by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
The spookiest place on campus today is the haunted basement of Mesa Vista Hall.
El Centro de la Raza is hosting a haunted house in the basement to scare up funds for the Ida Romero Memorial Scholarship, an annual merit award for students who excel in academics and community service.
But this haunted house has a spook factor greater than the mere sum of its parts, event director Renee Delgado said.
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"There are supposedly two ghosts that haunt Mesa Vista Hall," Delgado said. "One is a little girl with a bouncy ball and the other is a beheaded Lobo football player."
The two Mesa Vista myths will be personified to scare attendees.
Delgado said the haunted house will be staffed by 15 volunteers.
The haunted basement is open from noon to 4 p.m. today. Tickets are $2 for UNM students with a Lobo ID.
The Southwest Ghost Hunters Association investigated Mesa Vista Hall last year and found paranormal activities in the basement, Delgado said. The association has also documented strange noises coming from the boiler room.
"There are weird noises down there all the time," volunteer Whisper Carpenter-Kish said. "There is a room in the basement that you start to hear coins dropping. It will drop and then vibrate on the ground before it stops. And then, it will start all over again."
Earl Browning, a master plumber for UNM, has worked in the basement for more than 20 years.
Browning said he has experienced some eerie occurrences.
"I'll be in the basement late at night or early in the morning, and all of a sudden the hair on the back of my neck will stand up," he said. "I get this weird feeling that someone is watching me when I know that I am all alone down there."
One myth says a football player was decapitated in the 1950s or '60s when he was looking up into an elevator shaft, Browning said.
Volunteer Meriah Heredia-Griego, who will play a little girl in the haunted house, said she was frightened in the Mesa Vista Hall elevator on Friday.
"The elevator tends to have a mind of its own," she said. "The elevator eerily went up to the second floor, and when the doors opened, no one was there. It was a little creepy because I kept trying to close the doors, and they wouldn't shut. I just had to sit there and wait until the elevator decided to go back down to the basement."
Another myth says a girl fell down the elevator shaft while visiting her older brother in the Mesa Vista Hall dormitories, Heredia-Griego said.
The haunted basement fundraiser allows students to explore the area, Delgado said.
"It's the best venue in town for a haunted house because it is supposedly haunted," she said. "It's inexpensive and something fun to do on Halloween. Plus, you're helping a good cause."
The Haunted
Basement
Mesa Vista Hall
Oct. 31
noon-4 p.m.
$2 with Lobo ID
