By Victoria Clements

Step one: Enter at your own risk. Step two: Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. Step three: Look around frantically in the dark. Step four: Cower behind your friend. Step five: Let out a blood-curdling scream. Step six: Keep. Moving. Forward.

The month of October marks the time for haunted houses. ‘Tis the season to be jolly. No, scratch that. ‘Tis the season for thrilling, daring, and horrifying adventures.

Haunted houses have been around for at least 75 years. Why? What makes a pitch black, creepy house filled with disturbing pictures, eerie sounds, and above all masked people caked in blood so special?

“The idea of getting a scare to the point where my own heart is lurching out of my chest gives me exhilaration,” said student Isabel Moran. People are given a once in a lifetime chance to live out a scene from a horror movie, to feel the trembling of their bodies and the pounding of their hearts without the fear of actually dying.

“It’s not so much the fear it invokes within me, as the chance to spend quality time with friends,” said senior Namrata Kadambi.

There’s no better way to get up close and personal with your friends than attending a haunted house. You laugh, cry, scream, and maybe even pee all together in one night. If that’s not true friendship than what is?

Halloween calls for a celebration. It’s not all about being scared out of your wits, or attending just to do something at night, but having an overwhelming amount of fun with close friends. High schoolers may have long passed the age of trick-or-treating, but one can never be too old for haunted houses. So, grab a couple of your friends and head straight over to your local haunted houses, including the legendary Erebus, crazed Psycho Ward Haunted House, and the famed Realm of Darkness. ‘Tis the season for scaring!