Phi Delta Theta (PDT) at Gettysburg College is turning its fraternity house into a spine-chilling haunted mansion this week to raise funds for Adams County Children and Youth Services (ACCYS).
This marks their 17th annual Halloween event.
The haunted mansion runs Wednesday through Friday, 6-9 p.m. at109 W. Lincoln Ave., with all proceeds going to support ACCYS’s programs for children and young adults in need.
Tickets are $5 if purchased before 2 p.m. Wednesday, or $7 afterward. The frat hopes attendees will enjoy a tour through three floors of eerie rooms, creepy surprises, and plenty of scares.
“Our national philanthropy is the ALS Foundation, but we really wanted to help the community itself. With everyone decorating for Halloween around town, we thought this would be a fun way to give back locally,” said Carter Bandiere, PDT philanthropy chair.
Bandiere, a senior who has helped run the event for the last few years, described the haunted mansion as a five-minute tour packed with scary surprises, including themed rooms such as a butcher’s room, a zombie graveyard, and a creepy clown room.
The fraternity brothers spent weeks preparing, with roughly 28 members taking breaks between classes to hang black tarps, build props, and transform the house into a haunted labyrinth.
“There are four or five brothers in every room dressed in costumes, jumping out to scare people,” Bandiere said.
The frat fellows will be dressed in a variety of costumes.
“We’ve got zombies popping out of coffins in the basement, and a few miscellaneous brothers roaming the house just to keep everyone on edge,” said Keaton Aliberti, PDT philanthropy chair.
ACCYS has been the beneficiary of PDT’s haunted mansion since 2005, and the event typically raises around $5,000 annually for the organization. Bandiere said that they’ve already raised $2,000 this year and are hoping to surpass their goal of $5,600. If they break the record, Bandiere and Aliberti have agreed to shave their heads.
