A haunted ship awaits all souls who are brave enough to attend Pemberton Hall’s annual haunted house, set from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Lauren Adams, a senior elementary education major, has been involved in the haunted house since her freshman year and is excited to continue the tradition.

“It was a lot of fun the first time I experienced it,” Adams said. “It was a lot shorter the first time and so something that they did last year that we’re keeping this year is that we’re expanding it.”

As for the theme and what will be going on, all Adams said is that there will be pirates.

The haunted experience starts with a trip down the elevator into the basement with a tour guide. From there, the guide leads the group through the house and gives the backstory of the scary scenes the group sees.

“It’s always a fun experience and people are always scared, but it’s something fun for everybody to do and it’s for a great cause,” Adams said.

Last year the haunted house raised almost $200 for  Housing, Outreach, Prevention and Education, an organization that helps victims of domestic abuse. The tour guides and the people doing the scaring are all volunteers, and all the money raised through ticket sales will go towards HOPE. This year tickets will be $2.

Abigail Chacon, a sophomore history major, was a tour guide at last year’s haunted house. The most enthusiastic and silliest people who came were the ones that were scared the most, Chacon said.

“The people who were really into it had fun,” Chacon said. “They were laughing, they were screaming and pulling their friends back, like ‘I’m not going, I’m not going.’”

Last year Pemberton Hall even had a chainsaw, Chacon said. When the person came in with the saw, all it took was the loud whirring noise and people were booking it out of the haunted house.

“It was a fun experience, everyone was laughing,” Chacon said. “It just made Halloween more fun.”

Rachel Smith, a sophomore psychology major, said last year’s theme was a haunted hospital.

“Last year, in one of the rooms in the basement, someone was eating somebody’s guts,” Smith said. “And then another scary part was on the window, somebody banged on it. That was really creepy. People were freaked out.”

Smith had so much fun she is signed up to be a volunteer tour guide again. This year Smith said the tour guides will try to incorporate more storytelling into their act.

To know whether or not the chainsaw is coming back, people will have to come and see, Smith said.

“Be ready to get scared,” she said.

Chrissy Miller can be reached at 581- 2812 or clmiller@eiu.edu.