Partying in the cold ‘ that’s what most Binghamton University students were doing on Saturday night. Even though it was 30-something degrees, people put on their costumes and headed to Downtown Binghamton. Because, after all, Halloween is the only time when guys can wear makeup and girls can look raunchy without judgment.

But me ‘ I haven’t really looked forward to Halloween since high school. I’m not really into the whole tradition of dressing up and going to crowded parties. And I don’t watch horror movies on a normal basis.

Most people would call my Saturday night lame. But you’d be surprised; I found something on campus that didn’t require freezing or getting drunk. And sure, it was pretty early into the night, but I had to at least say I did something on Halloween. And it turned out to be great.

The Binghamton University Japanese Association (BUJA) was holding its annual Haunted Prison in the Old University Union. I had never gone before, but friends of mine had, and they said that in the five years that BUJA has run this event, it has been successful.

I met the executive board beforehand. They turned the screen off as soon as I came in, with huge but devious smiles on their faces. They were putting the finishing touches on their plan for the Ghost House. It’s a surprise, they said.

And so it was.

My heart was racing as I stood in line with other jittering, anxious students. As I stood in line squeezing hands with my best friend, I heard a group of shouts come out of one of the doors. I wasn’t sure if people were laughing or crying, but they looked spooked.

I could see why. This year’s Ghost House took on the aspects of Halloween seen in famous horror movies, with a one-minute video of someone being attacked by a monster that resembled Samara from ‘The Ring,’ followed by two ghosts (including a friend of mine in the club, apparently) popping up behind the screaming crowd around me.

And so we went, through a maze of garbage bags with holes for the monsters’ heads that kept randomly coming at us, grabbing us by the feet, not letting us pass. I could feel the swaying of the crowd around me as we tried to run away, frightened by these ghoulish creatures.

I didn’t expect to be significantly frightened, but I did come out of it with my heart hammering in my ears. As soon as I could catch my breath and think about it, I admired all of the hard work that was put into it.

Their depiction of Halloween was fantastic; their believable actors forced us to get into the spirit of Halloween. It was only a seven-minute go-around, but seven minutes were more than enough to make me reluctant to go outside at night.

‘We started working on Ghost House since mid-September,’ said Jeong Min Han, president of BUJA.

‘Setup took us about seven hours on the day of Ghost House.’

‘The Ghost House this year was a big success,’ said Shizuka Fukushima, the event coordinator. ‘The real purpose of Ghost House is not to make profit, but to let everybody have some fun and enjoy themselves on Halloween.’

How could this friendly group of people turn into creepy, foot-grabbing ghosts? For someone who does not follow the usual traditions of Halloween and who prides herself on not getting easily frightened, I was pretty blown away.