The sixth annual Haunted HEEP hike will give thrill-seekers a chance to be frightened by University of Connecticut students today at the Hillside Environmental Education Park (HEEP).
The Office of Sustainability’s website says the Halloween themed trail walk has been hosted by the department annually since 2020. Students will set their displays up from 2 to 4:30 p.m. on the red trail of the HEEP before visitors are allowed to enter from 7 to 9:30 p.m., according to Aminieli Hopson, an intern with the Office of Sustainability.
“It’s been a fun way to foster collaboration across the university, students to each other, and introduce the campus to the history/availability of our hiking trails on campus,” said Hopson in an email.
Hopson added that the first 100 attendees receive free Haunted HEEP t-shirts. While the event is free for everyone, guests will need to sign a waiver to enter and have the option to buy items from food trucks.
About 81% of students who attended last year’s Haunted HEEP were first time visitors to the Hillside Environmental Education Park, according to the Office of Sustainability website.
The Hillside HEEP was formed after the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection required UConn to evaluate pollution emanating from the university’s landfill in 1998, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human services health consultation.
The UConn Landfill Remediation Project followed the evaluation. The project created the HEEP and student commuter C-Lot, according to the Office of Sustainability website. The remediation was completed in the summer of 2008, which is when the HEEP first opened.
Organizations volunteering to create what the organizers called “scare stations” include EcoHouse, Marching Band, Society of Women Engineers, Woodsmen Club and more, according to the Office of Sustainability Instagram.
Hopson described how at the beginning of each semester the Office of Sustainability does outreach for the Haunted HEEP to allow a diverse array of participants a chance to create their scare stations.
“Through this process we create scare stations with unique personalities, where students submit requests to work with their student organizations, friend groups, learning communities, or individually submit a form and get paired with other individual volunteers,” Hopson said.
The sixth Haunted HEEP will have a total of 17 sponsored scare stations with names like “murder tent” and “exorcism,” according to the Office of Sustainability Instagram.
The webpage for the Haunted HEEP said that over 1,200 people attended the event last year with 91% intending to return to the trails on their own in the future.
The Weather Channel is predicting temperatures to be slightly below 50 degrees around 7 p.m. today. The Haunted HEEP waiver advises attendees to dress warmly and bring shoes they can get muddy.