Halloween, Haunts, and Horrors

Follow me through my haunting life at Haunted Overload: Costumes, movie reviews, Fall Folklore, and anything Hallween! Picture Credits- Artifact Images at Haunted Overload

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Halloween, Haunts, and Horrors turned 1 today! 

Hope this haunt season is the best yet!

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Horror Movie Suggestions

Send me your favorite halloween movies!

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Last years trailer is making me reminisce about the fall! I can’t wait until Halloween and we are just over the halfway point! 

[cozyautumnchills]

by J. Adams.

[deactivated-blog]

My new case for my new phone came today! I am SO in love! The case is from society6, but the design is by “There Will Be Cute.” 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

[horrorandhalloween]

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Omni Mount Washington

This week I will be covering some of the most haunted places in New Hampshire. As my haunt resides here, I thought it would be great to share some real fright through this blog. What’s more Halloween than ghosts? This place I already knew and am well aware of, it is always mistaken for the hotel in The Shining and sits near the highest mountain in New Hampshire. The Omni Mount Washington Hotel.

This hotel opened in July of 1902, open to the public ever since it is known to have some deep history and tales of its own through the years. This place has some of the creepiest stories, of widows, children, and guards. There have been multiple reports of spooky behavior in different rooms and floors around this hotel. One room is number 314, these guests experienced moving objects when they leave, fireplace turning on and off, lights turning off and on a number of times too. All of these could be explained and debunked, but when there are several more reports, is it really just a coincidence now? Hundreds of guests have experienced these happenings inside these walls, thrill seekers traveling from everywhere just to tick off the bucket list of sleeping in a haunted bed. Of course, sometimes guests are let down, but most are very happy with what they seem to find. The hauntings have gained the hotel much fame and many tourists over its 100+ year course, unraveling more and more each time. Plenty of reports seem to come from a particular third floor room, let’s see what we can dig up on this. The legend has it that Carolyn Stickney, the widowed bride of the Hotel’s owner was involved in the development of the building when it was first being built in 1902,  and visited every year since then. She became known as the Princess after re-marrying a royal from France, Prince Jean Baptiste Marie de Faucigny Lucinge. They continued to visit the site after her first husbands death. After her own death, strangely stairs were changed to different heights and numbers in hopes to confuse the spirits of the hotel. After this, many guards still claimed to see her silhouettes at the hotel walking up and down stairs of the towers of the hotel. She always returns to the third floor room. In this room, guests are known to complain about missing items, and some of the more frightening stories contain having guests wake up to a ghostly silhouette of a female sitting on the edge of the bed brushing her hair.

On top of the physical happenings, there is digital proof. There have been multiple pictures taken in front of the majestic Omni Mount Washington Hotel with these trapped spirits caught in the background in the windows, the woman caught on the third floor and in the towers. This hotel, in the middle of the white mountains, is the perfect hot spot for any guests seeking a thrill for a night.

[oldjepperpack]

The Conjuring

So when I worked at a movie theater as Annabelle: Creation was coming out, people kept telling me I had to see The Conjuring. They kept telling me it was actually really good, and even if I don’t like horror I still should see The Conjuring at least. I ended up being pretty disappointed.

This is a very well-directed movie, but the acting is only passable and the script is something of a garbage fire. I’m gonna make a quick list of all the angry questions I asked my family after I watched this movie:

1. What the fuck was Annabelle’s deal??

2. Why was Annabelle in any way connected to the ghost from the main house??

3. Why could she suddenly escape from her box and wreak havoc now when she never could before??

4. Why did they talk about inhuman spirits so much at the beginning if the main ghost was just a regular human spirit??

5. If there were so many ghosts in their house why was everything chill after they exorcized just one??

6. How come they kept talking about Lorraine having a breakdown if that wasn’t going to happen in the movie??

It felt like this movie’s prop team whipped up a really spooky doll that was so spooky everyone started trying to find ways to give it more screen time in the movie. Or like, maybe the first draft was all about Annabelle, but they decided it wouldn’t work, so they came up with some new story, but kept Annabelle in as much as they could.

This movie feels like the equivalent of putting a gun on the mantlepiece in act one and then by act three finding out the gun was made of plastic the whole time, and also there never was a gun, maybe you just imagined the gun. It felt chock-full of moments that really seemed like they were setting something up or foreshadowing something that just weren’t.

The plot was horribly cliched as well, and it wasn’t even unique or creative enough to feel self-aware. The young couple with kids moves into an old house with spooky trees in the yard, discover boarded up basement they didn’t know about. A ghost then starts throwing objects around and messing with people in their sleeps. Eventually the investigators are called, and they investigate for a while before shit hits the fan and they perform an exorcism.

This movie’s strong suit was its direction. It felt confidant and competent in its execution of some visual gags that were very creative, much like the above sheet bit. Some very long, very sophisticated shots in this movie, I had to say I was impressed in that regard.

My biggest beef though was that the monster itself just wasn’t scary enough. When we finally see the ghoul for the first time I wasn’t scared or even interested in it, all I felt was “Oh, is that all?” the spirit is just a lady in a nightgown with wacky hair and gross teeth, nothing even remotely comparable to your babadooks and your pennywises.

A movie with merits, some really god gags, and even though it was a little disappointing, it was hard to walk away dissatisfied. It’s very fun in a way i wasn’t expecting from a jumpy, self-serious horror movie. Something I’m glad I watched, and I’m just intrigued enough to consider seeing the sequel.

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Welcome to my blog page! I discuss anything Halloween, haunt, or spooky. I was searching around for writing ideas and your blog post popped up. Turns out, we both are fans of this movie, but you seem to have issues with it. This is personally one of my favorite movies to watch in the fall and I hope to answer some of your questions, as it is a true story. I’d like to share a few facts with you. Demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren came to the aid of the Perron family when they discovered unwanted presences in their home, they agreed to share the story was featured in the movie “The Conjuring”, which did not lie or exaggerate the story and experiences at all. Annabelle was included because Ed and Lorraine would collect each object they thought was haunted by the house or affected area and contain it in a safe room. That way, the spirits or demons would stay in the vessel instead of out in the world. Annabelle was used as an example to show how dangerous the worked and Lorraine did actually is to their family. Same for why they kept reiterating Lorraine’s attack, to show how hard their work was. And as for your question why was only now Annabelle getting out? I recall in the movie Judy saying “Annabelle got out again”, showing it was not only this time.

Before the Perron Family moved into this cursed house there were multiple accounts of suicide, drownings, and tragic events on the property. Eight generations of different families lived and died there prior to the family’s residence at the home, and all of the suicides were mysterious, no one knew why or what was causing them. One of the most outstanding residences on the property was Bathsheba Sherman or Thayer, both last names were cited. She was a supposed witch during the 1800’s, she died in 1885. Bathsheba had four kids, and three died young, she was said to practice the dark art which involved sacrificing her children, is it a coincidence three of her children died young? That evidence is what sparked the thought that she was a witch to the surrounding neighbors. Even more evidence to prove Bathsheba sold her soul to the devil, is when the doctor pronounced her dead, she was in some sort of paralysis, the medical record states that it was as if she turned to stone. Another death that happened on the property that stands out is the one of the old woman who hanged herself in the barn, one of these two spirits are thought to be the strongest and most demonic spirit on the property, the one that tortures Carolyn with her fear of fire in her house. I don’t think witches would count as just a human spirit, there is clearly something more going on here. After they exorcised the main spirit/demon/witch, in accounts from the Perron family they say there were plenty of good spirits, that were welcome. Why get rid of more if the man problem is gone. The Conjuring is more than just Annabelle once you learn the story.

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Haunters: The Art of the Scare

Where do we have to draw the line for haunted attraction? After watching Haunters: The Art of the Scare that is now released on Netflix, I am really considering this question. I originally watched this film because the haunt I volunteer at is featured in it, of course i wanted to see it. But I was sadly let down on how much it was about this crazy manor. This film focused on a home haunter, one who hopes to go pro, a scare actors journey through creating characters, and few snippets of information from outside haunts about lighting, building sets, acting, etc.. What makes me ask and ponder this question is the haunter who hopes to go pro. This is the owner of McKamey Manor. Maybe you have heard of it, maybe you haven’t. This Manor is owned by Russ McKamey with his wife, it is a non-profit and is located in his backyard. What’s the issue I have with it you have? Well, it’s more of why do most sane people have a problem with this so called “haunt”.

Imagine being abducted, tortured, stuffed into morgue like cells that will shock you, and then thrown down a chute with multiple bodies that you can only fit through a hole one at a time, to only kickoff your multi-hour experience at McKamey Manor. There have been multiple allegations of assault towards them but the owners claim that since they signed up for it they cannot break the contract. The major problem here is that there is no safe word, one that can get you out of this troubling situation. Experiences can include being dragged into tight spaces, gagged, choked, blindfolded, simulated drowning, and people are often seen sobbing and throwing up all while this owner is sickeningly watching and filming. His actors are not professionals - they are teens- and trust me ours are volunteer- but we don’t actually touch; let alone drag, choke, and beat our patrons. He knows that the patrons will come out bruised and traumatized but he says it’s ok because they signed up for it.

According to the San Diego Tribune, one account recalls a patron being repeatedly being pushed underwater with her hands bound and telling the actors she couldn’t breathe but the actors just kept laughing and dunking her head. McKamey claims that all patrons are safe at all times, but is safe really when people are begging to get out and you hold them against their will?

Sadly I think haunts like these are what can end up ultimately outlawing all haunts. Because this is clearly wrong, when can the law determine how far is too far? People that run these types of haunts need some sort of reality check in my opinion. In this documentary there was a higher terror rating attraction that was being run, and they ran all of their scares on themselves to know what the patrons were feeling, and they always included a safe word to tell actors to back off. You cannot physically just hold people against their will, contract or not. Russ also admitted that he would never go into his own haunt, so why treat others the way you wouldn’t treat yourself? simple rule. Overall, the haunt industry needs to watch itself, otherwise there may not be anymore scares to be had.

[movedtoanewurl-deactivated20220]

I absolutely agree. In discussing this film on Facebook, someone stated that they call McKamey and “attractions” like it “simulated torture”, NOT haunts. And I agree with that title. Just because they market like a haunt and visit the same trade shows does not make them theatrical haunted attractions.

I think theyre absolutely destructive to the Halloween industry, because their shocking and ultra-violent style naturally garners more press and creates a lasting impression on the average person, that says “this is what a haunt is”.

Not to mention, lay-people feel the need to compare Simulated Torture events to more straightforward Haunted Attractions, and inevitably, there was less terror at the straighforward haunt which makes them look poor in comparison- but those reviews and write-ups never address the fact that Simulated Torture attractions have a wider more extreme set of tools.

IMHO, Torture haunts should NEVER appear on rankings lists alongside traditional haunts, unless theyre clearly marked as using extra tools to be scary.

This documentary just reinforces all of that, in my opinion. Including a few more conventional haunts to normalize McKamey, pretends like it fits into some landscape of haunts. Putting them in the same documentary makes it seem like theyre similar but they are not. Worst of all, the audience is NOT haunters who know better than to think that all haunts are like McKamey (or aiming to be McKamey-ish).

TL;DR: I absolutely agree, and I have a lot of issues with McKamey calling themselves a haunt at all.

[zombiehaunter502]

I feel like the film’s choice to use Russ McKamey as the poster child to show off haunters was rather poor. His goal seemed to be to terrorize people and leave them crying and broken, instead of startling them and leave them with happy memories, which is the point of haunting (at least to me): scare the customer, but in good fun. The goal is not to hurt them, psychologically or otherwise. After all, haunting is a form of entertainment, not punishment. Yet, through following McKamey, the film paints haunters as sadists who like to inflict pain.

[emilyhaunts-blog]

I am so glad that this blog got around. I would love to discuss more halloween and haunt topics with you all later! We all obviously agree with this here so let’s try and get some opposing viewpoints as I would like to hear their story as well. But, the film directors choice was poor due to the fact that Russ was being portrayed as the main haunt, therefore leading non haunters to believe that that is the whole haunt industry. Very misleading indeed. And yes, I agree it is a form of entertainment and should be fun. Yes sometimes people who are crying in terror are fun prey to us scare actors, but we know when to back off. Russ does not. There needs to be a line drawn between simulated terror and the haunt industry and kept separate. Not all haunts are there to hurt people psychologically or physically. This can get some owners in very big trouble and the police involved, and ultimately leading to all haunts, because they are being portrayed as such, to be shut down.  

Do you work at a haunt? If so where?

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Haunters: The Art of the Scare

Where do we have to draw the line for haunted attraction? After watching Haunters: The Art of the Scare that is now released on Netflix, I am really considering this question. I originally watched this film because the haunt I volunteer at is featured in it, of course i wanted to see it. But I was sadly let down on how much it was about this crazy manor. This film focused on a home haunter, one who hopes to go pro, a scare actors journey through creating characters, and few snippets of information from outside haunts about lighting, building sets, acting, etc.. What makes me ask and ponder this question is the haunter who hopes to go pro. This is the owner of McKamey Manor. Maybe you have heard of it, maybe you haven’t. This Manor is owned by Russ McKamey with his wife, it is a non-profit and is located in his backyard. What’s the issue I have with it you have? Well, it’s more of why do most sane people have a problem with this so called “haunt”.

Imagine being abducted, tortured, stuffed into morgue like cells that will shock you, and then thrown down a chute with multiple bodies that you can only fit through a hole one at a time, to only kickoff your multi-hour experience at McKamey Manor. There have been multiple allegations of assault towards them but the owners claim that since they signed up for it they cannot break the contract. The major problem here is that there is no safe word, one that can get you out of this troubling situation. Experiences can include being dragged into tight spaces, gagged, choked, blindfolded, simulated drowning, and people are often seen sobbing and throwing up all while this owner is sickeningly watching and filming. His actors are not professionals - they are teens- and trust me ours are volunteer- but we don’t actually touch; let alone drag, choke, and beat our patrons. He knows that the patrons will come out bruised and traumatized but he says it’s ok because they signed up for it.

According to the San Diego Tribune, one account recalls a patron being repeatedly being pushed underwater with her hands bound and telling the actors she couldn’t breathe but the actors just kept laughing and dunking her head. McKamey claims that all patrons are safe at all times, but is safe really when people are begging to get out and you hold them against their will?

Sadly I think haunts like these are what can end up ultimately outlawing all haunts. Because this is clearly wrong, when can the law determine how far is too far? People that run these types of haunts need some sort of reality check in my opinion. In this documentary there was a higher terror rating attraction that was being run, and they ran all of their scares on themselves to know what the patrons were feeling, and they always included a safe word to tell actors to back off. You cannot physically just hold people against their will, contract or not. Russ also admitted that he would never go into his own haunt, so why treat others the way you wouldn’t treat yourself? simple rule. Overall, the haunt industry needs to watch itself, otherwise there may not be anymore scares to be had.

[movedtoanewurl-deactivated20220]

I absolutely agree. In discussing this film on Facebook, someone stated that they call McKamey and “attractions” like it “simulated torture”, NOT haunts. And I agree with that title. Just because they market like a haunt and visit the same trade shows does not make them theatrical haunted attractions.

I think theyre absolutely destructive to the Halloween industry, because their shocking and ultra-violent style naturally garners more press and creates a lasting impression on the average person, that says “this is what a haunt is”.

Not to mention, lay-people feel the need to compare Simulated Torture events to more straightforward Haunted Attractions, and inevitably, there was less terror at the straighforward haunt which makes them look poor in comparison- but those reviews and write-ups never address the fact that Simulated Torture attractions have a wider more extreme set of tools.

IMHO, Torture haunts should NEVER appear on rankings lists alongside traditional haunts, unless theyre clearly marked as using extra tools to be scary.

This documentary just reinforces all of that, in my opinion. Including a few more conventional haunts to normalize McKamey, pretends like it fits into some landscape of haunts. Putting them in the same documentary makes it seem like theyre similar but they are not. Worst of all, the audience is NOT haunters who know better than to think that all haunts are like McKamey (or aiming to be McKamey-ish).

TL;DR: I absolutely agree, and I have a lot of issues with McKamey calling themselves a haunt at all.

[emilyhaunts-blog]

First of all, thank you to responding to my blog! This post was really about finding people’s opinions and spreading awareness that not every haunt is this extreme, and how McKamey Manor is simply not a haunt at all. I also would love to keep a great reflagging streak with you with some of my upcoming and past posts. We both agree that it is very destructive to the halloween industry and that is all because of ho the runs it. Why would someone ever make people go through torture he wouldn’t do to himself! The impression it leaves is very negative on all of these haunts across the country and even world.

Also, I totally agree with your comment about Simulated torture events. When people compare the two of course they will give the “scarier” one, the torture, the best reviews because simps our rules are different. We need to bring back halloween for what it is and flip the haunt industry into the creative and fun environment. Still scary, but not as much physical torment. Someone also reblogged this and quoted Shar from the film, about how she’d rather play with the mouse than kill it. Russ kills his mice 5 minutes into the attraction. If he runs it while they are crying, puking, and begging to get out. A live mouse is more fun to play with, and I believe a no touching haunt is the way to go. Also, safe word is not a thing? I mean, C’mon, you can’t deprive someone their right to move and get out. I also agree that these people are being tricked into believing that is what a haunt is supposed to be. These non haunters are walking blindly into this madness and judging it and believing that that is all there is to haunting. Wrong.

By the way, what haunt do you work at?

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Haunters: The Art of the Scare

Where do we have to draw the line for haunted attraction? After watching Haunters: The Art of the Scare that is now released on Netflix, I am really considering this question. I originally watched this film because the haunt I volunteer at is featured in it, of course i wanted to see it. But I was sadly let down on how much it was about this crazy manor. This film focused on a home haunter, one who hopes to go pro, a scare actors journey through creating characters, and few snippets of information from outside haunts about lighting, building sets, acting, etc.. What makes me ask and ponder this question is the haunter who hopes to go pro. This is the owner of McKamey Manor. Maybe you have heard of it, maybe you haven’t. This Manor is owned by Russ McKamey with his wife, it is a non-profit and is located in his backyard. What’s the issue I have with it you have? Well, it’s more of why do most sane people have a problem with this so called “haunt”.

Imagine being abducted, tortured, stuffed into morgue like cells that will shock you, and then thrown down a chute with multiple bodies that you can only fit through a hole one at a time, to only kickoff your multi-hour experience at McKamey Manor. There have been multiple allegations of assault towards them but the owners claim that since they signed up for it they cannot break the contract. The major problem here is that there is no safe word, one that can get you out of this troubling situation. Experiences can include being dragged into tight spaces, gagged, choked, blindfolded, simulated drowning, and people are often seen sobbing and throwing up all while this owner is sickeningly watching and filming. His actors are not professionals - they are teens- and trust me ours are volunteer- but we don’t actually touch; let alone drag, choke, and beat our patrons. He knows that the patrons will come out bruised and traumatized but he says it’s ok because they signed up for it.

According to the San Diego Tribune, one account recalls a patron being repeatedly being pushed underwater with her hands bound and telling the actors she couldn’t breathe but the actors just kept laughing and dunking her head. McKamey claims that all patrons are safe at all times, but is safe really when people are begging to get out and you hold them against their will?

Sadly I think haunts like these are what can end up ultimately outlawing all haunts. Because this is clearly wrong, when can the law determine how far is too far? People that run these types of haunts need some sort of reality check in my opinion. In this documentary there was a higher terror rating attraction that was being run, and they ran all of their scares on themselves to know what the patrons were feeling, and they always included a safe word to tell actors to back off. You cannot physically just hold people against their will, contract or not. Russ also admitted that he would never go into his own haunt, so why treat others the way you wouldn’t treat yourself? simple rule. Overall, the haunt industry needs to watch itself, otherwise there may not be anymore scares to be had.

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Witchy Winter Wonderland

The first snow was yesterday, and what better way to kick off the holiday winter season than with a post about halloween? I want to start a new series, a series about the history of halloween. History of witches, vampires, the holiday halloween, all of that. Learning about my favorite holiday and everything that goes with it will be fun and give me even more of a love for it. A major part of halloween, especially New England, is witches. The Salem witch trials, everyone knows about them here, and that subject is huge when fall rolls around. Lots of my haunt friends go to Salem, Massachusetts and dress up for Halloween and roam the streets. It is a halloween town, and is full of witch fanatics especially on Halloween.

One of my favorite movies, which I have blogged about earlier in my feed, is Hocus Pocus. The story is based in Salem and off of the witch stories. I remember in eighth grade I had a great teacher, she absolutely loved this unit of witches and it all ended with a trip down to Salem. Anyways, she was the best storyteller,  could listen to her talk about these women that we accused of witchcraft, and how some really could have been real witches, and on and on. I think she is part of why I love halloween so much. It is so interesting to me, just the thought of witchcraft being real and all of the spooky things that go with it.

They are seen in movies all the time. Some being portrayed as wicked, while some good. Some are satanic, and some healing. The power they have is what is interesting to me. During the witch trials, there were many girls that started pointing fingers at people they wanted to get in trouble, so some were fake. In the court rooms they would act as though they were afflicted and the accused “witch” would be sentenced to jail or many times torture and death. What I found fascinating of all these stories she gave, that what about the real ones? Obviously if there was murmur of a witch or just the idea of a witch, it had to have come from a witness. Someone doing odd things, or rituals, people disappearing. So the people that were being accused, if they weren’t the witches, where were these real ones? No one knew, the though of being so secretive was so interesting to me. When we finally visited all of these museums I was so enthralled. There were so many stories and witnesses that witchcraft was real, but the sad part was that so many innocent were killed for it.

Witches are seen in many movies, one of my other favorite, the Conjuring, where a satanic witch is haunting the rest of her cursed land. This was based off of a true story. I wrote an essay on it years ago, but I still remember all of it due to the chilling details and “coincidences the Warrens (famous paranormal team) found there on that property.

Read more about it next time.

Stay spooky!

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Haunt Fam!

Now the haunt season is officially over, the haunt party was last weekend! It was a total blast, with all of the entertainment there and the love of my friends. We celebrated the season of spookiness with a wonderful video of the actors scaring, silliness before the show, and all of the building of the new structures. It is always amazing to see how far we have come from the beginning, and see how much we improve from the year before!

As I said, the wrap party was amazing. So much food, friends, and fun! There was also a hypnotist- which was a crazy experience. That provided a great deal of entertainment and bonded us even more. About ten ten or twelve of us were selected on stage and hypnotized to dance, feel certain emotions, and at one point we all thought we lost our belly buttons. We al had so much fun together on the non-spooky side of the haunt. We know how to have fun. We are all one big family. We also donated a little over $33,000 to the Cocheco Valley Humane Society, a local animal shelter. It proves that this haunt is more than just scaring- but caring as well. We all share a huge love for halloween, and come together to support an amazing cause.

Back on the track of spooky though, since the season has just ended, of course I needed to start thinking of new ideas for new characters to make. So- stay tuned for updates on my costume ideas as well as my planning and building processes. This can act as my log for new characters that I have, all of my ideas can be stored here. This year, I am determined to make a “kickass” (that’s one of the adjectives we use at the haunt) character just like my friends have. They are older and more veteran actors than I am, and I look up to them a lot. Creating a costume that would impress people, and them, would be the best feeling. Our characters need to be totally original and that will be the challenging part of the creation. I will have inspirations but it will be completely my own, which can be both a blessing and a curse. It will be hard at times but I know it will turn out to be great. As my ideas come to me and develop, I will be sharing them on this blog. This year will be the best one yet for me character wise!

Overall, the wrap party was a blast, connecting with the team of actors once more before the long winter was well worth it. I cannot wait to start thinking about my characters and thinking of ways to team up with other actors. This haunt is the best in the industry, the friendships that seem like family to me and the bonds that have been made are so strong. Even though we don’t see each other often we know we are close. I absolutely cannot wait to see them again!

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Wrap it up

Halloween was this week! It was a blast, people dressed up, one of my teachers had their home haunt, and Haunted Overload had their first “lights out” night. New England is the best place to spend halloween, even thought we had a power outage. The trees were perfect autumn colors and the smell of fall in the air was so crisp, and that to me is the best part. Although I didn’t get to spend Halloween with my family, it was still pretty awesome.

Some of the actors from the haunt went down to the Portsmouth Halloween Parade and represented us there, while the others stayed home in our new Lights out event. In this, there are no lights- pretty freaky if I do say so myself, I scare myself even with the lights on- the patrons are only guided with the dim light of a glow stick. I did not act in it, but the actors that did said it was amazing, they had free roam of the entire haunt and had a blast. The owner said it was some of the best screams he’ ever had. I wish I could have been there and I am glad nobody got hurt trying to navigate the trails of the woods in the pitch black darkness.

At the parade, they all dressed up and terrified the public. Went into Starbucks in full costume which made me laugh the most, those poor confused baristas… Anyways, the actors there looked amazing, one of my friends dressed up as her clown, and her makeup was stunning! Her character never fails to make me laugh. The others had brought their families along and dressed up their kids and wife, another brought a severed head (don’t worry it was fake!), and the other is one of my first haunt friends who plays a hysterical pumpkin. Each one of them played an important part in representing the haunt in the parade and I wish I could have been there too!

In a few weeks when I go home for break, I will be able to see my haunt family again at our wrap party- rumor has it there will be a hypnotist to entertain us! I can only imagine how that will go, but I am guessing it will be pretty hilarious and bring us even closer with this odd way of bonding. Anyways, it will be lots of fun getting to socialize and finally be able to put the face with the voice and not the costume with the voice! Finally figure out who everyone is behind that makeup! It is always one of my favorite parts of the year. We always end with a video of all the footage we captured during the year, now that- that is the grand finale. this makes us laugh, cringe, and reminisce of what that year brought! We always find ourselves giggling still about those times we were caught saying something stupid or on our first night of scaring us winging it!

Nevertheless, Halloween was a blast and I can’t wait to see what our extended Halloween brings us at the party!

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Can’t Last Forever

So- the final night has come. My last night scaring for this year. It was a bittersweet, I was sad that those last few groups that went by were the last for a long time, but at the same time I was happy to get some sleep. the bitter definitely outweighs the sweet. I miss those screams, falls and jumps, those few people that pee themselves, after a while. But most of all I miss my haunt family, my friends that cheer me up the most. They aren’t friends that are there for me only when we are together, but they are there to support me with anything I come to them for, and I the same for them.

When I first met two of them, I was the one being scared. I used to hate being next to them for I was terrified. After I joined the haunt I started to learn who everyone was and easily was welcomed. Now after these four or five years we have gotten really close and if it wasn’t for halloween, I would have never met these amazing people. These guys are also the funniest people I have ever known, they can crack a joke at anytime, break out into dance, or just make a face and I will smile without fail. My favorite time with them is when we put makeup on together before the show. We can talk about absolutely anything and we have fun with it. At least one of us is always a hot mess, either forgot our makeup or piece of our costumes. They have multiple characters because they have been at their work for many years and I love to watch them transform into their characters. One of my friends was new last year and is cute as a button. She has amazing talent and creativity, she made a new character this year too and was great! She had some one liners that really got patrons roaring in laughter right after she scared the pants off them. My other friend, now she is a riot. She has multiple characters and ideas I can’t even count them anymore. yesterday she just made a noisemaker using an antique car horn, pvc pipe, and an electric screwdriver. It is extremely loud, I don’t know where she comes up with these new and creative ideas to scare. She is also crazy talented at makeup, those two dressed up as clowns and made me laugh and cheered me up when they came through the haunt. I will see them soon at our little wrap party, and hopefully sometime in the winter!

I really am going to miss these guys, and how much they make me laugh. All of the jokes and comments they make willl have to wait until next year! For now, I am going to do my best to enjoy the rest of these fall days without the scares, but I still have halloween on tuesday to look forward to!

See ya next year haunt.

[emilyhaunts-blog]

Start of a New Season!

Haunt season has officially started! These past two weekends have been a total blast. I have gotten to reunite with my haunt family and do what we do best, scare. Last night was one of our busiest shows, we were sold out and had 2100 people come through! The adrenaline was insane with all of those people, each and every actor was charged up and ready to go. We had a really energetic crowd last night, plenty of screamers and jumpers. Everyone was pumped up and ready to unleash their characters and give the best show possible. As soon as we got our first screams, we knew it was going to be a lively and exciting evening, no matter how long it was going to be.

So, you might want to know how we go about our evening, when we put our makeup on, what we do to prepare, when we eat, so here it goes. If our first show starts 7, then I start makeup at 3:30 and put on my thermals to keep me warm throughout the night. It takes me an hour to do my makeup so that takes me until 4:30, when we actually leave it’s 4:45. I have a half hour drive to the haunt which is until about 5:15, and since we actors have to park in a special place we finally get to dinner at 5:30. Now we have an hour and a half before showtime. We eat our dinner, sign in, and head to a dressing room to get our final touches on our makeup and put on our costumes. We also get to hang out with who we call “squad”, we listening to all the best pump up music from Taylor Swift all the way to heavy metal. After al of our pre-haunt selfies and documentation, it’s time to hit the scare stations. We all head out to our spots around 6:30-6:45 and make sure our area is injury-proof and safe for us as well as patrons. We do a little dance to warm up and off we go! The groups went by at a perfect pace last night as well, maximizing the scare for each person.

As I said earlier, yesterday was a sold out show, our ticket time slots were every half hour from 6:30-9:30, our longest night! I had to start extra early on makeup and stay even later. We got out at about midnight last night, but every ounce of effort is worth it. 15% of our proceeds goes to the Cocheco Valley Humane Society, they are committed to making the world a safe place for animals. Not only am I volunteering for this amazing haunted attraction, but supporting a solution to animal cruelty.

I cannot wait for next weekend to do this all over again with some of my favorite people! The roar of the chainsaw, smell of fog, and screams of terrified people will fill my thoughts until I can scare again! 

[emilyhaunts-blog]

It’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus

A staple in my halloween rituals is always to watch Hocus Pocus with my family. Ok, well maybe it’s only my mom and me that absolutely love this movie, but we force my siblings and dad to watch it too. On a perfect, chilly, autumn afternoon, all cuddled up on the couch with warm apple cider or butternut squash soup (mom’s recipe). This movie is one of my all time favorites, if you love Salem, witches, and enjoy a hilarious movie, this is one for you.

Quickly, a small overview:

A teenager from Cali moves to Salem Massachusetts, the witch capital. He explores an abandoned house with his sister and a new friend Allison. Allison gives the story of the house, which Max doesn’t believe because he is an ignorant teen. He lights a candle which awakens the Sanderson sisters, a group of witches, who once lived there. Now the kids must find the spell book, and with the help of a cursed cat they must stop the witches from becoming immortal, through a potion and sucking the souls out of children.

Not only is this movie humorous, but it has a really well thought out plot. The cast in this movie is really well fit to the characters. Bette Midler as Winifred, also known as Winnie, the ringleader in this movie. She is the eldest of the sisters, she at some point sold her soul to the devil and in return got a spell book for her and her sisters. Most of the quotes from this movie are from her, such as “Sisters!” (Pronounces sis-tahs!), and my personal favorite “Oh look, another glorious morning, makes me sick!”. Bette Midler was the perfect actress for this role, she really captured the full witch character and gave a stellar performance. Next up, Kathy Najimy as Mary, the goofiest of them all. She has an important sense, she can smell children, which ultimately helps the coven in their goal of becoming immortal. Last but not least, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson. She if the daffiest one of the three, she has a lucky rat tail, eats spiders, and loves boys. She cheated with her sisters boyfriend, Billy Butcherson played by Doug jones, which got her in a lot of trouble with Winifred.

This is only one of my favorite movies for the fall season. Hocus Locus is a must see for all ages. There is some adult humor in it, but trust me it went right over my head when I was younger. A great plot, old witches in Salem, on a chilly autumn eve, what else do you need? Some of my other Halloween favorites are Beetlejuice, The Conjuring, Casper, and The Addams family. Movies are only one of the topics I will be covering here on this page. Throughout this blog I will be covering movies, my favorite things to do in fall, as well as my haunt experiences and stories as I start to act this month.