This article was printed in Explore Steamboat. By Audrey Dwyer.
Steamboat Springs — As students and faculty diligently work on preparations for the 16th annual Screamboat Chamber of Horror, they can’t help but think of the emotional roller coaster the brave guests will experience.
“It makes them feel the goosebumps, the hairs standing up on the back of their neck and their heart thumping,” said Jimmy Westlake, Colorado Mountain College astronomy professor. “It makes them feel alive when they are so scared.”
For those unfamiliar with Steamboat’s local haunted house, guests are taken through a series of spooky scenes and skits inside and outside the Allbright Family Auditorium on CMC’s Alpine Campus. The event will kickoff Friday from 6 to 10 p.m. The event continues Saturday during the same time. Extreme Screamboat with scarier characters and charades will take place Oct. 30 in addition to Halloween from 6 to 10 p.m. both nights.
A cast of about 45 actors from CMC’s astronomy group, the Sky Club, will be playing the roles of deranged aliens, clowns, vampires, chainsaw murderers and just about any kind of scary character Westlake or the students could come up with.
Each year, Westlake said he tries to brainstorm various phobias people could have such as claustrophobia and arachnophobia, then he tries to touch on those.
“I try to go through all of those different phobias because some things won’t bother a few people but then they may get into a room that has their phobia,” he said. “We definitely try to mix it up a bit.”
For CMC student, Gabby Conner, this will be her first year participating in Screamboat as she will play the role of a vampire.
“I’ve never been to a haunted house put on by college students,” she said. “But it’s really cool to see a bunch of students brainstorming together and putting their creativity together with teamwork.”
The engineering students at the college work on projects each fall in five teams to build new props or sets for the haunted house. Students and faculty have been busy with preparations for the haunted house since Oct 10. Westlake said this year, the newest additions include the “Hellevator,” taking guests down different levels of horror and additions to the UFO alien room.
Patrons also could expect to see favorite characters such as Bob and Dave, the students who have haunted their old dorm room since 1966 as well as a few other surprises and special effects.
“I’m always surprised with the community that come to this and the general connectedness because people always know what’s going,” said Wyatt Cave, a student who helped build the set and is one of the characters for the haunted house. “We hope people will enjoy the new floor plan and layout of the rooms in addition to the skits.”
Tickets for the haunted house event taking place this weekend will be $10 per person at the door and $5 for CMC students with a current ID card. Children younger than age 12 must be accompanied by an adult and is not recommended for children younger than 6. For the Extreme Screamboat event, general admission will be $15.