The basement of Pemberton Hall will be decorated with bloody arms and legs at its “Haunted Hospital” Halloween weekend.

The haunting starts 9 p.m. Friday and again at the same time Saturday. This is the third year Pemberton has brought a haunted house to campus.

Each year the residence halls are given the opportunity to work with a charity in Charleston or in surrounding areas. Throughout the year the do fundraisers and proceeds go to the charities.

This year Pemberton is working with HOPE of East Central Illinois, which is a domestic violence shelter in Charleston and all, proceeds go to them. The hall is also purchasing supplies for them.

Last year Pemberton’s Hall council worked with Public Action to Deliver Shelter, a homeless shelter, and asked people who came to the haunted house to bring canned good.

Anne Pettit, a sophomore communications and English major, is the service chair for Pemberton and said although the setting process can be tedious, coming together for a common goal is a plus. Pettit said the haunted house gives students something fun and safe to do on Halloween.

“Pemberton is just an added bonus because we’re one of the oldest residence halls in Illinois so we’ve already got that kind of eerie older feeling about it,” Pettit said.

Pemberton is opening up its basement along with rooms even residents of the hall do not have access to.

“We’re opening up rooms that haven’t been used in a really long time and using those as scaring scenes,” Pettit said. “So people will get to see parts of Pemberton that are not usually open to residence themselves and even when we first opened them we were scared to walk in.”

Miranda Haywood, a junior family and consumer major, is the president of Pemberton and said because of Pemberton’s reputation for being haunted, the building is a great place to hold a haunted house.
“Even the basement, this basement is not like other basements in other halls,” Haywood said.

Haywood said this year there are seven scenes in various parts of the basement, which are centered on the idea of a mad hospital. Haywood said as the year’s progress the haunted house became more structured in terms of set up. Haywood said she has a wicked goal of how she want the crowd to react to the set up.

“We’ve had a group of football players walk in that were terrified and that made me happy on the inside and someone last year peed their pants,” Haywood said.

Candice Basista, a sophomore pre-nursing major, is a residence hall association representative for Pemberton and said it feels good to be on the other side because last year she was the one getting scared.

“I’ve always gone to haunted houses but never been a part of the prepping process,” Basista said.

Basista said a haunted house give students a chance to bring back their inner child and have fun. She said it beats staying in a dorm on Halloween night.

“Because we’re in college and no one can go trick-or-treating anymore, it still gives people Halloween on campus,” Haywood said.

The haunted house is $2 per person and Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m.

T’Nerra Butler can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]