To make up for the loss of the traditional Halloween dance this year due to Covid, Williston decided to host its first-ever haunted house. The event was a success, with more than half the school showing up.

Erin Davey, Director of Inclusion and Community and Assistant Deans of Students, is the supervisor of the Wildest Cats, and agreed the event was a hit. “It was the best event that the school has put on and was the most well-attended,” said Davey, who added that she would love to see the haunted house turn into an annual tradition. “I would like to see the senior class really take this on.

Davey has had the idea for a haunted house at Williston for several years but is thrilled to have it finally happen. “It’s been in my brain for many many years to turn a building on campus into a haunted house,” she said. “Ms. Noble and I were talking, and we decided to do it because kids were going to be on campus and we wanted them to be together on Halloween.”

She is ecstatic that they were able to pull it off. “I’ve been waiting for this for many years,” Davey said. “It felt like a dream came true when the haunted house happened.”

Davey explained the specifics of why they chose the Schoolhouse and the certain classrooms they did. She told The Willistonian, “The structure of the schoolhouse is perfect. You can go up the stairs and down the hall and then have a strict exit plan, so it was easy compared to the other buildings.”

As far as the natural ambience provided by the building, Davey said, “The schoolhouse is also just scary at night. And it can get super dark, which can be really scary.”

Davey noted that they had to be aware of the current pandemic when deciding how to have the students walk through the Schoolhouse halls. “We really had to think about Covid and how to keep kids moving safely,” she stated. The third floor worked the best, she said, because students were more easily able to flow through the rooms.

Sonia Whitman, a senior from Greenwich, Conn., is one of the three leaders of the Wildest Cats. Sonia said that the event required help from lots of members of the club.

“This was mainly Davey’s idea; she really pushed for to make it happen,” Sonia said. “But the leaders were essential in coming up with how we were going to decorate the schoolhouse and also getting the other members of the Wildest Cats team involved. We were lucky we had a really good team on that weekend; they were all super helpful with decorating and acting in it.”

Sonia also highlighted that she felt a sense of normalcy come back. “It made the school year a little bit more normal, I kind of forgot about Covid when I was acting in it,” she said.

Natalie Stott, a third-year junior, was an actor at the haunted house. “It was exciting scaring people and seeing their reactions,” she said. She also mentioned the tedious hours it took to make the haunted house happen. “People were setting up for a long time but I got there two hours early to help set up and put make-up on for the costume,” she said.

Soleil Richardson, a freshman from Bermuda, went to the haunted house with her friends. “I was surprised when I walked in, it didn’t even look like the Schoolhouse,” she said. Soleil said there was a long wait outside the building prior to entering, but it was worth every minute.

“We got there thirty minutes early and waited outside to enter but people were cutting us so it took longer,” she said. “It was definitely worth the wait because I got to spend time with my friends, and it was a fun way to spend my Halloween night.”

Monica Furszyfer, a junior from Mexico, praised the actors. “Their acting was really good and they put in a lot of emotions and it really scared me,” she said. “Williston hyped this up and made it a big deal and I think it was worth going to it because I had a lot of fun.”