Standing at the entrance, the eerie gatekeeper wearing a stovetop hat welcomed guests with a sinister smile. Streaks of blood seeping from under his eyes, the imposing gentleman with a blood-splattered trench coat embodied the epitome of a Charles Dickens character gone to the dark side.

He made a statement, oozing with as much foreboding as the cranial fluid emitting from a pair of severed heads perched on a table.

‘Oh, and one more thing,’ he said, his darkened eyes glowing malignantly with pleasure at seeing college students cower in fear. As if on cue, wails of agony and shrieks of twisted glee burst forth from behind him.

‘If you get too scared halfway through, well, too bad,’ he said, extinguishing any hope of an early exit —there would be no easy way out of this.

With that proclamation, guests stepped into the chilling cacophony of the ‘How Loud Can You Scream?’ Haunted House.

Presented by the South Campus Organization for Programming Excellence, the haunted house emerged from the mist on Skytop Field on Saturday from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. It beckoned the bravehearted and those who wanted a vocal cord workout, the screams emanating from within proving that it fulfilled its function.

The house, supplied by Simplified Entertainment Inc., travels across the country, spreading scares in its wake. In Syracuse, it put the gall of guests to the test as they traversed through the labyrinth of terror. Its size appeared to increase with the winding passageways and constant anticipation that someone —or something —would appear around every corner or lunge out of every patch of darkness. People inched forward in states of perpetual recoil, never knowing when they would encounter a hooded figure or carnivorous clown. Expletives merged with the house’s spooky music, creating a frightful soundtrack.

‘It was really scary, mostly because the actors kept following you,’ said Nicole Osborne, a freshman business management major. ‘There was personal interaction —they asked who was the most scared, and I answered and the actors called me by name.’

Osborne referred to a terrifying tactic favored by the gatekeeper. He asked for the name of the person who was the most scared in the group and yelled it into the depths of the house, garnering a ghastly response that urged the individual to come inside and play.

‘Play with me? Why won’t you play with me?’ said one SCOPE member in a freakishly sweet, yet unemotional voice.

These dolls roamed throughout the house with chainsaws. Their cries of longing echoed in the still night, rising in volume when their demands were not met. They dashed off into the gloom only to resurface moments later and restart their piercing pleas.

Though SCOPE aimed to administer an environment of bone-chilling fear, the scare factor was not the group’s sole motive. SCOPE encouraged attendees to donate a nonperishable food items upon their entry. The donations will go to the Food Bank of Central New York.

Michelle Shea, co-adviser for SCOPE and residence director of South Campus apartments, said the group also created the event to provide an option on Halloween other than parties.

The ghostly gatekeeper, played by Kyle Huff, a sophomore marketing management and entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major, shared Shea’s beliefs.

‘We want students to meet each other, to do something different on Halloween and also have the opportunity to give back to the community,’ said Huff, co-vice president for community contact with SCOPE.

About 250 students attended the event, bringing a total of approximately 100 items, or 60 pounds of nonperishable goods to be donated, Shea said. Most people left scared but thrilled.

Convincing acting by SCOPE members dressed in gory garb made the scene come to life. Strobe and laser lights toyed with the guests, at times making the experience feel like a demented dream. They heightened the effect of menacing hooded figures and the occasional severed arm dangling from the ceiling.

‘I thought it was amazing and coordinated really well,’ said Leandra Stewart, a sophomore accounting major. ‘The lights combined with the atmosphere made it really scary.’

J’Lisa Derweer, a senior health and exercise science major and president of SCOPE, said she was happy with how the house turned out, even though the setup was a little daunting.  

‘We wanted to show students that South Campus is a fun and safe environment,’ Derweer said. ‘And why not come to a haunted house? It’s Halloween —be festive.’

admuller@syr.edu

Published on October 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm