Eight hundred feet of black plastic. Twenty-eight pounds of fake spider webs. Eight rooms of horror.
The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at The University of Memphis is ready for Halloween early this year with their two-day Haunted House. The attraction opened Monday night. The event will continue tonight, opening at 7 p.m. and closing at 10 p.m.
This is the fifth year for the event, benefiting the American Heart Association.
“The first year we had the event, it wasn’t too good,” said James Rudolph, head of this year’s Haunted House. “The last two years have been really good though.”
The fraternity raised more than $1,500 last year in the six hours of the event.
This year, Sig Ep is selling tickets to increase their attendance and to guarantee trips through the house. Anyone who purchases a ticket and is in line by 10 p.m. will be guaranteed a trip through the house. Tickets can be obtained from any Sig Ep member and from most participating fraternity members for $4.
Preparations for the Haunted House have been in progress since Thursday. Sig Ep members sat down then to discuss ideas and began putting them into action. Rudolph said their ideas have been forming since the Haunted House ended last year.
The group began construction Friday night and worked until 4:30 a.m. Saturday. After a few hours of sleep, they went back to work at 1 p.m.
Fraternity members worked on the scary rooms for another four or five hours on Saturday night and hung rolls of black plastic on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, other groups came in to work on their rooms. For an entry fee, groups sponsored their own rooms, decorating them as they wished. Themes included the Student Activity Council’s Wizard of Oz, Sigma Kappa’s Cary and Alpha Gamma Delta’s Killer Clowns.
“The Haunted House is a good way for campus sororities and fraternities to get together for a common good and have fun instead of building up all the animosity,” said Sig Ep member Cody Snyder.
Participating organizations include Phi Beta Sigma, Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha, Alpha Gamma Delta, Phi Mu, SAC, Pi Beta Phi, Delta Gamma and Sigma Kappa.
“We’ve spent two days working,” said Sigma Kappa member Brandi Hauswald. “We’re doing homecoming with Sig Ep, and we try to support them.”
With the Haunted House falling so close to Homecoming, the work can interfere with Homecoming efforts.
“We moved the dates up this year, so it wouldn’t happen at the same time as Homecoming,” said Rudolph.
“With Homecoming, we’re kind of stressed, but it’s really fun,” said Brandi Miller, Sigma Kappa. “It’s a good way to get to know Sig Ep before we do Homecoming with them.”
The Haunted House has had a big turnout in past years, according to Rudolph.
“We’ve had people in the past getting out and getting back in line,” he said. “We’ve had compliments in the past saying that it’s better than professional houses.”
While each group has their own room and can do what they like with it, Sig Ep always does some of the rooms and throws in a few extra features to be sure that the house is as haunted as ever.
“Every year we get more people, but to keep them, we have to have a good house,” said Rudolph.
Sig Ep will also sell T-shirts for the event. Proceeds from the T-shirt sales will go to a fellow member whose father recently had an accident that is not covered by his insurance.
