Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life

An infamous secret fraternity at the University of Alabama controlled the levers of political power in order to maintain white supremacy on Greek Row–stoking fear among those who dare dissent.

Around midnight on September 9th, 2002, AKA pledges Kristin High and Kenitha Saafir entered rough ocean waters off the LA coast fully clothed and drowned. Police said it was accidental, but the families alleged it was a hazing ritual gone wrong.

Amidst a set of shocking over dose deaths at San Diego State University in 2007, the DEA launched an undercover sting operation setting their sights on a Theta Chi brother turned cocaine kingpin and the drug-dealing denizens of frat row.

On a crisp February morning in 2017, a 911 dispatcher received an urgent call from inside the Beta Theta Pi house, on Penn State’s historic frat row: We have a friend who is unconscious. He hasn’t moved. He’s going to need an ambulance. Hours earlier, freshman pledge Tim Piazza had been forced to consume a lethal quantity of alcohol during a Beta hazing ritual called “The Gauntlet.” Then, he took a catastrophic fall down the basement stairs. When a fraternity insider implored his brothers to get help, they pushed him aside–opting to protect the brotherhood–even if that meant a delay in getting help for a gravely injured pledge.

After University of Minnesota junior Abby Honold was brutally raped by a Sigma Phi Epsilon brother in 2014, she fought back—then sought justice—taking on the protective Greek system in the process.