Every year during the fall, a few fraternities come together and transform their amazing houses into something unrecognizable. No, we’re not talking about alumni weekend, we’re talking about Halloween and the awesome Haunted Houses that some fraternities put together.
Each Halloween, these fraternities transform their homes into a living, breathing Haunted House, open it up to students and public, then donate the proceeds to their philanthropy of choice.
Not only do these Haunted Houses promote team work and brotherhood as they’re being built, they allow the surrounding community as a whole to interact with the fraternities in a positive way. And at the end of the day, people get scared sh*tless and tens of thousands of dollars are contributed to positive causes.
We’ve pulled together a group of fraternities and organizations we feel deserve some additional press for the efforts they’ve given. If you’re visiting a friend at any of these schools, just arrived on campus this Fall, or are a senior who just crawled out of from under a rock, make sure you head to these awesome fraternity-run Haunted Mansions.
Memphis – Sig Ep
Address: 3586 Midland Avenue | Memphis, TN
Dates: October 29th-30th
Admission: $5
Since 1998, the Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers at the University of Memphis have been going all-out in putting on a fantastic haunted house. The transformation of the house takes all month and brothers even go so far as to assign different rooms to the seven different sororities who use their creativity to create different themed rooms (American Horror Story: Asylum, Haunted Disney & Witch Seance, etc.).
At the end of the packed two-day event, the brothers then announce and award the different organizations with prizes and awards for categories like “Scariest Room” and “Most Money Raised,” as well as an overall winner.
The proceeds from tickets, t-shirt sales, and donations from the Haunted House have helped SigEp win top fundraising fraternity for three years in a row. More importantly though, that money goes directly to Up ’til Dawn (@UTDMemphis), the fundraising organization for the Memphis-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (@StJude).
The event has gotten so big and popular that they’re running an entire advertising campaign, so make sure you get there early from October 29th-30th to ensure you get the sh*t scared out of you.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfbAo4HlHVw&w=656]
Gettysburg College – Phi Delta Theta
Address: 110 West Lincoln Avenue | Gettysburg, PA
Admission: $5
The Gettysburg chapter of Phi Delta Theta has been running their Haunted Mansion since the fraternity was recolonized over ten years ago. Not only is it the biggest philanthropy event that the fraternity throws each year, it’s one of the most popular Halloween attractions in all of Adams County. Tickets to the Haunted Mansion cost $5 and 100% of the proceeds go towards Adams County Youth Services.
The Haunted Mansion features three floors of sheer terror and is a “must see” if you’re in Gettysburg this Halloween.
Baylor University – Phi Gamma Delta
Address: One Bear Pl #85602 | Waco, Texas
Admission: Free (t-shirts cost $10 and long sleeve shirts cost $15)
FIJI Fright Night is an event that the brothers started in 1996. Each year a haunted house of 14 different rooms is constructed by their membership and offers free admittance to the community.
In a brilliant move, shirts work as a fastpass, which allows those who buy to head to the front of the line. Long sleeve shirts cost $15 and short sleeve shirts cost $10.
This year they donated all proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project. Fright Night continues to be one of the biggest philanthropy events on campus and the brothers are proud to be able to contribute to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Texas A&M – Kappa Sigma
Dates: October 21st-24th, October 29th-31st
Time: 8:00 PM – 2:00 AM
Admission: $10 per person, discount of $1 per can food item (max 2 per person)
For more information on the awesome Haunted Trail, check out the official site here. (Also, the kid below in the video is creepy as hell. That’s neither here nor there, I just needed to squeeze that thought in there.)
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9dIu83edA4&w=656]