Evil clowns, a psychotic cannibal, and an assortment of ghosts and ghouls took over a western section of Aldergrove Community Secondary School last weekend.

And for a small fee, the community was invited to visit this motley crew, with proceeds going to ACSS’s dry grad festivities in June.

Lots of planning and work was done leading up to the annual ACSS haunted house, which was open to the public this past Friday to Sunday, Oct. 19-21.

The fundraiser generated about $1,000 over the three days.

Kayla Singleton coordinated this year’s haunted house.

The Grade 12 student is familiar with ACSS’s old haunt.

“I was in Grade 6 and coming to them,” she said.

Helping to put together this year’s fundraiser was a perfect fit for Singleton, who ranks Halloween just behind Christmas as her favourite occasion of the year.

“I love Halloween,” she said with a laugh.

The display wasn’t for the faint of heart. From the dark recesses of the display, student-actors leaped out at visitors.

The haunted house was split into sections.

Clowns inhabited one area (“Everyone’s scared of clowns, I think,” Singleton offered), a Bloody Mary illusion was part of another, and students set up a psychedelic white room with a strobe light.

So how did the concept of this year’s haunted house come about?

“Night terrors!” Singleton answered. “It’s like a group effort. Everyone came up with an idea and had their little group and we all worked together to make it come together.”

While the haunted house is one of many fundraisers for ACSS’s dry grad, it usually brings in the most money, according to Singleton.

“It’s more about having fun and getting our grad class together than the fundraiser itself,” Singleton said. “It’s helping kids who can’t afford dry grad be able to afford dry grad.”

Singleton described the setting up process as “stressful.”

“Yesterday was our first day and it was a riot,” Singleton said on Saturday. “A lot of stress, but in the end it’s worth it because it’s a lot of fun.”