Last Wednesday, UTM Horror Club, in collaboration with UTMSU, transformed the student centre into a haunted house with a bundle of attractions and a lot of scares. The haunted festivities began at 7:00 p.m. and lasted until 10:00 p.m. For those who could not make it, here’s what you missed.
Before we entered the haunted house, emotions were already running high as screams echoed from inside the building. I immediately began to regret my decision but persevered in the spirit of Halloween. As I entered the haunted house, the hallways were dark and gloomy. I was directed along with a group of five others to the first part of the haunted house—Kelsey’s birthday party on the second floor.
Upon entering the room, I was handed a paper plate to carry with me. I presumed that this would be for snacks at the party, and my presumption was correct. The room was constructed as an inside maze. The walls were made up of black barriers that tightly enclosed on you, limiting you to a two-person lane. The first corner I went to was the butler’s area, in which the butler, a fearful male figure dressed in black clothing and black eyeliner underneath his eyes, stared deeply and creepily into my eyes. I screamed for dear life and continued walking in the maze.
Figures wearing bunny and lion masks continuously jumped in my direction, popping out of walls and crawling from the ground. For a brief moment, I turned around as I had a feeling someone was behind me. The butler had been following me. I continued walking nervously and saw Kelsey. She screamed at us to sit on the floor with her and to enjoy some of her finger food snacks, which consisted of [plastic] human fingers. The exit was not far behind her and I quickly ran to the next attraction as soon as she let us go.
The next room was another haunted house across the hall. I screamed at the top of my lungs as people dressed in horrific costumes continued to jump and yell at me. Clowns with colourful clothing and creepy faces attempted to grab me, but I ran as fast as I could. The maze became smaller as we entered further, I had to crawl to get through the maze.
I was redirected to an area where a sign told me to look for treasure in three bowls that was placed on a table. A ghost jumped out from behind the bowls and made me run towards the room exit. Afterwards, I was directed to go back downstairs to the main floor of the student centre.
Just as I thought my misery had finally come to an end, we were directed to another maze that was similar to the previous one, except with more screaming figures and scary costumes. As we reached the end, a man strapped to a table screamed for help but the figure next to him chased us away with his screams. We broke free of the haunted house and I somehow kept my sanity.
Overall, UTM Horror Club and UTMSU did a great job with creating the perfect atmosphere that embodied the Halloween spirit on campus.
