Every student’s nightmare became a reality Wednesday night.
A zombie apocalypse took over the Psychology building, turning a classroom into a terrifying zombie-infested maze with zombies attacking people from the left and right, out of walls and grabbing at their feet.
The Psychology Student Association’s (PSA) second annual haunted house kicked off last night with zombies trudging about and hiding behind corners while creeping on people with their slashed up faces dripping with blood. Students were allowed into the zombie-themed maze in groups of two or three after a suggested $5 donation. The movie “Zombieland” played in room 314 while others waited to take their turns.
According to Nick Monzon, president of PSA and senior psychology major, the College of Liberal Arts gave PSA a $500 grant for the event. The money was used to pay for makeup, costumes, building supplies and the maze designer, Adrien Noriega, a junior film major.
Noriega has been building haunted mazes for 12 years in his front yard, and he built the maze for the haunted house last year.
“The people who went through it said it was really scary,” Monzon said. “And the professors said it was hard not to get into it because the screams were right outside their offices.”
He said PSA hopes to make this haunted house more successful than the previous year because a majority of the PSA board will be graduating this spring. He also wants to raise awareness for their charity, The Village and donate 50 percent of the proceeds to benefit The Village, which helps homeless people find housing and jobs.
Monzon said that the scariest part of the maze is the element of surprise.
“It’s a mystery, even for the workers, [and] not knowing how long [the maze] will be,” he said. “There’s a lot of twists and turns.”
Despite the stress of pulling the event together, Monzon said that the fun part is putting the PSA officers in different spots outside their comfort zones.
“As soon as you turn off the lights, they go crazy,” Monzon said. “It’s one of the only times where you can be weird and people won’t think, ‘What are you doing?'”
Right after coming out of the maze, senior psychology major Amy Nguyen said the maze was “awesome.”
“I can’t believe a bunch of kids put it together,” Nguyen said.
Junior health care administration major Kelvin Kook said that he liked how realistic everything was.
“I like how the people were into it,” he said. “They take it seriously.”
The haunted house will continue tonight in the Psychology building from 5 to 11 p.m.