Every year, the Los Osos High School Technical Theater program, under the instruction of Mr. Shorts, builds and operates a haunted house in the LOHS theater, called The Haunt. The Haunt always features student-made rooms with student-made scares, providing an experience that people can walk through.
Mr. Shorts has been designing and running the Haunt for 19 consecutive years now, and every year has been amazing, this year being no different. Preparation for this year’s Haunt started over a month in advance, with multiple meetings discussing the theme, room ideas, character ideas, and ideas for scares.
This year’s rendition of the Haunt is following the theme “Mythological Creatures Folklore, terrors of the world”, which will give people the chance to walk through many different rooms based on different mythological creatures.
One of the room themes for this year’s haunt is the Wendigo. The Wendigo originates from folklore from several Algonquian-speaking tribes from Canada and the US, mostly on the East Coast. The Wendigo is described as a “Cannibalistic Spirit” or “Possessing Entity” and is considered a warning of greed, isolation, and moral corruption.
With the daunting task at hand of wanting to properly represent different cultures and creatures, Mr. Shorts’ was asked about his expectations for this year’s Haunt, to which he responded, “We’ve never really done a Haunt like this before so part of me is excited and part of me is terrified like, ‘is it going to work?’ which is what I think keeps it interesting over these 19 years. The excitement of not knowing for sure that your ideas will work, and the fact that we’re trying to highlight different creatures and cultures all around the world in a respectful way, while providing a fun and scary experience.”
The Theater Tech program does nearly everything for the Haunt, including building walls, designing and building the setting of the rooms, designing and making costumes, and even acting in or running a room of the Haunt. The Theater Tech class typically starts the process of making the Haunt with a Saturday school, where the class learns about the layout of the haunted house, and everyone takes time to actually begin building.

Along with that, there are some students who strive to do even more to contribute to the haunt. One of those students is Roman Robledo, a senior who, in his own time, is making a costume for the Wendigo room. When asked about this project and why he is spending the extra time, Robledo said, “My reason for creating the Wendigo costume is to provide an experience that allows people to enjoy and admire it”.
When asking Mr. Shorts what his favorite part of running the Haunt was, he said, “I think my favorite part is walking through it and seeing the stories that the students have created in their areas because it’s the part that allows you to see the kids’ creativity and their own ideas. I help them set the stage, but I get to see them run the story, that’s the most fun part”. This not only shows Mr. Shorts’ dedication to his program but also his dedication to his students and shows his desire for his students to succeed.

The best part about the Haunt for everyone is the experience it provides. For people going through the Haunt, they get to experience a unique haunted house built fully by students. And for people working, it provides a vast amount of experience with building, acting, and working under pressure.
Mr. Shorts’ commitment to his Theater Tech class, Drama classes, and his students is the key reason why the Haunt continues to be a highlight of the school year. Each year’s rendition of the Haunt provides a new version with new themes while being true to nearly two decades of dedication and creativity.