With Halloween less than a week away, students at the University of Connecticut have already begun to get immersed in the season of scares and frights. But what better way to dive headfirst into horror than a late-night walk through a haunted forest? On Wednesday, Oct. 23, the Office of Sustainability (OS) invited students to Hillside Environmental Education Park (HEEP) for a one mile walk through a host of horrifying scenes filled with volunteer actors.
HEEP is a remediated landfill site on the Storrs campus and contains 165 acres of preserved land, including open meadows, woodlands and wetland areas, like Cedar Swamp Brook. With trails and a wildlife observation platform open to the public, HEEP is a great place for students to unwind and find nature near campus.
With the event’s entrance located off Discovery Drive near the Innovation Partnership Building, attendees gathered in a long line eagerly awaiting the scares to come. The hike followed a one-mile loop through a woodland portion of HEEP, with trails illuminated by small lights. The trails were clear, and though there were rocks and roots, they were marked with spray paint.
Many students dressed up in costumes and theorized about what was awaiting them in the woods. As the event started at 7 p.m., the sun was already setting, and the darkness added a layer of horror to the atmosphere even before entering the woods.
Before entering HEEP, students had to fill out a waiver; although, if you filled out the early RSVP form, there was a shorter wait. As participants approached the starting point of the loop, they were sectioned into groups of 10-12.
As my group assembled and began the walk, we were handed a small flashlight emitting red light for the people in front to guide the way and illuminate any rocks or obstructions on the trail. Although participants could use their phone flashlights if needed, the singular flashlight was sufficient for most of the walk.
Upon entering the woods, the approximately 30-minute journey commenced. Volunteers dressed in costumes of all varieties, ranging from zombies and ghouls to plague doctors and lifeguards. The acting was brilliant; although, when — to cope with the horror — I said, “have a good night” to one of the actors, they responded with a “thank you, you too.” Though there were plenty of scares to be had, beyond it all was an appreciation of the park and the effort that the OS and volunteers had put into providing the free event.
One member of my group, Jacob Gilson, a third-semester elementary education and history major, shared his thoughts on the effort put into the mile-long loop, saying“I thought the trail was very well maintained.”
The scares were also inventive and exciting. Gilson noted, “the scarers were really scary; the Burger King guy was the scariest.” Other highlights included a scene with several actors dancing in an off-putting way, a lifeguard blowing a whistle from behind a tree and one flannel-wearing villain pretending to join a group at the back only to scare its members who didn’t realize it was an actor.
Both in front of and behind our group were constant screams reverberating through the woods from nearby groups. The fogginess lit by nearby lights also added to the ambiance and the weather was warm considering the timing of the event; the mood was perfect for the hike. Our group laughed and screamed together and by the end of the journey, we emerged thoroughly spooked and excited.
As event volunteers highlighted at the start of the walk, HEEP is an integral part of UConn’s environmental impact and is the product of many years of hard work and conservation innovation. Gilson also noted that the Haunted HEEP event “is a good way to get this piece of land known.”
After finishing the loop, attendees were invited to fill out an exit survey, which had a question about the history of HEEP, and no doubt that history was learned in the process of attending the Haunted HEEP.
For those in attendance looking for more trail walks, or if you could not attend yet want to connect with nature while temperatures and weather still permits, HEEP is open to the public and both trail maps and the history of the park can be found on the Office of Sustainability’s website. More updates for future events hosted by the Office of Sustainability can be found at sustainability.uconn.edu/calendar/.