The third floor of Stevens Hall was transformed into a haunted psychiatric hospital on the night of Oct. 25. Longwood University’s Nursing Department set up this “haunted hospital” with the help of the theatre honor society Alpha Psi Omega, and for the price of four dollars, Longwood students were able to take a walk through its halls.
This is the first year that the nursing department has put together the haunted hospital for the Longwood community. Nursing students Shannon Riordan and Joy McCord were two of the coordinators, and Riordan explained that the proceeds are planned to go to Longwood’s chapter of the Student Nurses’ Association (SNA).
Riordan said, “One of the things that the SNA has established over the years is a scholarship fund for a graduating senior so they don't have to worry about paying for the NCLEX [National Council Licensure Examination]...The senior to receive the scholarship is determined by the amount of involvement they have had over the four years in the SNA.”
According to Riordan, the idea for the Stevens Hall haunted hospital came from Lab Director for the Nursing Program Cindy Crews. Riordan said, “She had been joking about wanting to do something on the third floor to utilize our simulation center since everyone who isn't in nursing thinks it's a little creepy. After she mentioned it to me, I starting thinking about it, and Joy McCord, the current president of the SNA, and I ended up planning the whole thing out on paper.”
Students lined up inside the doors of Stevens Hall, waiting to be taken in groups of six or less on the haunted tour.
The tour started in the stairwell where the tour guide told the story of Edith Stevens who caught on fire and ran through the halls before her untimely death.
Then, the groups were taken upstairs to the third floor where students were dressed up in creepy costumes and makeup as patients of the hospital and doctors and nurses.
“Working with Alpha Psi Omega was amazing, as well. They were so accommodating to help with makeup, acting and lighting, and I think that because of their cooperation the event was more successful than we could have done on our own,” said Riordan.
The tour guide brought the groups of students into many different rooms, including surgery rooms and delivery rooms. However, it was not just the rooms that were meant to scare students; the hall itself was full of nursing students acting the parts of crazed psychiatric patients.
The students working the haunted hospital were not allowed to actually touch anybody taking the tour, but they did get close enough to send a chill down your spine. They did things such as putting their “bloody” hands up to your face or sneaking up behind you until they were mere inches from you when you turned around.
Freshmen Sam Rice and Davis Weissenfluh shared that they went to the haunted hospital to support a friend of theirs who is in the nursing program. “The best part about the haunted hospital was definitely Emily Hubbard in the delivery room,” said Rice.
“If I had four more dollars to spend, I would definitely go to this again,” said Weissenfluh.
Riordan said students should expect to have the chance to walk through the haunted hospital again next year. “A lot of the nursing students are already thinking of ways to improve it for next year. There are ideas being thrown around about adding rooms and switching things up,” she said.
If any students missed the chance this Halloween season or simply want to walk through those haunted halls again, they can look forward to the nursing department continuing this new campus tradition next year.
