The Turlington Hall Council saw a record-breaking turnout for its fifth-annual haunted house Saturday as nearly 400 students attended the event, compared to last year’s 250 students.
This year’s theme, “St. Hellgrind’s Hospital,” portrayed a forgotten, decayed hospital where corrupt doctors experimented on hostage patients.
Niccolo Roditti, Turlington Hall Council president and a sophomore studying psychology, said he was a part of the house last year and noticed the increase in student attendance.
“We do the haunted house because it is a Turlington tradition,” Roditti said. “This is our fifth year. It’s more of a co-effort; we had 20-30 volunteers. It’s a great experience to put all of our talents together and give back to the community.”
The exhibit began with tour groups guided down pitch-black hallways in a single-file line. As the group proceeded through the tunnel, there were various exhibits staged to frighten groups, including scenes such as doctors operating on a three-eyed woman and surgeons harvesting organs from hostage patients.
Andrew Farkas, a junior studying science technology and society, was an actor for this year’s haunted house.
“I was one of the emergency room doctors,” Farkas said. “I was in the operating room treating a patient that had a very bad nail accident. I yanked one of the nails out of his head every time [a group came through] and chastised him for lying about how he had received the injuries, and it was a lot of fun.”
Farkas said he helped out with the haunted house last year and was not expecting this many people to attend this year.
Roditti said Turlington’s Hall Council has been planning for the past two months for this, including meetings, budgeting and choosing committee heads.
“It’s been an extensive process, and we’re just glad we got to see it through and that it’s been a good project,” Roditti said.
Trevor Gamache, a sophomore studying engineering, was one of the tour guides who led groups through the haunted house during the night. Gamache said his preparation for the event included three rehearsals that were two hours each.
Thursday night, he and everyone volunteering moved all the furniture out of the Turlington basement, and 10 a.m. Friday morning, they began setup until the haunted house opened 8 p.m. that night.
Despite the hard work, Gamache said it was all worth it, and he was blown away by the increase in attendance this year.
“I love living in Turlington, wouldn’t change anything,” Gamache said. “It’s a very family-oriented group.”
Ethan Thompson, a junior studying communication and public relations, was lead planner and lead designer for the haunted house, as well as a tour guide in the show.
“It’s something we look forward to every year,” Thompson said. “It’s our biggest event.”
Roditti said that as the home of the Arts Village, one of the ideas was to include different aspects such as acting, music, theater, art, team design and makeup.
“It’s a great experience to put all of our talents together and give back to the community,” Roditti said.
