Local Haunted House Supports Crohns and Colitis Foundation

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Written by Shannon Hunter, Senior Writer

This year’s Halloween weekend marked the 30^th annual Haunted House for the fraternity brothers in the RPI Alpha Tau chapter of Pi Kappa Phi. The yearly fundraiser began in 1980 at the fraternity house located in downtown Troy at 49 2^nd Street, just a block from the Russell Sage campus and a few buildings down from the Rensselaer County Historical Society. The Haunted House took place from seven pm to midnight on both Friday October 30^th and Saturday the 31^st. The suggested donation was $5 for adults, children 10 and under were free. A raffle, t-shirt sales, and a bake sale also brought in donations.

Each year a different charitable organization receives the proceeds from the Haunted House and this year’s organization, The Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America, had important meaning to a few brothers whose lives or the lives of loved ones have been impacted by the disease. RPI senior Chris Jankun, the fraternity’s philanthropy coordinator, chose the Crohns and Colitis foundation as the beneficiary in honor of his younger sister who was diagnosed with Crohns disease, a disease which affects the digestive system, when she was 12.  Jankun told the Troy Record, “I’d do anything if she didn’t have it. All I can do are things like this, which is why I have been so into it.”

The 25 fraternity members who live in the historic house on 2^nd Street prepared for the event by asking for donations from local businesses in Troy and the capital district a few weeks prior, and in the week before, spent hours putting up cobwebs and transforming bedrooms and hallways with black lining and decorations. The house, which was originally built in 1892 for John Paine, one of the wealthiest men in America at the time, is appropriately called “The Castle” by the fraternity members, and historians refer to it as the John Pain Mansion.

After John Paine’s bachelor son died, the house was donated to Russell Sage College and used for lectures, classes, and faculty offices. The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house was located on Congress Street where Vail House and Ricketts currently stand. In the 1940’s Sage administration was looking to consolidate their campus, extend the yard of the President’s house, and build more dormitories. Therefore, a deal was struck between Russell Sage College and the fraternity, which moved the fraternity into the John Paine Mansion and allowed Russell Sage to form its current campus boundaries.

The old architecture of the building and its stone and gargoyle covered outside already gave a creepy feel to the house and was a great foundation for the authenticity of the event. As people waited for tours, they sat inside a brightly lit room, where screams and shouts could be heard from ongoing tours. As tours began, patrons were brought through four levels of the five story house where scary “skits” were performed by fraternity members as well as RPI sorority members from Alpha Gamma Delta, who helped with the fundraiser.

Because this year’s Haunted House fell on Troy Night Out and Halloween, turnout was much higher than previous years. On Friday night, families attending Troy’s “Spooky” Night Out could find the Haunted House on the map of events and after a concert let out at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, across the street from the Fraternity, an older crowd made their way to the haunted house as well.

Though Saturday saw rainy weather, many costume-clad children and families attended the fundraiser anyway, enjoying the fun that the “Pi Kappa Fright” tour had to offer them. Saturday night saw half as much business as Friday night, but both nights were busy and successful according to the fraternity brothers.

In total, the Fraternity raised close to $6,000 to benefit the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America. Chris Jankun couldn’t wait to share the great news with his family. He said, “I really cared about doing a great job with this event and the money we raised just blew me away. I couldn’t be any happier with all of the support we received from the community and the overall success of the event itself.”

As the last tour of Saturday night was waiting to go, Jankun yelled out to everyone “This is it, let’s put everything we have into this final tour. I’m so proud of all of you!” The final tour, which added some unplanned twists and turns, had just as much energy and excitement as the first tour given the night before, and was a wonderful conclusion to such a successful fundraising effort.

Congratulations to the brothers of Pi Kappa Phi and the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America!