by Esther Brown | Staff Writer
While the Warren lounge was filled with music and dancing, the halls of McMillan echoed with screams. Students celebrated Halloween through the Monster Mash dance and Mac haunted house on the night of Oct. 20.
The goal of Monster Mash is for students of a variety of different backgrounds to come together and celebrate the American holiday.
“We have a lot of people coming from other cultures or families that don’t necessarily celebrate Halloween,” said junior Julia Haley, a resident assistant in Warren. “[Monster Mash] brings all of campus together to celebrate kind of an obscure American holiday while getting to enjoy the fun traditions like dressing up, hanging out with your friends and eating snacks.”
Warren was strung with traditional Halloween decorations of cobwebs and tombstones. The night featured a guest DJ, dancing, snacks and a costume contest.
The 3 dollar admission ticket for Monster Mash also includes admission into the annual Mac haunted house, which was divided into different sections that included a butcher shop, a room themed after “The Shining,” a claustrophobia section, an area with “weeping angels” from “Doctor Who” and more.
The devotion of the residents and their willingness to help is McMillan senator James Parrish’s favorite part of the event.
“It could not happen without them. It always brings joy to my heart to see how much they participate and how much they get into it, it’s true to the BMac spirit,” said Parrish.
Volunteers from the BMac community start the two-day process of transforming McMillan Hall by setting up a PVC pipe skeleton on the basement, first and second floors. After the PVC skeleton is up it is curtained with plastic tarps to black out the halls, and the decoration process begins. Section leaders from the residence halls are in charge of the different themed areas. Volunteers prepare until 8:00 p.m., when people start arriving to go through the haunted house. The house closes at 11:00 p.m. and everything is taken down, which usually lasts until 2:00 a.m. the next day.
Many of the participants who went through the haunted house exited running, screaming and out of breath.
Senior Sarah Haman applauded this year’s haunted house as the best one yet and said it was “incredible.”
“The whole set up and design was really well done and thought through,” said McKenna Rice, as sophomore. “It was very realistic.”
The majority of feedback praised the work and quality of the event, and the haunted house that was produced reflected the dedication and effort of BMac residents.