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Haunted Cretin is back for its 11th year scaring and entertaining students in the Cretin Residence Hall basement.

Sophomore Emily Nelson, South Campus Residence Hall Association chairperson, said the biggest focus for the planning committee this year was finding ways to entertain people waiting their turn to tour the basement.

“We wanted to give people options and make sure everyone can find something to do,” Nelson said.

Located in the basement of Grace Hall, the waiting area will include a fortune teller, coloring station, food, movies, bingo and other games with prizes. Senior Jake Wakem will also be telling ghost stories from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The idea for Haunted Cretin originated from rumors of supernatural activity on South Campus. Jim Love, South Campus area director, said one popular tale includes a man who walks up the stairs that leads to a brick wall outside of Grace Hall.

Love said someone once saw the man walk through the wall into the next room and at the same time, “a loaf of bread fell off of somebody’s microwave in that room.”

Though it’s debatable whether ghosts walk the halls of Cretin and Grace, humans will be the ones scaring each other on Wednesday night.

“I’m looking forward to hearing a lot of screaming,” sophomore Max Bichmann, Cretin Hall resident adivser, said. “I think it’s going to be really cool to see people’s reactions.”

Costumed tour guides will lead groups of six to eight students through five rooms, each created by RA pairs from Cretin and Grace Residence Halls.

Bichmann and sophomore Eden Chekol designed their room together. Bichmann said the idea for their dark room came from a room at The Soap Factory in Minneapolis.

“We think that the darkness will really scare people,” Bichmann said.

But even though Haunted Cretin is designed to be scary, Bichmann also believes the RAs are ultimately “here to make sure everyone has a good time.”

With posters around campus, an event page on Facebook and mentions of the event in RHA meetings, Love doesn’t think getting people to come to South Campus will be a problem.

“Last year over 600 people came,” Love said. “We had to turn people away at the end of the night.”

Bichmann expects a similar turnout this year.

“I think it’s going to be one of our better years,” Bichmann said. “The staff and the residents this year have been really motivated, and they really want to see the university have a good time and see what South Campus has to offer.”

The event will take place Wednesday, Oct. 26, from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Rita Kovtun can be reached at Kovt1547@stthomas.edu

Jessica Barton contributed to this story.