After enrolling at the University of Missouri as a first-year student in the autumn of 2021, Daniel Santulli made a commitment to join the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, which is a well-known organization.
As a pledge who was aiming to become a member of the well-known fraternity, the young guy, who was 19 years old at the time, was given the directive to go on regular food runs for brothers, to meticulously clean the rooms of members, and to cater to the many whims of the brothers.
The fact that he was denied sleep, isolated from his family, and humiliated was an even more severe kind of torture that he endured.
At a “Pledge Father Reveal” celebration held by the fraternity on October 19, 2021, he was coerced into drinking a bottle of vodka that had been taped to his hand. As a result of the acute alcohol poisoning that he experienced, he became blind, paralyzed, and unable to speak. His life as he had known it came to an end.
The horror that Santulli went through is chronicled in the new series that airs on A&E called Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life. This is a unique footage that can be seen below.
With episodes that air consecutively, the series will make its debut on Monday, August 12 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and Pacific Time. It will investigate the seedy side of Greek life on college campuses.
“Each one-hour episode features first-hand accounts of how the power, control, and secrecy of fraternities and sororities can create a cult-like dynamic leading to an environment where nefarious activity — from drug use to sexual assault — is able to thrive,” The American and European Television Network (A&E) claims in a statement.
Greek organizations may have “far-reaching consequences that can turn dangerous, and even de.adly,” according to the release, and the series features exclusive sit-down interviews with former members of fraternities and sororities, as well as family members, law enforcement, and specialists. These interviews illustrate how Greek organizations can have such consequences.
The first episode, titled “Bingeing to Belong,” provides a comprehensive analysis of Santulli’s unfortunate path toward becoming a brother in a fraternity.
During the course of the event, his elder sister Meredith has said that she began to see peculiar conduct on the part of her brother. The statement that she makes is, “I started to notice that Danny wasn’t going to class.”
To add insult to injury, she continues, “He started telling me he didn’t have any money,” despite the fact that he had only been attending college for a month.
One former member of the fraternity who has not been named states in a teaser for the first episode that fraternity members have the ability to call pledges at any hour of the day or night with no restrictions.
He continues, “You are supposed to feel almost like a piece of dirt in the sense that you are a servant for them.” This is because you are a servant for them. “You do not qualify as a human. It is as if you are a pledge, and you are required to carry out any activity until you are officially initiated.
Among them are the possibility of being compelled to consume a substantial amount of alcohol.
On that particular evening at the fraternity, Danny passed out after being coerced into drinking beer and then some alcoholic beverages.
Additionally, the announcement from A&E states that “He was dumped on a couch and abandoned.”
Instead of calling for an ambulance, the Fiji brothers made an effort to conceal their actions by taking him to the hospital when it was still dark.
“The Santulli family would later discover devastating truths about that fateful night when security camera footage capturing some of the ghastly hazing was discovered, but their fight for Danny was just beginning,” the article states.