The Belmont community will have the chance to release the ghost of Adelicia Acklen at the annual Pembroke Haunted House, Friday, Oct. 29 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
It’s the biggest event Pembroke does and the goal is to make it the best haunted house ever, Nathan Phelps, a freshman Pembroke Hall resident said.
Creating a sense of community, campus-wide, all residents of Pembroke Hall have the opportunity to create a safe and fun haunted house for Belmont students and alumni. This year, they’re taking Belmont back to its roots.
“It started five or six years ago, a few people threw it together at the last minute, and it kind of stuck as a tradition in the dorm. So each year following, the guys have gotten together and put on a haunted house, it’s gotten more and more involved,” Larkin Briley, a sophomore Pembroke Hall resident assistant said.
In 2009, between 300 and 400 people came through haunted house.
“People were genuinely freaked out,” Briley said. “We got a lot of startles and screams out of people.”
This year, Pembroke plans to top the 2009 attendance by developing a good story, bringing Belmont’s past to life.
Those who come through the haunted house will have to fulfill a quest to release the spirit of Adelicia Acklen, Phelps said.
Releasing Acklen’s spirit will require participation from everyone who comes through the haunted house.
Tour guides will lead groups of 10 to 15 people through the story, accomplishing different tasks in order to make it out, Briley said.
The layout of the haunted house will start out in the Pembroke lobby, and then proceed up to the third floor where several residents’ rooms play a part in the story. It will continue down the opposite side, returning to the first floor.
“Everyone’s helping. It’s a big community effort on Pembroke’s part,” Briley said.
The Pembroke Community Council began planning at the beginning of October, giving residents about three weeks to prepare the haunted house.
Money from the Pembroke Date Auction provided the funding for the haunted house this year. Decorations have also been donated by Pembroke residents, and props from previous years will be reused.
Residents have seemed really interested in making the haunting of Adelicia Acklen a success, Kendall Durkee, a freshman Pembroke Hall resident said.
The Pembroke Haunted House not only provides a safe and entertaining Halloween experience for the Belmont community, it also gives Pembroke residents a chance to bond as a male dormitory.
The haunted house gives introverted residents a chance to come out and be able to meet everyone else in the dorm, Briley said.
“I can say from experience last year, I met more guys in my experience with the haunted house than I did at any other point in the year,” he said.
Pembroke is known as a community dorm. Bonding during long nights of working on the haunted house until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. has built on that reputation, in an effort to expand this sense of community throughout the rest of campus.
The hope is to make a closer community, not just with the Pembroke residents’ hall, but out of the entire campus. It’s something everyone can enjoy and experience together. There are very few events on campus like that, Briley said.
Getting There:
The Pembroke Haunted House is a free event, but donations are appreciated. All the proceeds are going to benefit, Trick or Treat for UNICEF. For more information, text, BOO to 99699, or search, Pembroke Haunted House on Facebook.com. Also, be on the lookout for informational posters around campus.