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Community College of the Air Force spooks for fun

  • Published
  • By Rebecca Burylo
  • 42nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Witches, zombies and vampires will haunt the classrooms of the Community College of the Air Force from 5-8 p.m. Oct. 25 as the college staff and other volunteers put on their annual free Haunted College event.

It's a scarefest for all ages that not only gives back to the community but gives a morale boost among coworkers of CCAF at Gunter.

"For us, it is a competition against sections within the college, and it's also a way to give back to the community," Staff Sgt. Jessica Carroll said. "People were excited that we were doing it again."

The Haunted College will offer free hot cocoa, apple cider and candy to participants while parents and their children wait to be ushered inside and experience the goblins and ghouls waiting for them throughout.

Carroll organized the first Haunted College last year, which brought in more than 400 visitors, after her son's successful Halloween party inspired the idea. She organized the Haunted College again this year.

With more than 31,100 square feet, the CCAF offers Carroll and other volunteers ample amount of bare classrooms and offices to transform into a labyrinth of fun and fright. Winding trails led by adult tour guides will take scream-seekers around coffins, skeletons and more.

The first floor mailroom, or the "dungeon," decorated as such for the event, will give a supernatural adrenaline rush that will sure to please, Carroll said.

The CCAF mailroom may have been haunted even before the spooky decorations were hung. Carroll claims to have witnessed paranormal activity there before.

"I used to go down there to talk to my friend Ashley who worked here. We were sitting there talking and the door down there was locked," Carroll said. "Then the handle went down and cracked opened."

"The sergeant whose office it was had not been in that week and was on leave for one more week," she said. "I turned on the light and no one was inside. We have an actual ghost down there."

Staff Sgt. Catheryn Estela, another organizer of the Haunted College event, believes the event is one way to spread awareness about CCAF.

"It's to promote the college, because students' experience with CCAF is mostly through their base education office or virtually, as they get their degrees. So, this is a chance for visitors to come and see the actual administration building, meet, and connect with the CCAF staff working here," Estela said.

CCAF is the only 2-year institution exclusively serving enlisted personnel. It remains one of the largest multi-campus community college in the world with more than 300,000 students registered at 106 affiliate schools in 37 states and 9 foreign locations.