Haunted House--How I Got Started Doing A Haunted Attraction--Part One

If someone had told me years ago that I’d be owner/operator of not one but two haunted attractions--I would’ve thought they were nuts! Nevertheless, here I am, starting my second haunted house. How did I get started doing a haunt? I’ll tell you about my fist one and then you‘ll know.


Back in 1990‘s, my husband, daughter and I lived in a neighborhood that was teaming with kids ranging in ages from our two year old sprout to the ripe old age of fifteen. We had a chance to get to know all the kids since they played basketball with my husband, lawn games and they always seemed to have room for the homemade treats I loved to make. This was a great place to raise a child and we loved our neighborhood. We still do!


One day, I ask the kids what they were doing for Halloween and most of them said regretfully, not a lot. A few of them were invited to a party of a classmate but they said they had lame parties--their friend’s parents expected the kids to sit down, talk and to not make a lot of noise during the party. Oh, what fun that would be for some pre-teens!


The only activity left was Trick or Treating for the rest of the kids. That was fine for the younger kids but the rest of the kids thought they were too old to go Trick or Treating. I grabbed the local paper and sure enough, all the activities were for really young kids and nothing for the older kids. There really wasn’t a lot for tweens and young teens to do for Halloween and that made me sad. I got to thinking about what I could do about this and offered to do a haunted house for them in our house. The idea was an instant hit with all the kids and so I got busy recruiting volunteers to make the haunted house happen.


Hubby and I got group of our friends and neighbors to come over help plan and build the haunt. We decided to use the whole bottom of our house that included our finished off family room and storage room. We put up temporary walls so that we‘d have many places to scare the kids and we put together some basic sets. We did the typical stuff like a body in the bed that was a real person, black out hallway with bugs dropping on them, tunnel with haunted hands trying to grab them as they passed and other stuff we thought would be scary. We blacked out the windows and put out some four-watt candlesticks from Christmas, as the kid’s only light. After a lot of work, we were ready for the kids. We hoped the kids would enjoy our efforts and would feel like they had a great holiday night. However, with this age group, you never know if they‘ll like it or not!


The big night finally came and sure enough, all the kids in our neighborhood came. My husband was the gatekeeper and would send down small groups of four or five kids at a time. We jumped out at them and made them scream non-stop. The volunteer’s and I got so tickled at the way the kids would scream their heads off and then laugh as they came through time and time again.


We adults thought we’d do the haunted house for maybe a couple of hours but the night drug on and the kids just kept coming! Then I started noticing adults and kids I didn’t recognize coming through and it was almost nine-thirty. I radioed up to the gatekeeper and ask if all the kids had been though at least twice so we could shut down. That was when I got a shock. He said there was a line of over thirty people waiting to go through besides the kids that had already gone through earlier. What?? I was shocked to find out the kids had been having so much fun they’d all called their parents, brothers, sisters, class mates to come over and go though the haunt with them. Then the older kids called their high school and college aged friends and siblings to come too. I have to say that as the best-behaved group of people we’ve ever had come to our house!


We were thrilled everyone was having such a good time with haunted house so we just kept going and going. We kept the haunt open until midnight and finally had to turn people away. The volunteers were pooped and needed a break. We were delighted to listen to the kids laugh as they figured out who each costumed character was and then they’d tell us how badly we’d scared them. They happily babbled on non-stop about every detail of their trips through and that got me to thinking about all the other kids in town. It bothered me that the kids in my town didn’t have anything to look forward to on my favorite holiday. That was when I got the bug to do the haunt again but now I wanted do a family friendly haunt for the whole town full of kids.


It was a strange thing to find out that I dearly loved scaring people and that they‘d pay me to scare them! I wouldn’t like it scaring people if it made them feel bad. I love it because they have so much fun being scared! They scream and then laugh as they come back again and again. We ran The Haunted Castle for four fun years and entertained a lot of families! The next haunt is not going to be a family friendly haunt and I’m looking forward to the challenge of doing an "in your face" haunt. More on that one later!



Sarah

Valentines Day Dip

You know, I’ve never been a very romantic gal but several years ago, I had a Valentines Day to remember. Not for roses or candy, but for a dip I’ll never forget and no spa can top!

Many years ago, on Valentines Day, I was getting ready for a date with my future husband. I decided to take a long bubble bath to relax after a day with my screaming boss and grumpy co-workers. My sweet little dog, Duffy, loved to sit by the tub and ‘talk’ to me while I bathed. I talked and petted her as I took off my clothes (hold on cowboys--that’s as far as this part of the story goes!) and we both went into the bathroom. I turned on the water and started filling the tub with lot of water that was the perfect temperature to relax in. I grabbed my new green bottle of expensive bubble bath I’d bought weeks earlier just as the phone rang. I hurriedly put a generous amount of bubble bath into the stream of water and raced for the phone. I returned to the bathroom a few minutes later, lit three of my favorite candles and put on some soft music.

I was puzzled when Duffy took off out of the bathroom at a dead run and figured she didn’t like the smell of the new expensive bubble bath. I put my hair up and turned off the rushing water and slid into the wonderfully warm water and bubbles. I lowered myself down until the water was at my chin and closed my eyes as the soothing temperature of the water warmed my taut muscles and started doing its magic. Ahhhhhh.

I let out a long breath and took a long breath in just inches from the top of the bubbles. My nose wrinkled up in disgust as I thought to myself this fancy bubble bath didn’t smell very good for the high price I’d paid for it. Nevertheless, I thought I could get used to the smell and told myself to relax. I started wondering idly why Duffy dog had dashed out of the bathroom at lightning speed. My mind then started thinking about my date that night as I wondered what we were going to do.

Suddenly, I got a burning in a part of my body that usually doesn’t burn and I won‘t name. My eyes popped open as the burning started spreading to the rest of my nether regions and . . . well . . . my feeble brain reeled from immediate burning. The full aroma or stench rising from the bubbles just inches from my nose started gagging me and made my eyes tear up. It was then that I focused my watering eyes on the fancy green bottle of the expensive bubble bath sitting at the foot of the tub . . . that was still full! Full?

All at once it hit me why my nether regions were burning like fire as my feverishly watering eyes scanned over to the second green bottle sitting just inches from the other green bottle at the end of the tub . . . it was half-empty! I was soaking in my dog’s flea dip!!! I jumped up and screamed as the burning continued to get worse as the realization of what I’d done sunk in. Now I have a real good idea why poor Duffy dog took off!

After a very long, and I mean long, shower to rise off, I sat at the kitchen table laughing until I cried at what had happened. I called to my sweet pooch but she remained at the far end of the hall, looking as if she was sure it wasn’t her turn already!

Ok, I hope you’ve picked yourself up off the floor by now, because most people who know me know this kind of stuff happens to me all the time. Why do I tell this stuff on myself? I tell on myself because I think it’s too funny to keep to myself, and why not? Right? I had a group of ladies hammer me for telling these funny stories. It’s their opinion I should be embarrassed by my actions and that I shouldn‘t draw attention to myself. My reply? Ohhhh lighten up folks . . . life is too short to not have a good chuckle at yourself!

Another day . . . Sarah

Haunted House Funnies--Scares Happen!

I used to own a commercial haunted house back in the early 2000’s when my daughter was a preschooler. I’d take her out to the haunt during the day to dress sets or repair stuff. I just know someday she’ll tell a head doctor about all the times that as a preschooler; she took naps in a cemetery, had many monsters to play with (that were real) and that she loved playing in Bloody Mary’s coffin. LOL

One day, she and I went out to the haunt so I could work on the crypt. She had a big old cardboard box in our staging area she loved to put props, stuffed animals and other toys in and close the lid. She would play in the big box for hours and I was glad. I always knew where she was and that she wasn‘t into anything that could harm her. Our staging area is where the actors kept their costumes, props and where we all ate and drank during breaks or meetings. The Parks and Rec department owned the building we used and they would bring inmates to empty the trash and clean up the park during the day.

This particular day, I heard the back door open as I glued vines on the crypt but I wasn’t alarmed since I was just outside the staging room door and I knew it had to be the guys from the city. Suddenly I heard a man scream bloody murder, then my daughter scream bloody murder and all hell break loose as deafening crashes and booms came from the staging room. I ran in to see a frozen picture of a huge man grabbing his chest, eyes bugged out and falling out the back door screaming as if the devil himself was after him. On the other side of the room was my daughter was screaming bloody murder standing in her box with a mask on one hand and her stuffed Moosie in the other. I grabbed her and called out to the inmate to come back as a new round of people came rushing in. The supervisor of the inmates came in not knowing what had happened as the rest of his crew took off after the screaming inmate.

Oh, the tangled web we weave when we forget to tell people we’re going to be in what should’ve been and empty haunted attraction! The poor inmate, Lafayette was already scared to come into the staging area because he was very superstitious and was afraid the props/masks would come to life. The other inmates must have gone back the night before and told the others about the strange and freaky stuff they’d seen kicking up his superstitions. He had no idea that my daughter or I were there and when she popped out of the box--he thought his worse fears had come to life. My poor daughter popped out of the box expecting to see me when she heard someone moving around and wanted to scare me. She got the scare when she saw poor Lafayette standing there so she screamed when he screamed.

At took a lot to coax the poor guy back and explained what had happened. He finally calmed down enough we could reassure him that it had just been my little girl and not a monster. My little daughter went over to him and said she was sorry for scaring him but continued to tell him how much he’d scared her too! LOL I swear it was like a freaky Norman Rockwell painting the way they were both frozen by fear making it easy for me to see exactly what had happened the second I came in the room! Oh what a day that was and I wouldn‘t have missed it for all the money in the world!

Church Funnies--Choking on Christ

Why do funny things happen in church? It’s not a typical place to yuck it up in but darn if things aren’t ten times funnier there than anywhere else. Here is just one of many examples I‘ll be writing about.

It was a snowy Sunday and the service had thankfully ground to a conclusion. Not that there was anything wrong with the sermon but it was just a lackluster mid-winter day where your mind wonders and your legs are restless. It was time for communion and a deacon brought the shiny gold tray containing the body of Christ (wafer) and the blood of Christ (juice).

I was particularly gunkie that morning but I didn’t think anything about it as I eyed the tray and waited my turn. My husband held the tray while I popped the wafer in my mouth took the cup with about a half of an ounce of juice and popped it back like a shot. Usually it’s enough juice to allow me to swallow the wafer. But not this time! Thank to the gunk in my throat, the wafer attached it’s self to the back of my throat and wouldn’t go down. My eyes bulged with silent panic and lack of oxygen as I tried repeatedly to swallow. I tried to slowly breathe but I had to stop instantly as I felt the wafer move. The wafer vibrated when I’d breath in causing me to choke again! I didn’t want to disturb the whole church so I tried to motion to my husband that I was choking but he had no idea what I was trying to tell him. I darted out of the sanctuary on little or no air into the gathering area. I gagged and coughed so loud but the wafer still teetered between the two pipes and remained firmly attached to the back of my throat. I grabbed a cup and slugged down some water. It finally went down. Several pre-schooler’s walked past me with their teacher. The kids were staring at me with wide eyes as I filled my lungs with air and coughed harshly at the same time. Their teacher looked sternly at them as she said, “See kids what can happen if you drink too fast?” I didn’t bother to use any of the newly found air I’d just greedily filled my lungs with to contradict her. I made my way back to my husband as soon as I could stop coughing and gagging.

I explained my quick exit to him and he started quietly laughing. He said he couldn’t take me anywhere! LOL

Our $1000.00 Cat, Beanie

Ok so you know how Gizmo arrived in our family and now I’d like to tell you about how we got our thousand-dollar cat named, Bean.

Halloween 2006 was like all the rest since I closed our haunted attraction two years earlier. My daughter, her friends, our friends, my husband and I put on a Haunted Carnival in our front yard on Halloween night for the Trick or Treater’s (ToT’s). It's more fun to host games for them play rather than just hand out candy and be done. I spend weeks making all kinds of spooky games like a six foot haunted tree with a strobe light and sound effects that is activated when the kids toss bats into its evil mouth. Our Haunted Carnival has become a favorite of kids and parents as they build Halloween memories. I really think the parents are more like kids than the kids are sometimes!

Anyboo, in 2006 an older group of ToTer’s came and played games. A little black and white cat they brought with them was adorable and took center stage with with kids and parents alike! The kitten looked to be about seven to eight weeks old and was the stockiest little cat I’ve ever seen. It had paws the size of catcher mitts for a young cat! This was the most loving animal I’ve ever seen and he was a joy to have a round the kids since the cat seem to delight in any attention it got. The little cat purred non-stop as he’d watch each child play a game and would go from kid to adult in a never-ending need for petting.

When the kids that brought the cat were leaving, I pointed out that their black and white kitten was still in the carnival. They said the friendly cat wasn’t theirs and that it’d be following them all night. I looked down the kitten that was wrapped firmly around my daughter’s ancles. I urned to ask the kids a different question when I noticed that they’d raced off down the street and into the night. I could see my daughter was quickly falling in love with the purring kitten and I knew the next thing she was going to say. “No we already have a wild-man cat Gizmo and that's enough.”

When we had lull in the crowds, we ask Jeff, my husband if we could keep him. No, was his answer since we already had a cat and he was right--we didn’t know its owner was missing this cat. Then my daughter and I got him to agree to keep the little cat safely in the house all night since fools are sometimes mean to cats on Halloween night. He agreed that if the cat was still at our house after we took everyone out to Steak-N-Shake--we could keep him in the house. Claire and I were on pins and needles while we had our shakes and fries wondering if the little cat would stay. The drive home seemed endless but was really only a ten minute drive!

I can’t tell you how happy we were when we pulled in and saw a little black head pop up out of one of the games we’d left out. We raced over to the cat and playfully fought over who’d get to hold him next. Even my husband got into the act! But he made me promise to call Annie, the Animal Control Officer in the morning and see if anyone was missing this cat. Then he told us “if no one claims him--we could keep him.” We all cheered and went into the house.

We went into the house, released Gizmo and put the new kitten in the bathroom after I made a makeshift litter box, dish of food and a bowl of water. The little cat was so hungry! He had most of the food in the dish eaten before I got out of the bathroom. I tickled me to listen to him purr while he ate. We all took turns going into the bathroom and petting the docile cat before we went to bed that night.

The next morning, I called Annie (Animal Control Office) with a knot in my throat. I was worried that someone had already called her and was looking for their kitten. Annie laughed as I told her our plight with the kitten but I promised to call her and list the found cat. Yes, I got more ribbing about more cats! Then she said the shelter was full and asks if we would mind to keep him. Not a problem! They would post the found kitten on their website, newspaper and list it with the office in case someone called looking for the cat. Then she told me the best part--we were free to keep him if no one called and we still wanted him. Snicker! Annie knew the answer to that question since she was the officer that did the home follow up visit when we adopted Gizmo. She marveled at how Giz wouldn’t be worth taking back because he was already spoiled rotten!

On the third long day, we celebrated getting to keep and name the kitten! He was so sweet all the time unlike our wild man Giz that really doesn't want to get petted very often. We started to name him something Halloween related since that was the night we found him but none of them fit him his sweet personality. So we decided on Bean since we kept saying, “he was such sweet bean!”

I bundled him off to our vet for a once over, get his shots and schedule him for neutering. He had several things wrong with him (parasites and such) and that visit cost us $168.32!!! Ouch, So much for him being a free cat! LOL

Beanie and Gizmo got a long great after Bean boxed Gizmo’s aggressive ears once. Bean’s placid temperament was amazing and he never got into anything nor did he play a lot. Months later, we noticed that he slowly stopped eating but his tummy was terribly bloating. I called the vet and made another appointment.

Bad news. Beanie wasn’t placid--he was really sick. X-rays showed that his kidneys, bladder and other organs were filled to the brim with stones/crystals making it almost impossible for him to urinate. We were surprised to find out that he’d been racked with pain for weeks but he’d not made a sound or act sick. We thought he was just a lazy cat. He needed a $668.00 surgery and had to be on expensive cat food ($46.00 for a 20 lb bag) for the rest of his life. Gulp!

We’d had just made reservations for our summer vacation. We all sat down as a family and tried to decide what to do. We loved Bean dearly and couldn’t stand to let him suffer. The decission was easy. We decided to forget our vacation and fix our Sweet Bean. None of us gave canceled the vacation a second thought as Beanie was operated on. Our vet is one in a million; she gave us quite a break on the bill since it was going to be a lot higher than she thought originally. She’d found other complications when they opened up little Beanie. They literally had taken a teaspoon and scooped out the crystals from all the effected organs! Our vet offered to let us make payments for the surgery but we gave her the funds we had set aside for the vacation instead. By the time we were done--he’d cost us almost a thousand dollars! So much for our cat being free. Wink!

Finally, after days at the clinic, we could bring Beanie home! We were so excited and we all stayed with him as he lay around a few more days recouping from his surgery. People dropped by to see him and brought him toys since he can’t eat anything but the special diet. He was a different cat when he was well! He played all the time and even started getting into stuff. But that didn't change the fact that he still held the title of being "Worlds Laziest Cat!" LOL

You know, getting Bean was one of the best things that ever happened to us and as for forking over our vacation fund? Any other trade has ever felt so good! LoL We did get to go on a scaled down vacation later that summer so it all worked out for the best.

How is Bean doing now? I’ll be writing more about the boys as the months go by. He lies on my desk as I work and will slowly move his head over so that when I go to grab my mouse--I get an old Bean-head instead. He sleeps with me and has taken over my TV chair--that’s fine with me. It’s a small price to pay for being gifted with such a wonderful little cat that is every bit a member of our family. Oh hummm . . . Little cat. Beanie is a huge cat now--he weights 18 ½ pounds of gelatinous love baby. Oh he’s not fat--just one huge, healthy and happy kitty.

Sarah

Cats Are Not Dogs . . . Getting A Gizmo!

Two years I had to put my beloved dog, Rockefeller down just four month prior to the day I decided I would go to the shelter and look for another dog. I wasn't totally over losing Rocky dog but I hurt so bad. My soul needed to find peace from the emptiness of his passing, yet all I could think about was missing him. And as silly as it sounds, it was his old bad habits I missed the most. You see, Rocky was a rescue dog that was by all accounts the worst dog anyone could ever have. He was a long haired terrier mix or as the vet said, "I'd hate to venture a guess what all is mixed up in this dog." He'd been beaten and starved before I got him, and I was his only hope of getting a home because of the trama of his other home. He hated men but liked most women, barked non-stop, ate whole legs off tables, & he would tolerate kids but wouldn't let my husband on the bed. My husband would have to push Rocky off and dive into bed before the darn dog would jump back up, or the process would start all over. Poor hubby! Everyone else wanted him put down because of his constant grumpy nature along with his other bad habits that drove people nuts. Nah, he was my dog and I would do the best I could for him until the day he died like every other animal I've ever had. Somehow Rocky and I both knew I was his only hope and we bonded deeply.

He lived for 13 ripe old years and oh, how I mourned him! I still do at times, but it was time for a new pet. My husband and daughter wanted to go with me but this was a deeply personal mission and I wanted to go alone. I had to find that deep magical connection because if I didn't' feel it--I wasn't ready for a new family member.

I walked in, and the kind folks at the shelter were surprised to see me so soon, but I think there was an unspoken understanding on where I was emotionally. I walked alone past all the wire kennel doors that were filled with mostly cute, happy puppies. I passed on them because I knew they would be adopted--puppies always get a family. The only other dogs there were of Pit Bull mixes and I didn't want to take a chance with one since we have kids running in and out of the house all the time.

Dejectedly, I decided to go into cat room number one just to look the cats over because I just didn't want to go home. Home was so empty. I knew I was a confirmed dog person and that I had no intentions of getting a cat. I just needed to pet something!

The room was filled with all colors and sizes of cats. I petted several but felt nothing. I walked into room number two and petted a few cats and enjoyed it. My husband wanted a cat but our daughter and I really wanted another dog.

I was ready to leave, when I decided to go into cat room number three. There were only a few cages and most of them were empty. A year old ginger cat gazed up at me wearily and I bent down and tried to coax him to my hand. Suddenly I felt something twining in my hair. I looked up at the top cage and there was a small Tabby kitten with his arm stretched out through the wire as far as he could reach with his small paws tangled in my hair. I looked into his eyes and BAM! I felt the magic connection instantly. But this couldn't be. A cat? The little kitten closed his eyes, threw his head back and let out the awfullest, "mowwwwwww!" as if to say, "finally your here to take me away!" I couldn't explain this connection, but I took him out and he wrapped around my neck and "mowwwwwwwwwwed" again. His purr was so loud for this little six inch body that was covered in spots of stripes. My eyes teared up and my heart swelled at the feel of his purr on my neck. But a cat? Could this be?

I walked out to talk to the rescue officer that was a friend of mine. "Sarah, ah that's a cat! I thought you wanted a dog?" Officer Annie was the gal that came to the house to see how Rocky was doing after I got him. "Yeah I know but this cat . . . there is something about this . . . cat.

"I can't explain it, but I think he's mine." I said. I stared at her still in shock as I watched a slow smile spread across her fair face. "Ahhh . . . but I think but I better go get the tribe (my family) and let them see this little guy. Is he available?"

She spoke with her eyes sparkling making me blush as the empty words I'd uttered more than once floated back to my ears, "Nah I can't take a cat. I'm a dog person, sorry. I only do dogs." I can't tell you how the emptiness of my soul returned instantly as I handed him back to Annie, making me want to grab him back. Annie said, "This is Gizmo. He just came up for adoption one hour ago and just got finished being weaned today. Do you want to start the paperwork?" I told her I wanted to get the family's thoughts before I took him home and asked her to hold him for me. But strict rules of the shelter didn't' allow her to hold him and I panicked. What if someone else came in while I went to pick up my husband and took him?

"I'll be right back." I dashed out the car and was on my cell phone to hubby before the door shut. I begged him to come right then and look at the cat--he did, and loved him too! That just left my daughter who was in elementary school. I knew she really wanted a dog too, so I didn't know if she'd go for a cat. I dropped my hubby back at work and pick her up from school. I drove like a mad woman and waited impatiently until she came out and got in the car.

"Get your belt on honey! I'm having a kid!" "You're pregnant?!" she screamed suprisedly. "No, I'm having a kitten!" "WHAT?!" she yelled. I gunned the car as much as I safely could around a school as my daughter asked me if I was pregnant. I laughed all the way to the shelter as I explained about Gizmo and roared inside to get the kitten. My daughter squealed with joy when she saw him on Annie's arm. Again the plucky little cat "mowwwwwwwwed!" loudly as if he recognized us and was ready to go home.

The rest is history. The plucky little cat turned out to be my daughters cat, lock, stock, and barrel. I've often told people that the little dickens tricked me to get to my daughter, but that's fine with me. He's such a character! Always into everything and he's the most talkative cat I've ever seen. He sits and talks to me while I do my work, while I cook, and as I entertain. I know cats are not dogs, but this spunky cat thinks he is a dog at times. He follows us around like a dog, greets us at the door like a dog, but is a pure old cat. I've taken a lot of ribbing from friends about going to the shelter for a dog and coming back with a fiesty kitten that was just weened the same day I found him. That's ok. Gizmo has added so much to our lives and I still feel that connection with him that only animal people know about. That intangible connection that we feel to creatures that come into our lives that is at times stronger than the connections we feel with other humans. Yeah cats are not dogs and I'm so glad!

Sarah