Screams echoed through the University of New Mexico’s campus as alums, faculty and students enjoyed a free haunted house set up in its oldest building.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, the UNM Alumni Association and UNM Trailblazers hosted “Haunted Hodgin Hall.” All year, Hodgin Hall serves as the alumni center, but on Tuesday, it served as a realm of frights and thrills.
Katie Varoz Williams, associate director of Alumni Relations, said that the event exists not just to scare students, but to deepen their connection to the Alumni Association while they’re still on campus.
“One of our greatest goals is to get students familiar with the Alumni Office and the Alumni Association before they leave and become alumni, so they understand that once you graduate, you’re still a member of the Alumni Association and always invited back to participate in connecting back with your friends, your professors, your classes (and) the University itself,” Varoz Williams said.
Each of the four rooms in Haunted Hodgins were designed and staffed by different UNM student organizations. They utilized a combination of animatronic and live scare-actor jump scares, creating a unique experience for each guest. Each room also had a distinct, short scripted storyline that was read aloud by tour guides.
Room one was put together by the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico, featuring two twin sisters whose bond cannot be broken, even by death. According to the script read by the guide, “they’re drawn to fear.”
Guests then walked through “The Board Room of Terror,” created by UNM’s National Pan-Hellenic Council. Scare actors and animatronics crowded around a board room table in a meeting that never ends, jumping at passersby.
UNM Trailblazers created the third room, a “Dinner Party Gone Wrong.” The room featured a scare actor hidden under the dinner table who would grab at guests’ ankles as they moved through the room.
Lastly, attendees had to brave “The Biohazard Lab,” created by the UNM Health Professions Symposium. The room was full of scare-actors with various injuries, illnesses and medical maladies, as well as a mad-scientist conducting experiments to “cure death.” The room culminated in an actor writhing on a table with an animatronic bursting from their chest, a send-up of the iconic moment in “Alien.”
The event also served as a way to introduce students to the Hodgin Building, as many of the students Varoz Williams spoke to had never been to Hodgin before visiting the haunted house, she said.
“Hodgins is the oldest building on campus. It’s pretty historical and interesting and can be a little creepy without all the decorations,” Varoz Williams said. “But with the decorations, it becomes extra haunted and fun, and helps celebrate the season and connect students back to alumni relations and some fun on campus.”
Upon conquering the house, participants could vote for their favorite room. The winning group would receive $500 to use toward their student organization, Varoz Williams said.
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While supplies lasted, those who survived Haunted Hodgins received a free drink from Suenos Coffee. There was also a free outdoor screening of “Them!” a 1954, black-and-white horror film about giant ants mutated by nuclear tests in New Mexico.
Mandy Rosario, a UNM nursing student, said that “The Biohazard Lab” was her favorite.
“That seemed like the most realistic, and I’m a nursing major, so I was like, ‘hey, that’s my thing,’” Rosario said. “It was pretty cool. I was lowkey a little spooked.”
Another guest, Sarah Rodriguez, expressed how much she enjoyed the event.
“It was good, good scares. I feel like I don’t scare too easily, because I was kind of laughing, but it was good,” Rodriguez said.
Different visitors had different tolerances for terror; Amiya Martin-Parks was more easily scared, but still enjoyed the experience and learned about the Alumni Association from the event.
“(That was) the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life, never again. I don’t like haunted houses and I almost cried my eyes out,” Martin-Parks said. “It was pretty cool. It was awesome — never again, though.”
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
