House provides chills for charity

A masked, dark figure revved a chainsaw as he stared down at the group of students approaching.\nThe group screamed with horror and fled with the chainsaw man closing in not far behind. When the chase ended, the group regained composure while laughing at themselves and their fear.\nLambda Chi Alpha and Kappa Kappa Gamma kicked off their annual "Nightmare on Third Street" haunted house last weekend. The event, which lasted from Thursday to Saturday at the Lambda Chi fraternity house, 1210 E. Third St., raised money for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Bloomington. About 900 people attended the three-day event.\nThe haunted house contained 17 theme rooms, including a bathroom scene with the words "Redrum" smeared on the mirrors with blood, an electric chair room and even a Bob Knight room that featured the digging of a grave with a headstone that read "R.I.P. Myles." \nSome people get really scared in the house, said sophomore Andrew Harding, a Lambda Chi member whose job was to chase groups with a chainsaw at the end of the haunted house.\n"Scaring girls is the best part," Harding said. "It's for the kids, so we don't mind doing it." \nSeveral students showed up at the event in support and to get scared at the same time.\nSophomore Jennifer Squire said although some of the rooms were scary, it was for a good cause.\n"I thought it was good of (event organizers) to put it on," Squire said.\nJunior Mike Elstro, Lambda Chi philanthropy chair, said he looks forward to participating in the event each year.\n"It's always fun to do an event like this, especially knowing that the money is going to a good cause," Elstro said.\nElstro said last year the haunted house raised about $3,000 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, but they wanted to do more. Increasing the price of admission to the event from $4 to $5 and cutting back on costs was one way for them to up the total to more than $4,000 this year, he said.\nKappa Kappa Gamma also made some changes to this year's haunted house lineup. Children from the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization and their sponsors trick-or-treated through the decorated Kappa Kappa Gamma house, 1018 E. Third St., for the first time. About 50 children attended, with each one wearing their costume of choice. \nHaving the kids come through the house added to the event, said senior Annie Metheany, Kappa Kappa Gamma philanthropy chair.\n"They were all dressed up and it was really cool," Metheany said. "They all had a really good time."\nKappa Kappa Gamma also decided to hire a security guard for the haunted house. In the past, they have had problems with police because surrounding neighborhoods complain about the noise level. Metheany said she felt the IU Police Department would be less likely to come to the event if they knew a security guard was already present.\n"We hired the guard for risk management purposes," Metheany said.\nNow that the event is over, Elstro said being paired up with Kappa Kappa Gamma for this event is a good thing because they like to get involved.\n"They have done a great job this year," Elstro said. "They're fun to work with and they make sure the job gets done"