Students by day, zombies by night

For most Towson students, Halloween happens only once a year. But for theatre majors Siobhan Beckett, Eric Poch and Vince Constantino, Halloween season means transforming into scary zombies and creepy clowns, and getting paid to frighten already terrified customers.

“To me, the idea of getting paid to scare the hell out of people is almost too good to be true,” Beckett said.

Beckett, Poch and Constantino are among more than a dozen Towson students and alumni working at the Field of Screams in Olney, Md.

“The number of people [working at Field of Screams] from Towson seems to have grown exponentially over the years,” Beckett said. “The great thing about [the Field of Screams] is that people will often just show up and don’t even want to be paid. They come out for the sheer fun of the experience.”

Beckett, Poch and Constantino began working at the Field of Screams last season and returned this year.

Last year Beckett worked on the hayride attraction along with Poch, Constantino and several other Towson students including two study abroad students from the United Kingdom. Beckett works at the event as an actor and assists with make-up design for other actors.

This year she worked as a “28 Days”-esque zombie at the new “Zombie Apocalypse” station of the Haunted Trail, the Field of Screams’ main attraction. Her favorite part about working at the Field of Screams is the satisfaction she gets from truly terrifying the customers.

“Getting a good, blood curdling scream out of someone is the sign of a job well done,” Beckett said. “Patrons are frequently scared to tears, and sometimes, even grosser bodily functions.”

Poch, a sophomore theatre and English major, works as a Ringleader for a funhouse full of clowns. In creepy clown make-up, a bloody t-shirt and a pinstriped jacket, Poch creepily smiles at patrons as they walk by him.

“The thing I love most about this job is just seeing people get pure enjoyment out of being scared,” Poch said.

Constantino, a senior, got involved with the Field of Screams because he had friends that worked there.

“I was like, ‘I can get paid to dress up as a zombie and scare people? Sign me up,’” Constantino said.

Constantino works with Beckett as a zombie at the “Zombie Apocalypse” station of the Haunted Trail.

He creeps up behind people in the dark, and sometimes chases them if they seem really terrified.

“I love it when you genuinely scare a group of people, and yet you can tell that they are enjoying themselves,” Constantino said.

Beckett, Poch and Constantino all agree that working at the Field of Screams is a great learning experience for aspiring actors and make-up artists.

“I think working at the field is great experience for learning what makes people’s skin crawl,” said Poch, who said he wants to study sideshow skills like sword-swallowing and fire-breathing after he graduates.

For Beckett, working at the Field of Screams is the perfect job for the career she plans on pursuing.

“It has broadened my horizons to the idea that theater is not just confined to traditional plays,” Beckett said. “It has also sparked my new found interest in the area of makeup design.”

Field of Screams is open on weekend nights, including some Thursdays and Fridays, throughout the month of October.

It includes a Haunted Trail, Haunted Hayride, Haunted House and a Corn Maze.

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