Haunted house to takeover the Student Union

To celebrate Halloween, the Centennial Student Union is hosting the return of the “CSU Haunted Takeover,” delivering scares from various different organizations from across campus. 

After taking a year’s hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic that caused the cancellation of most events last year, the Student Events team is back with their 10th Haunted Takeover event. 

Prior to the event, various organizations from across the University are given a room within the union to decorate and design their own style of scare. Then, on the day of the event, students file through the different rooms to receive spooks and scares from their peers. 

Ryan Leistikow is a junior majoring in computer engineer technology at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and is also the special events chair for the Student Events team. 

“The special events chair puts on a handful of different events throughout the year,” said Leistikow, referring to his role within the organization. 

The Haunted Takeover has traditionally seen very large crowds, but the Student Events team is getting ready for a larger crowd this year. 

“Normally we get around 1,400 people, but this year we have seen an uptick in attendance at our events,”  said Leistikow, noting the growth in the amount of students coming to events, largely due to the lack of events last year, “ I am hoping for 1,600 to 1,800 students.”

The theme for this year’s haunt is “ 10 years of terror”, which involves recreating some of the spookiest rooms from each year the event has taken place. 

Each room in the haunted house is designed by a different organization from campus that have been invited by the Student Events team to take part. 

Some notable rooms that will be included in this year’s takeover include an insane asylum room, a purge room, and a plague room. 

The Latinx Student Union will be returning with their popular “Day of the Dead” themed room for the Haunted Takeover this year. 

The event will close down the CSU at 6pm on Wednesday, guiding students throughout a route on the second floor of the union. 

Students both involved in the event and attending will be required to wear a mask while indoors, following the standard COVID-19 procedures on campus. 

There will be a sizable line, so the Student Events team gives students wishing to bypass the line the opportunity, by signing up for their text message alerts. To do this, students can text “student events” to 76626, then while at the line, show it to a team member who will escort you to the fast lane.