On Oct. 31, students nervously walk into the auditorium for Miami Palmetto Senior High’s second annual haunted house. As an eerie noise plays over the loudspeaker, students made their way through the “house,” clutching their friends and waiting for a scare actor to pop out at them.
Besides creating a terrifying set, one of the most important jobs of the haunted house director, senior Sofia Arnau, was recruiting the right people to elicit screams and shouts from the MPSH student body.
“Sofia needed someone that would be a very good scare actor, so I said ‘I’m very, very scary’ and she picked me,” senior Aidan Barreras said.
As a trash can zombie, Barreras hid in a garbage can at the beginning of the haunted house, serving as one of the first people to give someone a fright. His process of getting into character was tedious, taking over an hour to get into makeup and put on his costume, but it was one he thoroughly enjoyed.
“I have always liked scaring people. Scaring little kids is my passion … scaring people gives them laughs and it gives me laughs,” Barreras said.
Senior Ana Cepero-Fernandez decided to be a scare actor after her experience walking through the haunted house in 2023.
“I used to be into drama and I was just walking through it, and was like ‘wow, this is really cool. I really want to do this,’” Cepero-Fernandez said.
Cepero-Fernandez played two roles: a pirate at Trunk or Treat, and a prisoner for the high schoolers. Depending on the age group of those who were walking through the haunted house, Cepero-Fernandez had vastly different experiences as a scare actor.
“It was interesting because there were really little kids and then there were middle schoolers. The little kids were into it, but the middle schoolers were just yelling at us,” Cepero-Fernandez said.
On the plus side, some middle schoolers slid her candy through the cracks of the prison she was stationed in.
Being a scare actor for the younger children involved a completely different approach than doing it for MPSH students.
“You’re supposed to be very kind to the kids. I was more of a cheery witch [for them]. So I would just say things like, ‘Welcome to my little potion shop, we have everything you could possibly have,’” senior Gianna Potesta said.
For the high schoolers, she transformed into a scary witch, using her skills as a drama student to bring about terror.
“[As for getting into character] you can do small things like making up stories for your character. My name was Agatha Von Rug and I was killed in the 1800s,” Protesta said.
Her storylines were not limited to just her character. Alongside senior Lilou Nichols, the two created elaborate stories explaining the origin and history of their characters. These storylines came in handy, allowing Protesta to really get into her role as a witch.
“I actually broke a prop that I had … I had a sickle myself, so I tried slamming it on the table. I did it a few good times, but then it couldn’t take it anymore and it just shattered like a gem. That’s definitely going to be a core memory,” Protesta said.
Through creating core memories for themselves and others, the scare actors brought magic and character to the haunted house.
Students never knew where they were hiding. Scare actors were hidden in boxes, trash cans and behind curtains or maybe even behind them. From witches to pirates, they all instilled bone-chilling fear into those walking through the haunted house.
