Adams House Haunts Halloween Guests

Adams House's dimly-lit tunnels with obscure wall scrawlings and odd murals may regularly spook visitors. But yesterday the tunnels were transformed into something truly out of the ordinary: a haunted house replete with green monsters, headless ghosts, cobwebs and body-shaking shrieks of fear.

The annual Halloween haunted house, put on by the House and Neighborhood Development (HAND) programs of Adams, Leverett and Pforzheimer Houses, drew more than 50 Cambridge elementary school students yesterday.

The students came from the city's Graham and Parks, Fitzgerald and Longfellow Schools.

Jane C. Manners '97, Adams's HAND "one-shots" coordinator, said she decided to revive the haunted house at the beginning of the school year.

"I thought the tunnels were really scary even without all the decorations," she said.

Visitors were led through a labyrinth of nearly pitch-black hall-ways lined with skeletons, spiders and red-eyed bats dangling from the low ceilings. Monsters, moving mannequins, ghosts and other shadowy figures lurked behind corners and black curtains to surprise unsuspecting children.

"This guy came out with his head cut off, so we started running and fell to the floor," said Jermaine I. Hollins, II, a Graham and Parks student dressed as a "vampire skeleton."

"It wasn't that scary," rebutted Jarmal D. Hollins, Jermaine's twin brother," but it was dark."

The headless ghost was the invention of Adams House's David S. Abrams '98, who had been planning the costume for quite some time.

"I went to the Adams masquerade last year and was bummed because I didn't have a good costume, so I've been planning this all year," Abrams said.

Abrams's character, spooking groups by carrying a hairy, bloody head in his hand, was the highlight of the haunted house for many of the children.

"I scared most of them pretty good," he said. "I made one girl cry and some of the bigger ones had to try hard not to."

At the end of one hallway was a witch who greeted students with ghost stories and a boiling cauldron filled with assorted body parts. Longfellow student Samantha Z. Waldron, 12, was mesmerized by the storbe lighting in the witch's dungeon.

"I liked the blinking light because it made me really dizzy," she said.

Samantha's friend Michelle L. Hinds, 11, bravely waded her hand in the witch's cauldron.

"You could feel the eyeballs and the brain in the pot," Hinds said.

Waldron and Hinds came dressed together as a "wacko surgeon" and a "wacko pediatrician," respectively.

Some of the younger students decided not to venture through the haunted house.

"I saw the skeletons popping down and I just decided that I didn't want to go," said Graham and parks student Gregory Kugler, 5.

Students who reached the end of the haunted house were rewarded with trick-or-treat through selected rooms in Adam's B entryway.

"It was nice for the kids to be able to trick-or-treat," said Karla O. Stevens, a teacher at Graham and Parks. "Some of the kids won't be able to it this evening [for safety reasons]. It's much safer environment here," she said.

The final stop on the Halloween tour was the Adams Upper Common Room, where more candy and activities such as face painting, mask making and fortune telling awaited the children.

Adams resident P. Nikia Bergan '97, dressed as a fortune teller with a costume including hoop earrings, a long black dress and a colorful towel wrapped around her head, amazed the children with her ability to read palms.

"It's amazing how similar these kids' fortunes are," she said jokingly.

"This is so cool," she added. "Look at how happy all these kids are."

HAND's next major interhouse activity is a holiday party slated for December for the Cambridge students

"It wasn't that scary," rebutted Jarmal D. Hollins, Jermaine's twin brother," but it was dark."

The headless ghost was the invention of Adams House's David S. Abrams '98, who had been planning the costume for quite some time.

"I went to the Adams masquerade last year and was bummed because I didn't have a good costume, so I've been planning this all year," Abrams said.

Abrams's character, spooking groups by carrying a hairy, bloody head in his hand, was the highlight of the haunted house for many of the children.

"I scared most of them pretty good," he said. "I made one girl cry and some of the bigger ones had to try hard not to."

At the end of one hallway was a witch who greeted students with ghost stories and a boiling cauldron filled with assorted body parts. Longfellow student Samantha Z. Waldron, 12, was mesmerized by the storbe lighting in the witch's dungeon.

"I liked the blinking light because it made me really dizzy," she said.

Samantha's friend Michelle L. Hinds, 11, bravely waded her hand in the witch's cauldron.

"You could feel the eyeballs and the brain in the pot," Hinds said.

Waldron and Hinds came dressed together as a "wacko surgeon" and a "wacko pediatrician," respectively.

Some of the younger students decided not to venture through the haunted house.

"I saw the skeletons popping down and I just decided that I didn't want to go," said Graham and parks student Gregory Kugler, 5.

Students who reached the end of the haunted house were rewarded with trick-or-treat through selected rooms in Adam's B entryway.

"It was nice for the kids to be able to trick-or-treat," said Karla O. Stevens, a teacher at Graham and Parks. "Some of the kids won't be able to it this evening [for safety reasons]. It's much safer environment here," she said.

The final stop on the Halloween tour was the Adams Upper Common Room, where more candy and activities such as face painting, mask making and fortune telling awaited the children.

Adams resident P. Nikia Bergan '97, dressed as a fortune teller with a costume including hoop earrings, a long black dress and a colorful towel wrapped around her head, amazed the children with her ability to read palms.

"It's amazing how similar these kids' fortunes are," she said jokingly.

"This is so cool," she added. "Look at how happy all these kids are."

HAND's next major interhouse activity is a holiday party slated for December for the Cambridge students