If you have a passion for horror, then you should have been at Westside’s Haunted Hospital hosted by HOSA and TPRO. On October 13th, students from HOSA, TPRO, and NHS all came together to create the wild ride many enjoyed on the night of October 14th. They prepared different settings around the Theater department, interconnecting them to make the experience more pleasurable for their customers. Tickets were sold a week prior for $10, and they were also selling at the door. The profit went towards funding the theater department.

Now the route of the Haunted Hospital. The entrance was through the opening of the auditorium facing the school bus parking lot. Once you went through the doors, you were met with a red strobe light as your only guide through the asylum beds. The sheets were covered with “blood” and, of course, our actors, the screeching asylum patients. Making your way out of the auditorium into the mini-theater, zombies and killers chased after you but don’t worry, according to guidelines, both actors and customers were not allowed to touch each other. In the mini-theater, a killer chef was cooking up his next human meal with the help of his evil friends. From there, you went through the backstage hallways, being spooked by ghosts, murdered dinner guests, and witnessing a serial killer taking in his next victim. Now the black box, it is in the name; the black box is a place where the deepest darkness is kept. Once in the black box, the only sense guiding you was your hearing, and the cries of a suffering patient attacked your hearing. The patient then began crawling towards you, but she was dragged under the bed before she could get to you. Just like that, the intense journey ends leaving many, more than satisfied with their experience.

Our very own student Melany Gutierrez shared her experience, ” I am part of the theater department, so I know the area very well, yet I was really surprised by the set-up, acting, and overall production. Especially because being scary and scaring others is not an easy thing to do. It honestly made me terrified.” She continued to say, “I feel proud saying that the students who put this together are my friends.”

Westsides Haunted Hospital impressed many students. Thank you to the time and effort put in by the planning committee, set-up crew, tour guides, the actors, and the clean-up crew for making all this possible.