What do you do when you finally make it out of a haunted house? Most people who successfully make it out are happy to keep walking, but at Mt.A, students make a habit of going back in. On Thursday, Oct. 29, the Mount Allison Students’ Union (MASU), alongside student societies and Rotaract Mount Allison, turned Hart Hall into a haunted house for Halloween. For some students, one trip just wasn’t enough.
Now you might be asking yourself, why Hart Hall?
Well, for anyone who hasn’t met Hart Hall’s resident ghost, the story goes back to the building’s days as part of the Mount Allison Ladies’ College. You see, Hart Hall had a head start on the whole haunting business. The red sandstone building opened in March of 1910. Students lived upstairs, and a 1920 expansion added a swimming pool in the basement. But somewhere along the way, it picked up a ghost story: local legend says Ethel Peake, a former Mt.A voice teacher, still haunts the halls after mysteriously losing her life in 1954.
So, if you ever hear someone warming up their scales when you are pretty sure you are the last one in the building, maybe let them finish.
If Ethel was around on Thursday, then she had plenty of company; however, unlike her scares, Thursday’s scares were done by people who are very much alive.
The Mt.An Chem/Biochem Society put students to the test with its mad scientist escape rooms. For anyone whose idea of a good scare involves being able to watch it from a seat, Mt.A Jack.Org, part of a Canadian movement for youth mental health, hosted Movies and Mocktails in Crabtree. The mocktails sold out.
From the first scare to the last mocktail, a lot of students helped pull the night together. A special thank you goes out to Ava Horwood, director of entertainment and activities, and Ella Matheson, assistant entertainment director. Shoutout to Tovah McGrath and Will Stott for guiding students through the house and getting in on the scares, and to the MASU executives, student senators, and volunteers who decorated the rooms and dressed up to haunt them.
As for Ethel? We’ll leave her off the volunteer list until she confirms.