The devil almost got me during Halloween in 2019.

Seven of my friends and I decided to test our fears and go to Great America’s Halloween Haunt in early October. But what we ended up experiencing was far more than what we had signed up for, permanently changing my outlook on the holiday.

My friends and I had been looking forward to the event, taunting each other about how scared we’d get and arguing over who would be the most terrified. Admittedly, parts of the theme park’s Halloween makeover were quite frightening. 

I particularly remember a jump scare from a zombie in one of the haunted houses that provoked my friend to turn around, trip and fall down, taking me down with him in the process. I also remember eating funnel cakes and waiting in long lines for roller coasters — which we considered our “breaks” between haunted mansions — as we saw others jump Great America’s fences to get in without paying.

But most frightening of all was the false alarm of a shooter.

My group was walking toward a candy shop when a voice nearby shouted, “Everybody get down! SHOOTER!”

I had never been in a situation like this. That night was the closest I’ve ever gotten to a traumatizing experience.

In the blurry moments after the stranger shouted “SHOOTER,” my flight senses sent me running toward a nearby shop and into the employees’ storage room, where I found two of my friends — the others got stuck outside in the mayhem.

Two employees inside told us they heard rumors that a gang was planning attacks on the theme park that night, and that they had been worried about coming to work. One employee grabbed a metal bar from the rack, preparing to use it as a weapon. We all called our parents and family, as if it could be our last chance to talk to our loved ones.

But after nearly 30 minutes passed, the supposed danger seemingly posed no more risks to our safety. We exited the closet and were greeted by a swarm of Santa Clara police officers who questioned where we had come from and led us to a huddle of others, including our other friends. The threat turned out to be a false alarm — there was no shooter and nobody had been shot.

After a long wait, we eventually got out of the theme park. As we left, we saw the desperate measures others had taken to find safety: jumping into water features, hiding in bushes and overrunning the park’s barricades. Floods of others, with genuine fear and grief in their faces, rushed to get as far away from the park as possible. 

Afterward, one of my friends’ dads drove us to In-N-Out, where we got some much-needed fried food and decompressed while we discussed what had just happened.

Rumors swirled that there was a gang member who shouted about a shooter, creating a mayhem in which his fellow members tased some people and stole their wallets. I’m sure the police report would prove that theory false too — though, in all honesty, I couldn’t care less about what actually happened. 

The fact is that there could have easily been a shooter in Great America that day. People could easily have died and gotten hurt the way they had at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in July of that year, where four people were killed and 17 were injured.

When I heard the first shout of a shooter, I didn’t even think to question whether there was a shooter or not. I knew that shootings at events like these had happened before and the frequency of shootings in America led me to believe that there in fact had been a shooting. 

I was almost trained for the moment when I ran into the storage room. Due to the frequency of shootings in America, I knew exactly what I had to do if there was a shooter nearby; I knew that I would need to get away as soon as possible and find as many barriers to bullets as I could — multiple walls and metal racks make great protection against a potential bullet.

My friends and I had attended an event known for bloody zombies laden with bullet holes, but that doesn’t mean we were asking for the event to come to real life. We went to Halloween Haunt to have fun. We wanted to get scared of zombies. We didn’t want to worry for our lives.

I’m planning on going back to Halloween Haunt this year. At first, I was hesitant because of my past experience. But I want redemption. I want to be able to go to Halloween Haunt and have fun with my friends as I was originally supposed to.

Our experience is not something one should have to worry about when going to an amusement park. Nobody should have to be afraid of getting shot while having fun. Hopefully this next time, I won’t have to run for my life.