CHS students worked for nearly two months to bring this year’s Haunted Walk to life.
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, the cross country trails behind Cinnaminson High School were covered in blood, students crawled around in the dirt pleading for help and a butcher-knife wielding killer roamed the woods looking for victims. The horror was part of the third annual Haunted Walk at Cinnaminson High School, which raised money for the Class of 2021, television production classes and the art club.
Jo-Ann Carroll, an ELA teacher at CHS and one the teachers organizing the walk, said around two months of preparation went into this year’s event. She said the students really stepped up to make the night something special.
This year’s theme, “Maze,” was the brainchild of Carroll, according to her fellow class of 2021 advisor Patrick McNamara. He said three years ago, the two advisors were looking for a fundraiser to do with their class.
“We have a lot of great events here at Cinnaminson, but we never had any Halloween events,” McNamara said.
Carroll suggested utilizing the cross country path that runs through the woods bordering the high school, and the advisors starting their Haunted Walk from scratch unsure if anyone in the community would even come, McNamara said.
“We don’t know if even 10 people would show up,” Carroll said. “Three hundred fifty people showed up.”
To keep things fresh each year, the advisors plan the walk around a central theme with this year’s “Maze.” McNamara said in their conversations, Carroll discussed the horror of being “boxed in,” which inspired this year’s series of mazes.
This year’s walk was comprised of eight scenes ranging from a “Meat Locker” where a masked killer chased his victims around with a butcher knife to “Psycho Circus” where students dressed as deranged clowns popped out of boxes to scare passersby and the “Hall of Hands” where students with faux bloodied hands reached through slitted walls to scare those walking through the maze.
The maze kicked off at 6:30 p.m. and went until 9:30 p.m. with entrance costing $7. Carroll said their hope was to raise around $3,000 through the walk as nearly 400 people had consistently come in years past.
CHS junior Maggie Harbord created many of the looks for those in the “Meat Locker” scene. She said she spent several hours creating prosthetic pieces, and prior to Wednesday’s walk, she carefully adorned students faces with bloodied stitches down their noses.
Harbord said the Haunted Walk offers students an opportunity to showcase their artistic abilities.
“I’ve always been very into the makeup and special effects and stuff, and I felt like this was a good chance to express that and show it to a lot of people,” Harbord said.
Junior Erinkimber Cunmane said it takes students with a variety of artistic abilities to bring the walk to life. This year, the school’s art club and television production courses joined forces with the Haunted Walk volunteers to build sets and bring digital elements to the walk. Television screens with statics and gore scenes were showcased along the walk’s path.
Cunmane said students started planning for the walk as early as the second week of school.
“The haunted walk is an excellent way for students to be involved in the school,” Cunmane said.
Each scene of the walk had its own crew, and Carroll said students were delighted to take ownership of their scenes.
Freshman Olivia Rozenberg said she got involved in the walk because her friends were, but as she worked on building sets, she loved how the walk appealed to her interest in the creepy. At Wednesday’s walk, Rozenberg laid encased in fake webbing calling out for help as if she was a victim of a poisonous spider bite. She said she was eager to give attendees a good scare.
Rozenberg said she hopes the walk continues each year as the experience has helped her both express her creativity as well make friends.
“If we do future ones, people should definitely come because it’s just going to get better and better each year,” Rozenberg.
