The return of Haunted Hart Hall

Tis the season for shrieks, spooks and scares at Mt. A’s highly anticipated Halloween event!

 

It was the Friday before Halloween, and all through Hart Hall, the creepiest creatures had begun to crawl. Haunted  Hart Hall, Mt. A’s finest student-operated haunted house has officially returned for another night of frights and delights. Originally constructed in 1910, this academic building was built as a part of the Ladies College, and has had nearly 114 years to accumulate spooky stories. From the eerie old swimming pool in the basement to the rumored haunting of the hall by staff alumni Ethel Peake, a voice teacher who died in the year 1954, this historical building sets the perfect backdrop for a hauntingly good time. This event was hosted by the MASU in collaboration with three program societies: classics, history, and English. Willing victims (students) piled into a lineup that stretched from the building’s entrance all the way to the library, and left donations to the societies for a chance to face the horrors within. They were given a simple task: follow a guided tour through Hart Hall and survive. With a penguin and a zombie bride ready to lead them through, students embarked on an unforgettable journey.

Nawfal Emad – Argosy Photographer

In the weeks leading up to this event, each society met and discussed the perfect theme for their respective rooms. It had to represent both their degree program, as well as terrify any brave souls who dared to check them out. English Society president and fourth-year English major, Julia Palmer, described what this brainstorming process was like. Remarking that “we were playing with a few different literature-inspired themes, including The Yellow Wallpaper, but we decided on Frankenstein as it is a story that everyone would immediately recognize. It was also fun to plan around the animation scene! She continued, “planning and preparing the room was a blast. It’s really gratifying to see the final product of a collaborative effort, and it was awesome to see our actors dressed up and getting into their roles to really bring the room to life.”

After the perfect theme was selected, the decorating could begin. With the help of each society’s members, the perfect decorations were gathered and crafted to make each lecture hall unrecognizable. Finally, on the night of Friday, October 25, it was showtime, and volunteer actors took on the roles of monsters and madmen alike. Fifth-year English and history double major Noelle Cook described her experience as one of the actors:  “I was so happy to hear from people who had come through that they loved our room and thought we did a great job! I’m bruised and voiceless but I had a blast as Frankenstein’s creature.”

Speaking of which, during the first stop on the tour, visitors found themselves entering Frankenstein’s Laboratory. Groups were invited inside to check out Victor Frankenstein’s newest creation, made out of an amalgamation of body parts. But as the creature was unfinished, the scientists were seeking organ donations from the tours to finish their work. Next, students were led into the world of an ancient cult, resembling something straight from Euripides Bacchae. Courtesy of the Classics Society, the tour groups got to bear witness to a sacred ceremony from the Eleusinian Mysteries, wherein a human being was sacrificed to Dionysus, the god of ritual madness and insanity. Finally, those who had survived the previous two rooms got to experience the terrifying Dorchester Jail, a room hosted by the history society. Groups were terrorized by the ghostly inmates of the old prison, a fortress that held New Brunswick’s last ever double hanging— a punishment assigned to the Bannister Brothers in 1936. In between each of these rooms, volunteers waited in the wings to jump out and scare them when they least expected it.

It is safe to say the event was a success. Even now that Haunted Hart Hall has passed for another year, you can almost still hear the shrieks of students startled by the ghoulish tour. Unfortunately, groups were not taken downstairs to see the elusive abandoned swimming pool that lies in the basement of the hall… maybe next year?



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