A creepy trick on Roberto and Iris with undead results.....

The Halloween season is not only a time for treats, it is also a time for tricks.  Being mischievous is quite commonplace this time of year.  Perhaps slipping a rubber worm in the popcorn bowl of your girlfriend while watching a horror flick gives you a chuckle.  Or perhaps popping out of a closet dressed as Michael Myers on an unsuspecting friend might give you a thrill.  Even digging up a human carcass at the local graveyard and propping it up in a rocking chair on your neighbor's front porch can get your blood bubbling.  Ok, that last one could be considered a bit extreme.  But, if you want to go all out, you have to take it to extremes.  It's Halloween fercrisakes!

I believe I may have gone a bit above and beyond on a very dark, elaborate trick I've put into motion recently.  It all started with my good friends Roberto and Iris trying to decide on a vacation destination for a late fall trip.  Of course late fall is the prime of the Halloween season.  Thus, it is the time of year when the living are very perceptive to the presence of the spirits of the dead.  This equation had the few gears in my feeble little mind start turning.

It had been a long time since I had the pleasure of orchestrating a situation to scare the living bajeezers out of some people while at the same time putting them in some paranormal peril.

Roberto told me that Iris was all over the internet looking for some sort of lake house to rent or northern woods log cabin to stay at, but she couldn't find anyplace that had availability with short notice or was that affordable this time of year.

When they brought the subject up with me, I saw my "in".

"Well, I saw this place on the Travel Channel that is in a quaint town called Liberty Square."  I told Iris.  "It's a big old colonial house that overlooks a river.  It's called Gracey Manor.  Trust me, it sounds like a great place for the family to unwind."

"Aww, Zangz", Roberto replied, "that sounds awesome!"

Then Iris said to me, "Ya know, we trust you so much that I will try and book us a stay without doing any on-line research at all!"

"That sounds groovy guys!"  It was hard for me to hide my sheer, dark, sadistic joy.  Love Iris and Roberto as much as I do, I have to put them through their paces every once in a while.

Now most of what I said was true.  There is a big old house on a river in Liberty Square called Gracey Manor that has been featured on the Travel Channel.  What I left out was the fact that it was featured on the show "The Most Really Frackin' Haunted Places On This Mother Frellin' Planet That If You Value Your Family's Life As Well As Your Own And Have Half  Brain, You Need To Stay The Frack Away From"

You see, the house has a bit of a history to it.  A very long time ago the very wealthy, Master Yale Gracey fell in love with a beautiful girl by the name of Emily and asked for her hand in marriage.  He built Gracey Manor for them to spend the rest of their lives together in.  But, Yale had a bit of an interest in the occult and spiritualism that he hid from her.  From the shadows his personal medium and spiritualist adviser, Madame Leota, lusted for him from afar.  On the night of Emily and Yale's wedding Madame Leota murdered Emily with an axe and hid her body in a chest in the attic of the large house.  When Emily's body was discovered, Yale took his own life by hanging himself in the foyer.  Once Madame Leota was found guilty, she was sentenced to execution by decapitation.  After all, this was back in the days where what was perceived as witchcraft was not tolerated by the superstitions of the puritanical.

Good thing Iris didn't see the program, or the jig would have been up.  The show interviewed several paranormal experts who are all in a agreement that the house is haunted up to the gills.  There are reports of at least 999 separate ghostly entities that lurk about the grounds.  Master Gracey's disembodied voice can be heard throughout the home on occasion.  It is said that Emily's ghost can be seen in the attic holding the very axe that killed her.  Madame Leota is said to give an eternal seance with he severed head eternally entrapped in the very crystal ball she used to summon the many ghosts that haunt the halls of Gracey Manor.

Statues sing and stare as paintings change their appearance before witnesses' very eyes.  Candles float down darkened halls as doors rattle and slam.  Decayed corpses try and pry themselves out of old coffins.  I haven't even mentioned what goes on in the adjacent graveyard at night.  I forgot to tell Roberto and Iris that there's a graveyard, didn't I.

I'm sure they'll be just fine, though.  They both have a pretty strong fortitude when it comes to the unkown..... most of the time.  Hope they brought their ten-siders to make some percentage sanity rolls (major geek reference)

When, or if they come back in one piece, they'll have quite the stories to tell.  I'm such a little weisenhiemer, aren't I?

From BigFatPanda YouTube Channel

Until next time, stay vertical.

Zangz.

When the Parks Go Dark.

By day they are filled with thrill seeking people looking to go on the latest coaster and gorge on the edible likes of pop corn, cotton candy and hot dogs.  The bright daylight illuminates the bold colors of the huge metallic rides that tower over them like giants protecting the guests, creating a safe haven for visitors young and old.  The only fear anyone has is that little Tommy is may just bazooka puke all over the pace after taking on one of the coasters.

As for nights during the month of October the theme parks take on a whole different feel.  The streets are filled with smog. The noise of chainsaws and screams ring through the air and overpower the sound of the coasters on their tracks.  The walking dead lurk behind every crevice and corner awaiting their next victim.

One Halloween tradition that has gained major steam amongst Haunt Industry fans and enthusiasts within the last twenty years is the creative transformations that take place at night where the usual fun filled facades of the amusement parks give way to park wide Haunted Attractions.  Not only is this a great Halloween marketing shtick for the parks, it's also a great way to capitalize on the season.

Lets take a look at some of these parks and see how they take on the season of spooks.

Walt Disney World's Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween - Let's start with one that's not as scary as it is family friendly.  We have to ease some of you into this slowly so this might be for the very first timer.  And when I mention "Very first timer" I'm talking three to about fourteen year olds.  Folks fifteen on through their twenties may not feel as fright challenged and roll their eyes at the hefty serving of cheese factor that is rolled out.  Keep in mind it is Disney and the place is run by a mouse, so a heavy dose of fromage is to be expected.  On the other hand hard core Disneyphiles, no matter what age, will bask in the family friendly trick-or-treat glory at Not-So-Scary.  Highlights are trick-or-treating stations all over the park, the Halloween parade, a spectacular fireworks display that will blow your mind and a couple of exclusive villain filled parties.  One of which takes place at Cinderella's Castle.  Take a look. No severed heads or bloody entrails here.

From The DIS YouTube

On an additional note, The DIS in a really good resource for unbiased Disney related travel tips and reviews.  Find their podcast on itTunes.

Six Flags Great America's Fright Fest - Let's step it up a notch, shall we?  The folks at Great America have been turning their park into one big graveyard year after year.  Everywhere you walk there are grave stones and creepy tableau's of diabolical characters stationed anywhere there is usually spare room.  A large number of scare-actors roam the park interacting with patrons.  Last I heard they have two professional haunted mazes to go through.  Both are pretty quick to get through, but have some pretty cool stock scares and affects.  If they are going to compete with the big boys, they may want to invest in one or two more and change things up from time to time.

From the All Around Orlando YouTube

Knott's Scary Farm - You say you want something a little more intense?  Ok, then what about Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween season show, Knott's Scary Farm?  Much like Great America this park utilizes haunted mazes and scare-actors galore, but they step it up in number of mazes, the themes of those mazes and overall intensity of the experience.  Although there's a good dose of blood and gore, they also go out of their way to make sure there's also more than a spoon full of creepy and eerie within the haunted mazes.  They don't have any horror franchises that other parks can rely on.  They have to come up with original content and I think that is frackin' great! They even have a full fledged, interactive, zombie laser tag experience.  Add to all of that Elvira, Mistress of the Dark doing her own musical show.  Here is a daytime guided overview of this year's show.

From The_Con_FluenceCovers... YouTube

Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights - A lot of haunt fans claim this to be the Grand Daddy of them all when it comes to haunted theme parks.  Not only does this attraction cater to the Halloween fan, it serves it up on a silver platter for those that are fans of the movie and TV horror genres.  Here you will find classics as American Werewolf in London as well as The Walking Dead strongly represented within the mazes in this park.  Folks from the special effects profession pull out all of the stops and are not afraid to dowse it in tons of blood and gore.  Most of the mazes and attractions are based on already existing horror franchises which kind of takes a bit out of original content, but also rakes in the bucks from hard core horror fans.

From Inside The Magic YouTube Chanel

One of these days I've been meaning to rob Fort Knox so I can afford to visit these attractions.  Sadly I am lacking a portly, asian henchman with a bladed bowler hat.  So that's not going to happen soon.  But I will seek out and post a video or two of some of the mazes from these attractions soon.

That's it for me today.  Tray and get some form of Halloween hi-jinx into the mix before this season is done, will you please?

Until next time, sty vertical!

Zangz.