Haunted House Interview

David Dada & Biraj Randhawe | January 4, 2025

Promo by Selena Fang

Every Halloween, The Woodlands holds a Haunted House, daring those bold enough to enter. What usually follows are screams, shrieks, and other noises of terror. But have you ever wondered what went behind the process? How do they organize such an event?

To answer these questions, The Woodstock interviewed Cathy Zhang, the Grade 12 Co-President of Drama Club to understand the creative process behind the mysterious manor.

The Woodstock (W): What exactly inspired the story of the Haunted House?

Cathy (C): Drama Club collaborated with Writers Club for the Haunted House this year. They were the ones who initially came up with the really cool "puppets coming to life" theme. We were then able to execute the idea with the help of amazingly skilled students from the drama community, as well as the support of many staff members like the drama teachers, the gym teachers, the custodial team, etc.

W: In terms of making it, how was the process? Was it difficult to coordinate or was it easy?

C: An event as big as the Haunted House is always pretty difficult to coordinate. We couldn’t have done it without the active participation and help of every single member of the team. I believe the most stressful part was the day before our Haunted House opening day. We didn’t really get to use the dance studio or the gym to rehearse before then, we were still decorating, and I was uncertain with how the turnout would be. Luckily, I prayed to the theater gods, they answered like they always do, and everything came together magically in the end. It’s incredible how awesome the actors were, as they patiently dealt with the shenanigans of certain difficult Haunted House participants, improvised like professionals, and never lost stamina to perform the same bit over and over again during lunch for four days. Mr. Debeck (a Woodlands drama teacher) raced against time to help build us this really cool window that drops down with a sudden “BANG,” allowing the person behind it to jump out at the people walking by. Mr. Lalonde (also a Woodlands drama teacher) made a last minute trip to Dollarama for us and bought us cardstock to block the lighting coming through the doors and the candles to light up the stairs. I cannot stress this enough, we could not have been able to accomplish this without everyone’s help. 

W: Were there any visual tricks or illusions that were used?

C: I think the only visual tricks we used are shadows. We put up minimal eerie lighting and blocked off any lights from the halls so it is mostly dark in the Haunted House. We also used some puppets and masks that we had in the drama prop/costume closet and scattered them around the gym and the dance studio to create the illusion that there could be more actors lurking about, ready to jump out at any moment.

W: What would you say makes a Haunted House ‘scary’?

C: We try to utilize our understanding of human psychology to design the Haunted House. In the gym, we take advantage of the large open space, trying to weaponize people’s imaginations against them. In the dance studio, there is a dark tunnel that participants have to crawl through, which normally makes people nervous and slightly vulnerable due to the inability to fully use one’s limbs. In the drama room, we use loud jarring music and red LED lights to slightly overstimulate the senses and cause people to be more on edge.

W: If you weren’t involved in the process of making it, would you find it scary yourself?

C: I would definitely be terrified. I really despise the dark and I get scared really easily because my mind seems to enjoy making myself think there’s always something about to lunge out at me from the shadows. That is why I plan the Haunted House and don’t act in it. 

W: How would you change it if you had to do it again?

C: I am extremely proud of our team and how the event turned out this year. I couldn’t have asked for a better Haunted House to conclude my involvement in Woodlands Drama’s annual Halloween event. I’ve been doing this since Grade 10, and each year, it just keeps getting better. I do have to say, we have noticed a lot of the students that participate in the Haunted House are from the elementary wing of our school, so perhaps future drama exec teams can consider making this event more focused on catering towards the seventh and eighth graders. Besides that, I can’t think of any other notes. I would like to thank everyone for their involvement and hope they all had the most spooktacular time.