The Howl’s “Trails of Terror” theme takes aggies through haunted camp of horrors

Upon entering the 2024 Howl, party-goers were met with an electrified atmosphere from the  “Go back” signs and hiking boots hanging from the ceiling to the swaths of costumes around every corner. People continuously flowed in throughout the night as the dance floor became more and more popular.   

Some activities at this year’s Howl included a hypnotist show, haunted house, silent disco, karaoke, temporary tattoo and bracelet-making stations and the Fieldhouse dance.  

“I love karaoke. I will sing it all night long,” said Tyson Pap, an attendee at the Howl. 

The theme seemed to stick out this year to many of the partygoers. “Trails of Terror” connects to Utah State because of the university’s proximity to the woods and a student body full of hikers.  

The haunted house stuck to the horror summer camp theme and maintained a line that stretched down the hall.  

Ronan Spencer is a second-year student and member of the USU Government Relations Council. 

“I love summer camp slashers, and it encapsulated that perfectly. And the Slenderman stuff — it really creeped me out so much,” Spencer said. “There were really good costumes, and strangely, everyone was amazing actors.” 

Howl attendee poses through cobweb decorations at the Howl on Oct. 25.

The haunted house involved a variety of scenes through the illusion of camper cabins. It included a seance room, chainsaw killers, bigfoot, Slenderman and a ghastly swamp.  

Savannah Seal, senior at USU, went through the haunted house with a group of friends.   

“This one is more memorable in a lot of ways,” Seal said. “There’s just more iconic moments.”  

Seal said she was pleased with how long the haunted house was and was surprised at how good the actors were.  

“They really had good hiding spots,” Seal said. “I could never tell where they were coming from.” 

Josie Packer, USUSA activities director, was in charge of orchestrating the event this year. This year marks her third Howl as she continues into her junior year. 

Packer was on the Activities Committee her first and second years at USU before applying for the position of director. She began planning for the Howl over the summer. 

“I actually picked the theme when I was on a hike in Oregon with my sister and my best friend,” Packer said. “We were just driving through the trees, and I love hiking, and I love Oregon. We were just spitting out terrible ideas — we could not think of a theme. I was like, ‘I just want the theme to be hiking.’”  

Packer said there are differences between the event this year and last year. The first main difference is the theme and how that affects everything else surrounding the event, particularly the haunted house. 

“The theme really heavily influences the vibe and the decorations,” Packer said. “We also actually changed quite a bit. This year we got 600 headsets for the silent disco, which is a lot more than we have had in the past. We changed the area of the silent disco.”  

Camp Howl attendees dance at the silent disco in the Sunburst Lounge on Oct. 25.

The silent disco ran like a well-oiled machine as volunteers handed out headsets and instructed people on how to use them. People were told to leave after five songs so others could join in. Headsets were immediately cleaned and disinfected before given to the next person. 

“We changed the area of the tattoos and got temporary tattoos instead of airbrushes,” Packer said. “We definitely switched and moved some things around, which has been really fun and exciting to see how that has played out.”  

Each year, the event has looked different depending on the changes the committee chooses to implement. The changes to the temporary tattoo station was designed to create a smoother process that more people could enjoy.  

Howl attendees dressed as a pair of grapes pose in the Big Blue Room on Oct. 25.

The committee set up several tables with many sheets of temporary tattoos ready to be cut out and used by party-goers — a quicker process than if they were individually airbrushed.  

“I’m the kind of person who likes to put in a lot of work and see that reward,” Packer said. “I’m a pretty high-achieving, go-getting person, and I love to see things come to life. So for me, the Howl is like seeing all of that hard work actually play out, and seeing other people having fun and enjoying themselves after something that I’ve done is really rewarding to me.”  

Many students quickly responded with “Absolutely,” “100%” and “Positively” when asked if they would recommend the Howl to future students.