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Paranormal Society Haunted Hike for Halloween

Posted by on Nov 2, 2016 in News | 0 comments

Paranormal Society meets every Thursday. Photo courtesy of Waldorf Paranormal Society

Paranormal Society meets every Thursday. Photo courtesy of Waldorf Paranormal Society

By: Jaci Olson

The Waldorf University Paranormal Society hosted their annual Halloween Haunted Hike on Oct. 21, 2016 and Halloween night, Oct. 31, 2016.

“This is the club’s third year, so I’m very excited to see it growing,” said Justin Benjegerdes, full time employee of Waldorf, a paranormal investigator and one of the founders and head adviser of the club.

“We had a little over 180 people between the two nights. We started planning the hike in early September with breaks for homecoming and other things. Several people donated a lot of time and money to build props and decorations. As we use public city property, we have to setup the day of and tear down by the next day. We are incredibly fortune to have a Parks and Rec department that is so supportive of this event,” said Benjegerdes.

“One of the most challenging things we ran into this year was staffing the actual event.  We had less than 10 people to work a hike almost a mile long. That said, I feel we still did an outstanding job with who we had; the gaps between helped build anticipation or they would start to get comfortable and suddenly [let out] a huge scream from behind them.”
Benjegerdes said, “For me, the most rewarding thing is seeing the satisfaction on the students faces when we finally made it to the end, and it was successful. Our first year we raised $235.  This year we raised $527, which is going to cover the deposit of our spring break trip to Missouri State Penitentiary.”
The Business Club also served hot cocoa and treats during the hike. Senior Kellan Mick went on the hike on Halloween night. He said, “I thought it was fun! It was better than last year, in my opinion. It’s my last year at Waldorf, so I thought I should go again. I’m not going to get the chance to do these types of things again.”
The hike started at 8 p.m. Halloween night at the suspension bridge in Pamel Park.