Going to Hell for Charity

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat Nat Johnson, Spanish freshman, arranges a skeleton in Yuma Residence Hall's Haunted Dungeon yesterday. Yuma is in its fifth year of holding the haunted house, with proceeds going to local food banks and the hall's adopt a family at Thanksgiving.

At least this weekend.

The hall's fifth annual Haunted Dungeon will feature 20 to 30 residents as ghosts, ghouls and tour guides.

Students have been working nights and weekends for the past month to complete the dungeon in time for opening night, said Nat Johnson, dungeon chairman and Yuma resident.

The dungeon will collect an entrance fee of either $2 or two cans of food per person to help out local charities, Johnson said. The cans will go to support local food banks and the money will be used to help out the hall's adopted family at Thanksgiving.

The dungeon will be open from 8 p.m. until midnight tonight through Friday and from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Every year, the hall selects a new theme for the event.

This year the dungeon focuses on a tale of betrayal and murder.

There was a family.

Their daughter, Emily, discovered that her mother had fallen in love with her fiancé.

In a rage of revenge, Emily put her family in a mine shaft and blew it up.

They were buried alive.

Johnson said he is happy the effort his fellow residents put into the project.

"I'm real pleased so far," he said. "I have no complaints. I had a little trouble getting people to help out in the beginning but that has been remedied in the past few days."

Johnson said he volunteered to head up the dungeon because, "I thought it would be something fun to attempt. I've been building forts since I was a little kid so I thought this would be fun."

Psychology sophomore Alisa Miller and education junior Allison Liewer have been helping out with the advertising for the dungeon.

"We've put up signs in all the residence halls, in the front and back of the hall, and made radio public service announcements," Liewer said.

Miller added they have also made fliers and placed ads in the Campus Events in the Arizona Daily Wildcat..

Miller and Liewer said they are both impressed with the dungeon.

"I think it's interesting," Miller said. "I like the idea a lot. I think they were very creative in putting it all together."

"It looks great," Liewer said. "Every year it's just wonderful. It also helps to build a lot of community in the hall."

Construction of the dungeon cost almost $400, Johnson said. Funding came from the hall's own funds as well as from "the generosity of other dorms interested in philanthropic opportunities," he said. "They (other dorms) pitched in and came through for us."