On Friday night, October 25th, Simpkins Hall became Haunted Simpkins, presented by Sigma Tau Delta. Beginning at 7:30, students enjoyed trivia, snacks, a costume contest, and a ghost tour of the building.

The event began in the reading room, perfectly decorated by Ajayla Ries for a spook-tacular time, with pumpkin tablecloths, spider rings, Halloween stuffed animals, festive string lights, and a spooky light projector. Students werewolfed down themed cupcakes, brownies, and candy to the background tunes of a sinister-rific playlist before beginning a game of wickedly fun trivia.

The questions touched on classic Halloween stories and movies, like Hocus Pocus, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, Dracula, Frankenstein, and more. The top two contestants were each awarded a book: the first, Midwestern Strange, and the second, Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match.

After trivia, the costume contest began, where ten different students entered to win and strutted their stuff into the room. The victor was decided by the volume of cheers received and was awarded the book, Broken Circle.

Students then embarked on a ghoul-orious ghost tour of Simpkins Hall, led by Carter Myers with scare actors Taylor Holan, Grace McGill, and Jael Henning. They were led through the building and even outside as the tour guide gave some history on Simpkins and some legends of the supernatural. The scare actors were spread about the area, waiting to make the tourists jump.

Taylor Holan, social media manager of Sigma Tau Delta, was willing to give some quick insight on the ghost tour from the perspective of a scare actor.

TH: I got to hide in the bathroom and scream bloody murder out the window at the tourists, and then I got to bang on the window in front of Simpkins. Overall I had fun, although I will say that I scared myself a bit when I was left alone in the building. At night. In the dark. I remember locking the bathroom door behind me because I was paranoid. Arguably the scariest part of the night.

The tour ended where it began in the reading room, where the boo-tiful event was tragically brought to a close. A big thanks to Sigma Tau Delta for hosting. Until next year—it was a scream!