Halloween is coming up, and one organization in Fort Collins has worked to make the season spooky while raising money.

Colorado State University fraternity Theta Chi put on their 7th annual haunted house Oct. 19 and 20, scaring visitors with apocalyptic scenes. The proceeds from their scary event went to the United Services Organization.

“We do a fundraising event every semester for our main philanthropy, which is the USO,” said James Stadelmaier, Theta Chi’s philanthropy chair and CSU human development and family studies major. “We all really like it because we are just supporting (the military) and their families and the USO does a really good job of reminding us that our members in uniform are people. They need to be reminded of what it’s like to be home and have a taste of home.”

The haunted house, which was located at The Outpost’s clubhouse, created a beautifully horrifying picture of this year’s  “the end of the world” theme.

“I’m also a big fan of the apocalypse thing,” said Andrew Deakin, a CSU microbiology major, who worked the event. “This is my first year doing this, so it’s really cool to see a bunch of the community come together and like put on an amazing show for a great organization.”

This haunted house is meant to be scary, but not too scary, Stadelmaier said. They had to escort people out of the haunted house last year, but the event is a little more toned down this year.

“It’s definitely going to be more on the fun-scary side,” Stadelmaier said. “There will still be parts that are definitely scary – like some of the rooms are a little creepy – but none of it’s going to be too much. Definitely come prepared to be a little jumpy and hold onto your socks.”

Socks indeed needed to be held onto while experiencing this haunted house. 

There were cool elements of creepiness to the haunted house beyond the typical jump scares. The space was completely transformed to meet the theme. The walls were covered in tarps, which increased the scare factor of the actors jumping out, which was pulled off very well.

The costumes, makeup and set exceeded expectations, but what was most impressive were the actors. No one broke character, seemed cheesy or giggled at the constant screaming, including the woman singing creepily as she guided people to the next door.

This was a fun-scary, but not pee-your-pants scary kind of haunted house. With the superb acting, the great set up and the fantastic makeup and costumes, this was a solid destination to bring in Halloween a little early. 

Even if you missed it this year, this haunted house is an annual fundraising event for Theta Chi, and will be available to attend next Halloween season.

Julia Trowbridge can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @chapin_jules.