The history of Highland isn’t an average story. In the 1900s, it served as the grounds of public executions at the Utah Territorial Penitentiary. In other words, the final breaths of many of the worst criminals in Utah history were taken somewhere in the Highland basement.
That alone should make walking around the basement at night scary enough. But every Halloween, try adding to the spook factor during Highland’s spook alley.
The Highland Student Body Officers spend October planning a Halloween night for Highland students. They spilt into groups and each plan their own themed room or hallway. The SBOs put in a lot of work to get this done on time and to make it fun – and scary – for participants.
The event was held during the fall carnival on Thursday, Oct. 24. The SBOs spent most of the day setting up.
“We have been setting up since third period, so like 12,” sophomore class president Maya Kurth said before the event.
The Halloween experience started before students entered the halls. An actor greeted each guest and went over the rules, most importantly, entering at one’s own risk…
The first hallway was dimly lit with curtains hanging from the ceiling. As students and parents walked by, masked actors jumped out at them for their first scare of the evening.
Walking through, guests went through a hallway full of neon writing on the walls telling them to turn back. They might wish they had turned back once they made it to the next hall.
A fully masked clown was standing on the other side of the ramp and followed victims all the way to the next hallway while banging on the railing. This elicited the most screams and sprints to safety.
Ducking through the curtains into the next hall, participants heard banging and screaming. If they looked behind them, they would have seen a masked figure standing in a dark corner.
The next room was the most chaotic of them all. The hospital. A bloody person greeted visitors with cries for help.
“The scariest part was the hospital person who kept screaming in our ears with a leg in their hands,” Highland sophomore Madison Gaia said.
Moving from the basement to the stairs the guests were being watched by a 10-foot-tall actor on stilts. And while ascending to the first floor, the stairs were blocked by multiple masked figures that they had to maneuver around.
As victims turned the final corner into the men’s locker room, the floor was full of toys and creepy people with dolls. Leading you towards the exit was a girl dressed as a child playing with a doll.
Even though no event can live up to the haunted past of Highland the SBOs did and incredible job setting up a spooky Highland night.
