A peek inside the Oxford Police haunted house and why they do it

Story contributed by broadcast journalism students Thomas Goris and Kristopher Storey.

The Oxford Police Department is getting in on all the spooky Halloween fun with its annual Haunted House. The department opened its doors on Thursday night to the LOU community with officers looking to not only serve and protect the local community but hoping to scare the living daylights out of its members.

This year marks the 11th year the department has staged its own haunted house. Last year, close to 2,300 people toured the haunted hallways of the police department over three nights.

The entire event is staged and run by members of the police department and local volunteers. Officer Collin Bryant said the department is always learning how to improve the experience.

“Every year you learn something new, you learn stuff you can do and can’t do. It’s pretty scary, so people will tend to tear stuff down, so we learned how to rig it up where they can’t really tear stuff down, and then we learn what scenes work and what scenes really don’t,” Bryant said.

Each room of the haunted house is designed by a different division of the department.

Bryant said the best part of working the haunted house is spending time with the community and his co-workers.

“I like interacting with all the people that come through,” Bryant said. “I like working with all these nuts here, it’s pretty fun.”

Oxford local Kylan Johnson went through the haunted house last year. He said it is important for the department to have community events like the haunted house.

“[OPD is] getting more familiar with the community,” Johnson said. “Once you’re building that confidence with the community, the people of the community, you can better serve them.”

The Oxford Police Department haunted house is open Friday and Saturday night at 6 p.m. and costs $5 to enter…if you dare.