Three 18-year-old college students have died so far this year after taking part in dangerous hazing initiation rituals for fraternities and sororities.

Victims’ families and organizations against hazing both warned initiations are getting worse year-by-year.

Ridiculous rituals required to be welcomed into frats have included being forced to swallow live goldfish, waterboarding — the controversial torture technique used on Guantanamo Bay detainees which simulates drowning — and, bizarrely, being required to bring a squirrel into the initiation, The Post has learned.

Freshman Anthony Joseph Blas, 18, was allegedly pledging to fraternity Delta Chi, which was already banned by Cal State Fullerton for alcohol, drugs and hazing violations when he died.

It follows the deaths of students Colin Martinez, 18, and Savanna Jones, 18, who were subjected to hazing rituals during parties in separate incidents. All three died from suspected alcohol poisoning.

Hazing across college campuses continues to soar with at least 556 cases reported between July 2025 and August 2026.

Anti-hazing campaigner Jolayne Houtz, whose 19-year-old son died after being hazed at Washington State University in 2019, says the worst of it occurs in unrecognized groups and urges universities to take action to save lives.

“They’re operating with impunity and nobody is holding them to account,” she told The Post. “It is intolerable and we need to start treating it like a public health crisis to finally put a stop to it.”

Blas was just two weeks into his freshman year when he decided to pledge, according to his family and had learned he was accepted to join on September 12 and invited to the fraternity house that night to celebrate.

But he became unresponsive at the event and was dropped off at St. Jude Medical Center by a group of students just after midnight, where he died.

The Fullerton Police Department said the teenager’s death was from suspected alcohol poisoning but ruled out hazing or foul play as factors in Blas’ death in their report.

His twin brother Daniel wrote on social media: “My life is revolved around him. Everything I do or place I stop by is a reminder of him. Anthony deserved better going to college.”

Blas’ family is demanding a “complete and transparent investigation” and said it is “deeply concerned that hazing may have played a role”.

“Somebody needs to be held responsible for serving liquor,” his grieving mother Linda Blas said.

The national Delta Chi office insists it has not operated a chapter at Cal State Fullerton in five years, saying the group has “not been recognized, chartered, or authorized by the Fraternity since that time,” in a statement.

The Blas family hit out at “fake, underground and unrecognized” fraternities and pledged to do everything it can to make sure no other student tragically dies.

Colin Martinez died from alcohol poisoning on January 31 while attending an off-campus rush event for Delta Tau Delta at Northern Arizona University.

He and three other pledges were brought to the frat party with pillowcases over their heads and ordered to share two bottles of vodka to ensure they vomited.

Martinez passed out before going to bed and the police were called at 9am the next morning, at which point the teenager was pronounced dead. Carter Eslick, 20, leader of the now-defunct Delta Tau Delta chapter, pleaded guilty to felony hazing.

Freshman Savanna Jones died on April 30 while allegedly taking part in a dangerous alcohol hazing ritual to join the “Turtle Club” at Wilberforce University in Ohio.

Her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nation’s first private, historically black university.

Jones was allegedly made to drink an entire bottle of liquor while answering questions or riddles in order to be accepted into the group.

She became severely intoxicated, vomited and could not stand before she was taken back to her dorm room, where she later died.

Her parents believe her life could have been saved if university officials stepped in sooner and if she had been immediately taken to a hospital.

“Savanna Jones’ death was brought on through a senseless and illegal hazing ritual. Savanna’s young life did not need to end this way,” the family’s attorney Rex Elliott told The Post.

“Along with Savanna’s family, we are committed to doing everything we possibly can to end hazing once and for all in this country.“

“My heart goes out to these families because these deaths are 100% preventable,” Houtz told The Post.

“We have been losing students to hazing since the 1830s and we can’t just let it go on.”

Her son Sam Martinez, a business student at Washington State University, was hazed to death in 2019 while pledging for Alpha Tau Omega just weeks into his freshman year.

“We felt blindsided,” Houtz said on his death. “We didn’t know all what was going on or the terrible track record this fraternity had and that’s the problem.”

She launched HazingInfo, a free database which records college hazing incidents, three years ago to honor her son as a tool to prevent other tragedies at universities.

“Hazing is something that happens in the shadows and we need to bring it into the light of day to properly tackle it,” Houtz said.

“It is hard to spot in any organization but it’s worse in these unrecognized bodies. It is like Whac-A-Mole to find them and shut them down.

“I’d love to see more colleges and universities call them out by printing a list of fraternities that are operating in an unrecognized capacity.”

Colleges and universities are required to track and report hazing incidents under the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act which was brought into law in December 2024.

There have been 36 hazing-related deaths since Tim Piazza died at Penn State University in February 2017 and the case generated nationwide headlines and sparked national fraternity reforms.

“Hazing has gotten worse since COVID and the degree of hazing has picked up again in terms of dangers and harm,” his mother Evelyn Piazza told The Post.

“I honestly feel like parents still aren’t paying attention or having conversations with their kids to tell them do not let yourself be hazed, you are worth more than that, and do not do any hazing.”

Disturbing incidents continue to unfold at colleges and universities across America.

Pledges at Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity at the University of Arizona were allegedly forced into eating live goldfish and guzzling massive amounts of alcohol, it emerged over the weekend.

They were also “subjected to screaming, degradation and threats from active members” of the frat as part of their initiation ritual, according to a school disciplinary letter suspending the chapter.

It came a few days after around 30 partially clothed wannabe members of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity were found smeared in condiments and huddled in a sweltering, filthy basement of a home at the University of Wisconsin on September 23.

Police entered the frat house at around 8:20 p.m following an anonymous tip and found the men some of whom had “visible injuries consistent with being physically assaulted,” covered in food, condiments and other liquids.

Fraternity president Brayden J. Klein and vice president Samuel N. Vane, both 20, were arrested for hazing and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors.

While Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Gamma Delta fraternities at Louisiana State University were suspended after pledges were allegedly waterboarded, made to chug chocolate milk until they vomited and told to bring a squirrel to a meeting.

An alleged hazing was caught on video at the University of Miami in March 2024 where a student was seen squeezing himself into a trash can while others around him were spitting milk on him.

In August, 13 Penn State frat brothers were busted for running an alleged cocaine trafficking ring out of two separate fraternities that forced young pledges to cut and bag the drugs before selling it to students.

A Cal State Fullerton spokesman said: “Our hearts remain with the family and friends of Anthony Blas. Cal State Fullerton is working closely with the Fullerton Police Department.”

Northern Arizona University, Wilberforce University and Delta Chi did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.