Archive for the ‘Haunted attractions’ Category

Interview: A Scary Clown from Haunted Mill

Posted: September 7, 2012 in Halloween, Haunted attractions, Interviews, Uncategorized
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I often experience a weird kind of cognitive disconnect when interviewing people who work in haunted attractions.

I mean, these are people who draw a salary by putting on ghoulish makeup and masks, enacting scenes of murder and mutilation, and chasing people around with chainsaws. They take an honest-to-God professional pride in terrifying customers to a point where they lose control of their excretory functions.

And yet, they tend to be the nicest people. Case in point – a very charming married couple from Menges Mills, Pa., named Adam and Ashley Burgess. But when they’re on the job at the Haunted Mill Scream Park in Spring Grove, Pa., they go by “Clown No. 47” and “Ms. Bloody Butcher.” (more…)

Introducing Lot 27 FX

Posted: August 1, 2012 in Halloween, Haunted attractions, Uncategorized
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Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a soft spot for Halloween masks. I just think they’re cool. The good masks are works of art – ones that allow the wearer to be a kind of walking sculpture.

So I took notice when I was at a haunted attraction in Central Pennsylvania in October, and passed a stand that was selling some REALLY cool-looking masks.

Obviously, some real skill had gone into designing and making the masks. But it wasn’t just that they were well-made. The things were genuinely spooky-looking.

The guy who’d made them was at the next booth over, wearing an awesome costume that consisted of a gory pig mask, a bloody butcher’s apron and a cleaver clutched in his hand. People were paying to get their picture taken with him.

I guessed – correctly, as it turned out – that he must be a pretty interesting guy.

His name is Steve Steele, and he runs his business called Lot 27 FX in his spare time. I’ve wanted to profile the business for a while, and Steve graciously agreed to answer some questions for me.

I’ll post some photos. I wish I could post a picture of every one of his masks, because every one of them is SO freakin cool!  Do yourself a favor and check out his Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lot-27-FX/122866001060788

On with the Q&A:
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Visit to a haunted inn, seance

Posted: November 14, 2011 in Haunted attractions, Videos
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Here’s a video of my trip to the historic Farnsworth House in Gettysburg.

A visit to the Haunted Mill

Posted: October 15, 2011 in Haunted attractions, Videos
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So I was making a video at the Haunted Mill Scream Park in Spring Grove, Pa., when the managers suggested I go through with a group of kids between the ages of 11 and 14 and record the reactions. I, of course, thought that was a DAMN fine idea! Those haunted houses aren’t too well-lit, obviously, so a lot of the footage is pretty indistinct. But what  the hell. I think that gives it kind of a Blair Witch Project vibe. And yes, there were definitely some extreme reactions taking place in that haunted house. Screaming. Hysterical shrieking. Crying. After a while, the kids asked me to get a hold of myself and calm down because I was embarrassing them.

A visit to the Field of Screams

Posted: October 13, 2011 in Haunted attractions, Videos
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I paid a visit to the Field of Screams in Mountville, Pa., which is one of the most popular haunted attractions in the world. And I learned that when they scare the crap out of people, they don’t always do it on a strictly metaphorical basis.

Ubiquitous clown posse

Posted: October 11, 2011 in Haunted attractions
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I’ve been checking out some local “haunted attractions,” and should have videos to post soon. One thing I’ve noticed is the prevalence of scary clowns at these things.

Now, I’d be the first to admit that few word combinations evoke quite the same visceral reaction as “clown with a chainsaw.” But I began wondering how it got to this point. Sure, I found clowns unnerving when I was a kid. But not in a run-in-terror kind of way. On the creepiness spectrum, I would have rated them somewhere below ventriloquist dummies, and above guys who wink after telling a joke.

Suddenly, though, clowns are a staple of Halloween-style scariness. Why? Probably Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s “It” has been a factor. The Insane Clown Posse is probably a factor as well, though I don’t find the ICP and  their juggalo devotees terrifying in an H.P.-Lovecraft-kind-of-way, so much as the way I frequently find Denny’s breakfast entrees terrifying.

Maybe it’s a process of elimination. What are you going to scare kids with these days? Jason and Freddy Kruger? Yeah, I’ll call Mom over from the SUV. Maybe that’ll scare her. Vampires? Not likely, now that “Twilight” and its ilk have made vampires replace unicorns as the mythical creatures 12-year-old girls doodle on their notebooks with spangly markers.

And let’s face it. You take anybody. Any profession. Any walk of life, from soccer mom to international insurance claims adjuster. If this individual picks up a chainsaw and starts chasing you, he or she is going to suddenly become scary. If that’s not one of Newton’s laws, it should be.