The Black Student Union’s annual haunted house

On Saturday, Oct. 29, the Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a Haunted House in the Union ballroom; the haunted house is an annual attraction that provides a safe, spooky Halloween activity for Geneseo students.

The ambiance of the event was felt as soon as participants entered the Union. Upon arriving, I was immediately irked—the lights in the Union lobby were dimmed and only colorful lights were being used. 

Approaching the door to the ballroom, we were greeted by a human in a creepy baby doll mask. This person never said a word to us and honestly, that was the freakiest part. We were then ushered into a pitch-black ballroom, where we entered the haunted house.

The outside of this attraction was unassuming; I thought it was going to be a simple walkthrough. I was wrong—this was a maze. After we first entered, my friends and I debated as to who should be forced to walk in the front. I took on that responsibility as I do not scare easily when it comes to this type of thing.

Moving further into the attraction there were many jump scares. We would go one way and then come to a dead-end where an actor in some scary costume would corner us. With nowhere to go, we stood there in horror. Eventually the actor got tired of us and pointed us in the right direction. This type of thing happened several times and we finally made it to the end. At the last turn, someone came scurrying across the floor which elicited a horrified scream from our Managing Editor, Emma Mincer. 

Overall, we had a good time. But don’t just take my word for it—freshman English adolescence major Megan Moran agreed, saying, “I had a great time.” 

This seemed to be a common theme as Alexandra Messerklinger, a sophomore political science major said, “It was fun. I liked the maze aspect.”

However, many did find this maze to be a horrifying experience—freshman English adolescence education major Samantha McGinnis stated that she “liked holding the back of my friend’s shirt.” I would have to say our Managing Editor, Emma Mincer had similar feelings to McGinnis’.

This impressive event was held by the Black Student Union. I spoke with the President of this organization, junior sociomedical sciences major Nya Caballero to get some background on not only the event, but the BSU.

“The mission of Black Student Union is to spread awareness about Black culture, as well as educate, and be as inclusive as possible.”

In terms more closely related to event planning, Caballero stated that the event was relatively simple to plan as they partnered with Geneseo Late Knight. 

To learn about future BSU events, be on the lookout for flyers and posts on their Instagram @bsugeneseo.