By Lingchao Mao, Fall intern at UPP@NCSU
It was the dark evening of October 27. Wind blew violently, the wolf howled at the full moon in the sky, and ghosts were ready to depart for Halloween haunting. A bus filled with 39 UPP students (both from this current year and UPP groups from the past) and 2 interns drove into the darkness of Panic Point Scare Park in Youngsville, NC. Everybody was ready to spend four hours in the haunted forests to challenge their bravery and withhold their screams. UPP at NCSU organized this special event for students to take a break from the intense mid-term exam period and to experience the best haunted attraction in North Carolina for an authentic taste of Halloween.
To warm up the hearts, some students started with the Haunted Hayride. There is a myth that says “You’re always safe when you’re moving”. Students moved slowly with the hayride into the quiet, dark forest. Whispering was heard from shadowed corners, and students were on edge as the truck bumped slowly along… when suddenly the movement halted. Murderous maniacs, giant spiders, bandits, and monsters jumped onto the truck from all ends, providing no escape! Screams sliced through the quietness of the dark.
One brave student, Xinyang Li, said: “I now understand why those people were so silent when they finished the ride.” But ex-UPP student Zoe laughed, “I am not scared yet. I feel bad for the actors.”
The Haunted Forest was the featured attraction of the park. Students grabbed their hands and braved into the half mile venture. Evil dolls, Voodoo witches, lobotomized lunatics, human meat, enslaved patients, sinister priests, evil crowns, were just the beginning.
“I really enjoyed this event!” Ruth said, “My favorite theme was the film studio, where under a continuously flashing light an actor dressed in black and white moved to us. The visual effects made him seem to be jumping out of the wall, and you couldn’t see his movements. It was really cool. Another theme was an abandoned school bus and there was a dead woman shouting at my face “Get out! Get out!” During the trip there were also all kinds of monsters quietly following us. When you turn back and see a bloody head staring at you, you can no longer scream out. “
The bravest students dared to walk into the Dark Trail to experience the most intense scares. Walking in pure darkness with the help of a rope and finding a way through Mutant Doomsday Preppers, ghastly barns, zombie cemetery, infected bus, hideous house, and more unearthly features.
Kaia was an impressively brave girl. More than excited after surviving the trail, she said: “I loved the Dark Trail, it is very different from all the haunted houses that I went before. I was the first one leading the path in the group and couldn’t see absolutely anything. I had to touch my hand and find the way in the darkness. I really enjoyed tonight. It is much more scary than Scarowinds. I think they are very professional and well designed. “
During the visit an unexpected rain suddenly poured onto us. Wet and coldness did not discourage the young spirits. Students claimed that it added more realness in the atmosphere.
As students explore and venture, they forget about their endless homework and experience new things and challenge themselves. “I feel really inspired,” said our cosplay lover student Ruth. “I really want to draw something to picture my emotions now.”
For some students, it was their first time celebrating Halloween, or even going to a haunted house. “I think I celebrated Halloween my whole life,” the returning UPP student Lareina said. “This event is great. I want to give a piece of advice for those timid students –put your hat on, grab your Friends firmly and look at the ground the whole time, then you will be mostly safe. But never show them that you are trembling because if so they will scare you even more.”