On a chilly Friday night, the quiet Miller residence halls at Goshen College were haunted once again. This year’s Haunted Halls event drew around 200 people, 50 up from the 150 last year. 

The event took place on the first floor of Miller, which is currently unoccupied. Residence life transformed the space into a ‘haunted’ hall. Each room was decorated differently and staffed by student actors. A sign by the entrance warned visitors of the scares to come and listed safety rules. Students entered in small groups to explore the rooms.  

Kevin Schultz, assistant director of residence life, said, “It’s a bit of a legacy event, [it started] a few years at some point prior to COVID … so it’s not a brand new event, but we kind of gave it a facelift.”

Much of the creativity and organization came from students’ hard work. “This is our third year doing it, and so we’ve built it where the RAs and the students can just go for it.” Schultz added that “they come up with the ideas, they buy the decorations, decorate and do the whole thing for two hours.”

This year’s event featured a new collaboration, “Senate and CAC joined us this year to decorate and staff a room,” said Chandler Buchfeller, director of residence life and housing.

Egypt Boyd, a sophomore with a film production and writing major, and member of both CAC and Student Senate said, “Pretty much everyone from both teams was involved. We had a group to go decorate, then a couple of us acted in it. It was really fun!”

Boyd added that the CAC and senate room came together through creative experimentation. “We didn’t really use other inspiration from other houses. I’ve never actually ever gone to a haunted house before, so it was really cool and exciting to try this out,” she said.

“We went from zombies to vampires, back to zombies, to a torture chamber, but in the end, it really just became something of its own.”

The event lined up with GC the admissions All Day/All Night Weekend for prospective students, who were staying on the second and third floors of Miller. Their presence brought excitement as they joined current students in exploring the haunted first floor.

Students were impressed and surprised by how professional the event was. “The first thing that went through my mind was, this isn’t bad at all. Then came the first door, and that was when I was like, ‘oh, it gets worse, ’” said Selah Potsander, a first-year engineering physics major. “The entire setup was very well done. I honestly didn’t expect much, and then I went into the hall and everything, the actors, sounds and lighting made the experience feel very real.”

Leah Hochstetler, a first-year writing major, shared a similar reaction. “I was very impressed with the acting and decor. The rooms were very creative and elaborate. I remember candles and babies were hanging from the ceiling and I was really impressed with one actor’s screaming ability.”  

A variety of students rated the scary factor differently.  “A six. Maybe a 6.5 for all the times I was jump-scared!” Potsander said. “Nothing genuinely scared me because I was with my friends and I was pretty distracted trying to see if I recognized any of the actors.” Hochstetler added. 

To keep everyone safe, residence life reminded participants and actors of strict rules “We tell all our actors, don’t hit anybody. Don’t touch anybody,” Schultz said.

When asked about their scariest moments, students did not hesitate to share the most haunting scenes. “The only thing that genuinely scared me was when I opened a door and faced a single screaming person tied to the bed. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t make myself go into that room. I think it was the imagery of the scene that reminded me of a surgery room straight out of a horror movie.” Potsander said.  

“For me, the scariest moment was when I was walking through the completely dark room knowing that someone was going to jump out at me. I am very scared of the dark and I also am very susceptible to jump scares so it was the perfect way to terrify me,” Hochstetler said. 

Despite the screams, the event ultimately fostered connection and creativity. “This was a really fun community building activity,”  Hochstetler said.  “I would recommend going if you like being scared or if you just like doing things with your friends. Everything was super creative and it was fun to experience it with other people.”