<p>Is this just in Florida theme parks, or do all theme parks have these Halloween exhibits throughout the month of October? My kids have been to Universals HH Nights several times, but I’ve never worked up the nerve. Apparently it’s pretty nerve-wracking, spending an evening having people “boo!” you and chase you with chain saws.</p>
<p>At the Six Flags in the Chicago area, we have a sort of “fright fest” theme. They set up tons of haunted houses (from “bugs bunny in a vampire cape” to “oh, dear lord, was that HUMAN once?!”), play spooky music over the loudspeakers, dye any stationary water features red, tweak the names of rides (from “rue le dodge,” a bumper car ride, to “rue le morgue,” etc.), set up fake gravestones, and have costumed employees stalk (or sneak-attack) customers in full costume and make-up. All in all, quite creepy, though there are some “kid appropriate” areas for the younger children. </p>
<p>Last year they set up stalls representing the Seven Deadly Sins. The literary nerd in me rejoiced. I brought my copy of Inferno when I went, just so I could quote it to the people working there, though I don’t think they appreciated it very much ;)</p>
<p>Years ago when the kids were middle-school age, we took them to a scary one in one of the country’s oldest amusement parks - as if the idea of old amusement parks isn’t frightening enough. (“Carnival of Souls” anyone??) Well, I ended up having to take some of S’s friends out because they were FREAKING OUT!! (I didn’t mind leaving at all!!) Really weird and scary - hooded monks, frightening clowns, dead people springing out of the ground. Christ, I thought I was going to have a heart attack!
It was the backyard brainchild of some dad whose kid was a diabetic and didn’t have much use for all the candy. It eventually grew into some huge fund raiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.</p>
<p>Ooohh, seven deadly sins. That sounds fun. I can imagine the blank stares your quotes garnered, though. </p>
<p>Maybe most theme parks close up by Halloween? At Universal, they close at the regular time, but the real MMMWWahhhh mmwahhh mwahhh’s begin at around 9 and end at 2 AM, when they run the haunted houses.</p>
<p>I would like to go sometime, but it really is past my bedtime. S says it’s really psychological, the way they do it. All the jumping out of bushes, stalking the guests, weirdness… By the time people leave, they’re either totally numb or nervous wrecks.</p>
<p>My D got a job with Providence Ghost Tours. I understand this is some popular new thing to do in many cities now as the weeks lead up to Hallowe’en. It;s based on actual archival research into the old colonial houses, from newspapers and town records, if there were ever murders or suicides there. As they wrote, to paraphrase: we don’t jump out and scare you; we let the stories scare you. Also they attempt a sensitivity about not going over-the-top, realizing that these are actual families who were once affected. It was put together by an historian and an enterpreneur. I couldn’t believe she got this as a job (although she’s a great storyteller and actress) so googled it to learn it’s happening in many cities. Sounds like fun in a bizzarrrrro sense.</p>
<p>My W and I happened to be in Salem Mass visiting relatives one Halloween. I didn’t really give the date much thought and we went about sightseeing the town. One of the places we went was the ‘Witch Dungeon’ museum where we saw a mock witch trial. After the trial we toured the dungeon and that’s where the fun began. The dimly lit eerie dungeon was filled with wax figures but since it was halloween not all of those figures were wax! Just as my W, aunt, and I walked up to one of the still figures it suddenly moved making my W and aunt scream and me laugh. There were a few more ‘live’ figures mixed in with the wax figures that would suddenly move when least expected so the screaming and laughing continued until we’d passed through the dungeon. Apparently they do this around halloween time. It was really great (not sure my W or aunt agree)!</p>