Written by Addie Marzinske | Archived Nov. 10, 2020

Every Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m., a group of 10 students gather outside of room 301 in the Residence Dining Center. One can expect to hear talk of last week’s showing of American Horror Story or even what happened while playing with a ouija board.

UMD’s Paranormal Club president sophomore Reina Mizell joined when she was a freshman after learning about the club during an activities fair. The club has been around for the last two and a half years.

“We get together to have fun and watch scary movies,” Mizell said. “A lot of what we do is with the focus of being scared or laughing about really bad scary movies.”

According to last semester’s co-president Bailey Jacobson, most of the activities are group- oriented.

“Occasionally, we’ll send out a form asking what are some of the things the group would be interested in doing and we plan around that,” Jacobson said.

The Paranormal Club is a place to come together and participate in a wide variety of activities. Member Dustin Baker attends the club every Wednesday where he can relax and enjoy spending time with others who enjoy being scared.

“A lot of members have a common interest in paranormal things, you know, like scary movies and shows,” Baker said.

Many of the members keep coming back year after year, like Baker, not only for the scares, but also for the atmosphere.

“We’re very inclusive as a group, anyone is welcome to join,” Mizell said. “We have a huge diverse population in the club.”

Before beginning the night’s episode of American Horror Story, Mizell introduced the two new members of the group, freshmen Jacob Cleveland and Brandon Jilek.

This was the first meeting the two friends were attending after learning about the club late last semester.

“I originally saw it on the website,” Cleveland said. “I just picked all of the clubs that sounded interesting.”

As for Jilek, he was on his way back from his Biology lab when he ran into Cleveland.

“I was planning on going to the gym after lab, but I decided Paranormal club sounded more interesting,” Jilek said. “So here we are.”

The two friends joined with no expectations for the club, other than the hopes of being scared.