Pemberton Hall delivered another year of terror for people looking for a scare this weekend with its annual Halloween haunted house event.

The event began with an elevator that took students down to the basement floor to volunteer actors in makeup and costumes. Students gave many different reasons for their fear. 

Brook Ozier, a sophomore biology major, said the actors trailing behind her scared her the most. 

“You can’t see what’s going on behind you,” Ozier said.

The actors also scared Nicole Suciu, a senior exercise science major. 

“My heart is literally beating out of my chest right now,” Suciu said. “What made it so scary was that everyone was screeching and just pounding and everything.” 

Isabella Guidry, the president of the Pemberton Hall Council and a history education major, explained the process for organizing the haunted house. 

“Well, I think it really is just one making sure you give yourself enough time to plan ahead, and that you come up with an idea and making sure that you assign people within your organization roles that they can fulfill,” Guidry said. “That way, you’re not doing everything by yourself, and you have a team that you can work with and assign roles. But they can also all ask questions and work together to do these things.”

Guidry said the events this weekend would not have been possible without the volunteers. 

“I think it’s also making sure that you give enough time for volunteers when really volunteers are really helping this entire thing,” Guidry said. “All the stairs, all the people who are collecting the money, the people who are working in the waiting rooms, everybody, it’s really just volunteers. And so really organizing a good haunted house for charity like this is just reaching out to the community. Making sure that you have these volunteers who are going to help, and they’re going to be your backbone for creating this.”

Alissia Rivera, a senior English education major, noted this year’s high participation. 

“There were definitely a lot of volunteers this year,” Rivera said. “The decorations were really cool, and it felt long. Definitely better than the previous years I have gone.” 

Although this year has been especially exciting, the event has always been popular with Eastern students. 

Anne Flaherty, Eastern’s vice president of student affairs, said that the event was crowded last year as well. 

“It’s a popular annual tradition,” Flaherty said. 

Like many on campus, Flaherty believes that Pemberton is haunted. 

“The stories I’ve heard, there’s a ghost that lives here,” Flaherty said. “I think that she’s a nice ghost though.” 

Tickets cost $2, and all of the proceeds will be donated to GirlForward. 

GirlForward is a non-profit community support group. Their mission is to create and enhance opportunities for girls who have been displaced by conflict and persecution. 

Arielle Kindred, the associate resident director of Pemberton Hall and advisor of the Pemberton Hall Council, explained the decision to donate to GirlForward. 

“I think it’s very important that we support everything, every area, every female that needs that empowering, that needs that extra help,” Kindred said.

Elaina Boss can be reached at 581-2812 or at edboss@eiu.edu.