The Programming and Activities Board on the West campus celebrated Halloween early Monday with a haunted house modeled after an insane asylum and a kid-friendly area with movies and a bounce house.
Life sciences senior Angela Gonzales said this event was designed to build up to Halloween, or have the celebrations last more than one day.
“You don’t have to save all the festivities for Halloween night,” she said.
After signing in, people waited until a doctor could give them a tour around the insane asylum, which included a recreation area where patients could talk on the phone and a theater where they could dance.
There was one patient who, for example, had been performing in the studio and asking members of the tour group to dance with her.
The walls of the insane asylum were also decorated with scenes from famous horror movies, such as Janet Leigh in “Psycho” and Pennywise the Clown from “It.”
Computer science senior Daniel Toledo is part of Cos Club, one of the event's promoters. He said the Halloween event last year had been successful, so they wanted to try to do it again this year.
“We wanted to do it again this year — make it bigger and better and more exciting and fun,” he said.
Karla Esquer, a psychology junior and the director of live entertainment for PAB, said this event had been planned since the summer, but she was pleased with the theme.
“We’ve been planning this since the summer,” she said. “It took us a while to pick a theme, but I think an insane asylum works.”
Esquer added this theme had been used two years ago, and there had been a good turnout. Although it was not used last year, they decided to use it again this year to match the idea of “go big or go home.”
“We figured, ‘Why not host a big event?’” she said.
PAB President Melanie Koch, a psychology junior, said the theme was chosen because of the previous season of “American Horror Story,” which was set in an insane asylum.
“It seemed to be popular,” she said. “Insane asylums are scary and eerie, so we thought it would be fun.”
Koch said one of her favorite parts of the insane asylum was seeing a little boy who asked people where his mommy was. According to the doctor giving the tour, the little boy’s mother had been killed in front of him.
“It was adorable and creepy at the same time,” she said.
Koch said she hoped the event would be a great experience that people would remember.
“College is not just about the classes," she said. "It’s about the memories. We create the memories that people can look back on.”
Heather Hoag, an applied computing junior who greeted people as they signed into the event, said she was working it because she was a member of the Cos Club and because Halloween is one of her favorite holidays, because she can dress up as someone else.
“It’s not every day you get dressed up all gory,” she said.
Austin Zimmerman, an interdisciplinary arts and performing senior, said he was pleased with the haunted house overall, but his favorite thing about it was the voice acting.
“I thought the voice acting in particular was really great," he said. "Everyone did a good job."
The event also featured a section for children, which was sponsored by Children’s Hope. This featured a bounce house and a place to watch Halloween movies such as “Hocus Pocus.”
Jazmin Easley, an early childhood education sophomore and the president of Children’s Hope, said she enjoyed working the event, because she got to scare people before they went up in the elevators.
“I liked screaming," she said. "I liked getting in people’s faces and being the last thing they saw."
Logan Marshall, a nonprofit management and leadership sophomore, said their event was designed to be an alternative for children.
“Just the kids are the highlight,” he said.
Reach the reporter at ldjarvis@asu.edu or on Twitter @misslorijarvis.
