With senior class president Joey Silva running the show, Pelham Memorial High School is readying itself to host the annual Senior Haunted House on Tuesday, Oct. 30 from 7-9 P.M. at the high school.

How does one go about planning a haunted house?

“We normally take ideas from previous years and use those, although seniors are welcome to come up with their own themes for their room,” said Silva. “People get to pick who is in their room, although there is a limit to how many people are allowed in each room so that it doesn’t get too crowded.”

Silva’s got a lot on his hands. All seniors were invited to join so long as they prepared room decorations and costumes. More than 100 seniors take part in all the aspects of the house, with 10 students acting as tour guides and others running the bake sale and the “kids room.”

“Almost everyone will take part in planning and participating to make sure everything is perfect,” said Silva.

For Silva, the haunted house is a tradition.  “I have been going to the Pelham haunted houses since I was in fifth grade because my cousins participated in it when they were seniors,” he said.

“I think that in order to make really scary and memorable rooms, we need to have students who are putting all of their efforts into their specific role and rooms with new concepts, rather than reusing every single room from previous haunted houses. I think that we would have an extremely successful haunted house if we incorporated more relevant horror films into our haunted house.”

Since kids ranging from high school to elementary school attend the event, this year the seniors are focused on their audience, making Silva’s job even harder.

“I remember being scared by movie- and show-related rooms because it was like you were actually in it,” said Silva. “Two rooms that I remember to be scary were ‘The Purge’ room, since at the time ‘The Purge’ had been released, and the ‘American Horror Story Room.'”

The Senior Haunted House is one night only, $10 per person.