A Terrifying Trail: fraternity raises funds, scares students with Haunted Campus
Robert VanBuskirk loves scaring people.
The Port Huron senior said his favorite way to scare anyone is to get them multiple times at once.
“You scare them once, then while they’re screaming, you have someone else come up from another angle and scare them even more,” he said.
VanBuskirk had many opportunities for scaring over the weekend. He and several other members of the Alpha Phi Omega co-ed service fraternity, organized Haunted Campus at the Central Michigan University Disc Golf Course Friday and Saturday.
Students walked through a wooded trail bounded with caution tape.
They encountered five stations with different themes including a clown tent, the haunted woods and a butcher station, VanBuskirk said.
He said Alpha Phi Omega has been working on the event since the beginning of September.
“It’s really fun and really scary,” Vanbuskirk said. “I enjoy scaring people. Who doesn’t?”
Several students dressed as evil clowns, aliens and monsters and set up along the path. While heading down the trail, one student could be seen dressed as a butcher slicing up a corpse.
A giant fake spider made an appearance on the trail — something Rochester Hills sophomore Rachel Couet said took her by surprise.
But it was the people following her that frightened her the most.
“It’s weird to have people following you,” Couet said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all.”
St. Clair Shores sophomore Marie Morgan said she enjoyed the eeriness of the night and hanging out with her friends on a Friday.
“I’ve been to a few haunted houses that just weren’t worth the money,” Morgan said. “But this one I’d say go if you have an opportunity to.”
Sterling Heights junior Stephanie Volos said she was most scared a man holding a roaring chainsaw.
She said there were some girls behind them that kept grabbing her out of fear of the guys following them.
“It was better than I expected,” Volos said.
VanBuskirk said all funds raised from the event will go toward Alpha Phi Omega’s community service program.
He said Halloween is a great time of year because it lets people be something entirely different from themselves.
"You get to change who you are and become someone new for that night.”
