Droves of eager and nervous kids packed two different Creighton Greek houses last week for a chance to experience frighteningly fun haunted houses put on by members of the Greek community.

The men of Phi Kappa Psi and the ladies of Pi Beta Phi teamed up on Thursday night to host a haunted house for the Boys and Girls Club of Omaha. The following night the men of Pi Kappa Alpha and the women of Delta Zeta joined forces to put on a haunted house for children in the local neighborhood.

Both haunted houses involved a great deal of preparation so that the children would have a great time.

“We spent a couple of days leading up to the event setting up everything in our basement,” Arts & Sciences junior Shane Monaghan, co-philanthropy chair for Phi Kappa Psi, said. “We then had a face painter, candy and pumpkins for the kids to paint upstairs.”

“It took us around 15 hours to gather all of the materials and to set up for the haunted house,” Arts & Sciences sophomore Connor Maly, community service chair for Pi Kappa Alpha, said. “The haunted house’s theme was ‘Mental Hospital’ and the highlight of the tour was the operating room. It was quite gory and had two doctors and a patient losing appendages.”

While many of the children were appropriately spooked, others didn’t want to show that they were a little bit frightened.

“I was impressed with how many people came to the haunted house,” Arts & Sciences junior and Delta Zeta Genevieve Bettin said. “It was really fun leading the kids through the house and seeing them act tough so I wouldn’t know they were scared.”

Everyone involved in the haunted house experience had favorite parts of the night that rewarded them for their hard work put in to

the event.

“My favorite part was seeing how excited all the kids were when they made it through the haunted house,” Monaghan said. “They were all extremely scared before entering, and seeing them run around, screaming with excitement after they made it through definitely made it all worth it.”

While some enjoyed watching the kids pat themselves on the back for surviving the haunted house, others enjoyed spending time with the kids during the calmer portion of the night.

“My personal favorite part was seeing the kids’ faces light up when they came into the chapter room and saw all the candy, pumpkins, cupcakes, decorations and everyone was so excited to help them,” Arts & Sciences junior and Pi Phi Carolyn Campbell said. “It was kid heaven and I was so blessed to be a part of it! I think every Pi Phi was excited that Phi Psi asked us to do this event, because we got to take part in a long-standing tradition that really does make a difference in the Omaha community.”

While many members of the Greek organizations were the actors in the haunted houses, others had the job of coaxing the kids through the houses.

“My job throughout the night was to lead groups of kids through the haunted house,” Bettin said. “It was actually pretty scary at first. People were jumping out, but when we would take a group of younger kids through everyone just acted goofy and not scary. They danced around instead of jumping out at kids. It was really funny seeing my friends act like zombies.”

The teamwork between the different pairings of Greek organizations also played a huge part in the success of the two haunted houses.

“The event was successful due to the great showing of Pikes and DZs,” said Maly. “We collaborated very well and had a great time. The haunted house was a huge success that brought thrill and surprises to local children as well as the Pikes and DZs. It was a great opportunity for us to have fun with the community. I feel that providing enjoyment to the community is a huge part in caring for others.”

“I think Pike and DZ worked really well together to put this on,” Campell said. “I think it went really well. The house looked genuinely spooky and everyone got really into it, whether they were a mental patient or outside painting little kids’ faces. I think everyone who came had a good time.

Campell went on to talk about Greek teamwork.

“I think the collaboration between Phi Psi and Pi Phi made this event a real success,” Campbell said. “The boys did a great job setting up the actual haunted house and the girls were very helpful in making sure everything upstairs ran smoothly, like taking care of scared kids, helping them decorate pumpkins and interacting with them on all sorts of levels. And obviously, the kids made it a success. It was really worth all the hard work to see the kids get so excited about the event.”

“It was an awesome event and working with Pi Phi made it even better,” Monaghan said.