Vibe Check: COVID Wing Themed Haunted House Is In Poor Taste

Vibe Check is an ongoing series of guest-written reviews of Iowa City locations and venues, because we simply cannot be bothered to write them ourselves. Today’s Vibe Check comes from guest writer Jennifer Bingley, a UI junior in possession of some basic common sense.

So the CAB haunted houses are known for being great, but I’ve never been able to make it to one. This year I finally got to check it out and uh…who signed off on the COVID theme?

The place is dressed up to look like a wing in the University of Iowa hospital, complete with coughing patients in hospital gowns, old-timey plague doctors, and nurses carting around jars of hydroxychloroquine. As you pass, the patients reach out to you and try to shake your hand—”Don’t worry,” they say in a raspy voice, “it’s the flu, it’s just the flu.”

Once you’re past that, you get chased by a nurse with a nose swab until you’re forced to take refuge in the cafeteria, which is filled with people eating way too close together with masks pulled down around their chins and passing their Pepsi Max bottles around to share with each other. At the end, you stumble, blinking, into the sunlight to a crowd of anti-mask protesters.

I have to say, the experience was terrifying. As a haunted house fan, I have to give credit where it’s due. But overall it seemed to be in pretty poor taste. I dunno, there’s a whole pandemic going on, and we’ve got real COVID patients here. Are we gonna cancel someone or what? Cause I’ll be honest, it feels like someone should have caught this.

If you would like to submit a review for Vibe Check, too bad.