On Friday, Oct. 28, the Northwestern Theme Park Engineering and Design Group (TPED) presented a Night at the Haunted Museum, a haunted house set up in Norris University Center. This collaboration with NU Nights was free to the general NU community, and encouraged attendees to get into the Halloween spirit with candy, chills and a few thrills.
The line to enter the haunted house stretched all the way from the Louis Room down the stairs, as more and more costumed individuals showed up for the event. Students who made this haunted house a reality, including McCormick third-year Maia Traub, helped shepherd the crowd of thrill-seekers.
“I love being scared. Like, I hate-love it,” Traub said.
Norris turned into...a Haunted Museum?! 😱
— Northwestern (@NorthwesternU) October 31, 2022
Two Northwestern student groups teamed up to transform the Louis Room at @norriscenter into an immersive haunted house this Halloween weekend—designing sets, costumes and makeup. @StudentAffNUhttps://t.co/CUSLCrRtdJ pic.twitter.com/2tTCK2J2ww
McCormick fourth year and co-president of TPED, Kevin Brunner, was on the scenic design team for the haunted house. He said his favorite part of the process was “just seeing it all come together.”
Brunner said TPED hopes to become more involved with the larger NU community, and was “blown out of the water by how well this has come together.”
These club members cheerfully sent us on our way toward the dark abyss of the entrance to the Louis Room, which was filled with curtains, fog and hazy LED lights. After explaining the rules and giving us a countdown, the club member at the front told us to enter.
My friend and I bravely marched through the haunted house, letting out a few yelps of fright (and maybe some choice words that aren’t quite suitable to print). We came upon haunted statues, ghouls hidden behind corners and a creepy security guard that shined a flashlight into our eyes and screamed at us to “get out!” Our traverse through the room was short, and we were glad when the doors finally opened and we could step out into the brightly-lit hallway.
Even hyperventilating, I managed to exchange words with a few more people, commiserating over our shaking hands. The Night at the Haunted Museum was thrilling and left students a little more prepared for the Halloween celebrations ahead.
It was exciting to see such a fun project come together for the TPED club, and in the words of one student I spoke to, “Jump scares, they get you!”
Thumbnail courtesy of Luna Xu