Ghosts will rumble through the Zeta Psi fraternity house this weekend as the fraternity hosts its first charity spook house. Organizers include, from left, Will Crothers, Mike Snow and John Matisz.

To hear its inhabitants tell it, the Zeta Psi fraternity house at 10 Court St. is already a little spooky.

It has shaky pipes. Its old plumbing and electrical systems groan. Hinges creak in the century-old house. Doors close themselves.

“The first week we moved in, four of us were in the living room and we heard the toilet flush itself,” said fraternity brother Bret Adamson.

On Oct. 31, the house will be creepy for a cause. As part of its ongoing philanthropic efforts, the brotherhood of 30 Brock students will turn its digs into a haunted house for Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Catharines, Thorold and District.

Kids will join their older mentors for Halloween-themed arts and crafts. The basement will be turned into a haunted house that the “Bigs” and “Littles” can navigate – if they dare.

Members of the Brock chapter got the idea from a Toronto chapter of Zeta Psi, said president John Matisz, who holds a BA from Brock and is in the professional writing certificate program. He is also managing editor of the Brock Press.

“We were thinking of charity philanthropic events we could do this year,” he said. “We thought this was a great way to involve the community.”

Philanthropy has been a priority during the chapter’s two-year history. Last year, it held a ball hockey tournament and raised nearly $800 for Brock’s Special Needs Activity Program. Eighteen brothers volunteered for Residence Move-In Day this year. They also volunteered for Shinerama.

“We try to have members who get involved in the community,” said Mike Snow, who is in teachers’ college after earning a BA and Master’s in History from Brock. “It’s an expectation.”

The brothers hope to offer pumpkin painting and other Halloween crafts. The downstairs display will feature an interactive storyline. There’ll be speakers and a fog machine, and Halloween movies showing in a common area.

It’s the first philanthropic event in the new house, which the fraternity moved into in May. The movie stereotype of fraternity houses, with drinking, togas and wild parties, has been exacerbated, Snow said.

“That’s not really what our organization is about,” he said.

If the event is successful, it could become annual. Besides, it feeds into what the brothers already say – that a phantom lives in the house with them.

“We’re just taking that and turning it into an event,” Matisz said.

Joining the Zeta Psi haunted house event are Andrew Maxwell (in mask, on left) and Patterson Davis (as Freddy Krueger).

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