The brisk Tuesday air held the attention of the almost 600 students who paid their two dollars or canned food entry fee to go through the Horror on Hudson Haunted House. Serenaded by the music from KULT radio, many students waited outside the basement to Noehren Hall. 

Brought by the Noehren Hall Senate, Horror was an attempt to bring back to life the on-campus haunted house while raising money and food for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. 

Emily Hummel, sophomore marketing major, said they were not trying to replace the formal Haunted Houses. Instead, they were trying to create a more mild experience. However, once they added a multitude of ‘scare-actors’ (scary actors/actresses) the haunted hall came to life. 

Hummel serves as Noehren Hall Senate President.

“It is funny-scary now,” said Madeline Deegan, sophomore chemistry major. “But it was terrifying-scary in there.” 

Even from outside of the building, passersby could hear the high-pitched screams of students as they were cast into a cursed laundry room, a surgery room, a jail cell, a doll house and a sensory room. 

Even if students live in Noehren, the layout and organization of the maze makes it nearly unrecognizable with garbage bags, fishing line, dripping water, strobe lights and other obstacles distracting the senses of the participants.

Through suspended cobwebs and hidden scare-actors, Jessica McCoy, sophomore communications disorder major, made her way to safety after entering Noerhen’s Haunted house.

 “The whole thing was scary, especially when they were jumping out at you,” said McCoy. “Especially the laundry room got me – ‘do you have any quarters?’ … ok, maybe it doesn’t seem so scary now.” 

McCoy is referring to a scare-actor who was shrieking and demanding attendees pay for loads of laundry where pictures of demented and tormented infants’ faces were plastered along the front of dim illumination. 

Once the haunted house was over, students were led to Noehren’s study lounge where they could recover and share their experiences as well as eat and drink refreshments. The idea of the event was to have fun and to continue to spur the Halloween spirit at UNI.

“I would go back through,” said McCoy. “I would still scream a lot though.”