
f/