Ball State University students are encouraged to get a fright on Halloween night at the CarnEvil Kitchen Haunted House at the Muncie Mall.
Backward Haunters is hosting the haunted house for the first time at the Muncie Mall, CarnEvil director Peter Mejia said.
The company usually sets up a haunted house at Hamilton Town Centre, but the space they usually use was rented out this year, he said. Simon Malls directed the group to Muncie at the last minute, creating a short time frame for getting the word out about the haunted house.
Mejia said because of the limited time for advertising, the economy and the bad weather, attendance has been lower than desired.
"We've been getting 12 or 16 people each night. About 94 total so far," Mejia said. "I'm hoping we pick up [Friday], [Saturday] and [Sunday] night."
Mejia said there has been a wide range of reactions to the haunted house by the people who have gone through it.
"There are people who are scared and people who think it's stupid," he said. "We had people who couldn't even go through the first part."
Many of the CarnEvil workers said people's reactions depend on their scare level.
"It depends on what you're scared of," worker Jasmine White said. "You'll be scared if you're scared of clowns."
The haunted house has shock walls, a meat locker area, a polka dot wall and areas where people may feel claustrophobic, Mejia said.
"We put a maze in there," he said. "We used every space we could."
Junior Alyse Orr, who's working at CarnEvil for the season, said the haunted house has traditional aspects, but it still stands out.
"There are things [here] I've never seen before at a haunted house," she said. "It's not the typical haunted house."
Mejia said despite the unusually low turnout this year, he has plans on returning to Muncie in the future.
"If space is available we'll come back," he said. "We'll hopefully be even bigger next year."
Walking through CarnEvil Kitchen costs $6 and will be open Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight and Saturday from noon to midnight. On Sunday, people can go through with the lights on from noon to 3 p.m. and with the lights off from 3 to 6 p.m.
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