Nightmare New England and SpookyWorld Haunted Houses

October 8th, 2009

(0 votes)

 Loading ...

As you will see from issue #52, I have seen a lot of pictures and read about Nightmare New England and SpookyWorld but seeing in person is so much better. The team of Mike “Tattoo” Krausert, Mike Accomando and Wayne Caulfield does an incredible job converting Mel’s Funway Park into one of the premiere screamparks in the nation.

I got to NNE/SpookyWorld (NNES) a little before six o’clock and the first person I see is the poet/haunter Rich Hanf. Rich Hanf was brought into the NNES team to inject more life into the Monster Midway and runs the Zombie Paintball activity (more on that later). I tried to look around and take it all in, but I couldn’t do it one look so after meeting up with Tattoo, I walked around and took some photos while Tattoo gave me a tour. The midway is named the Monster Midway and this one lives up to its name – it’s huge. It has bungie jumping, wall climbing, a Haunted Enterprise Burial simulator, Zombie Paintball, a live band, merchandise booths and plenty of food vendors. They also serve beer here by the way. Oh, did I mention that have an army of walk-around actors roaming the midway? It’s a ton of fun to watch other people getting scared by these actors as they sneak up or just walk up to people and make people run away.

After a bit, the park was opened up and the Haunting got underway. I met up with the rest of the team and we started our journey through the park. I started off with some Zombie Paintball. For those not familiar with this type of activity, customers get the chance to shoot paintballs at “live” zombies. The zombies were protected with full head helmets, neck guards, and protective gear on their body parts and then wore a jumpsuit over it so they don’t get hurt. I had a lot of fun with it and it was made more interesting because Rich had some tombstones made that look like some grave markers in an old New Orleans cemetery positioned throughout the shooting range.

After Paintball, we began with the haunts that are in the back side of the park which is a golf driving range when it’s not Haunt season. It was about this time that I ran into John Denley whom many of you may also know and who was also added to the team to help with the expansion from four haunts to seven this year.

The first haunt was Demented and featured some more aggressive scares with a large chain link portion and strobe lights. The second haunt was Nightfeeders which was a more traditional walk through with some interesting scenery. The third haunt was a vampire themed haunt with the added twist that guests received a small glow stick to walk through with. The Haunt itself is pretty dark so the glow stick comes in handy and seems to be a big hit with the guests.

The fourth Haunt of the evening was Freak Show in 3-D. For a 3-D Haunt it was pretty good and I actually liked it. It had some nicely painted scenes and interesting obstacles and had high energy club music playing when we went through. There was one character in particular, a lizard girl whose makeup looked phenomenal.

The fifth Haunt was Ravens Claw which is a walking trail through a wooded area with some cool and wicked looking trees. The lighting was fantastic and the lights combined with the ambient sound provided the perfect atmosphere as we walked through the detailed scenes.

The next Haunt was Buried Alive. This Haunt is probably the smallest of the seven but it packs in a lot of scare in a small package. This one of my favorites at the park and I was told it was one of the favorites of many last year. The Haunt has dark rooms, good actors and a very long 7 foot tall claustrophobia.

The last Haunt was Sleep Stalkers which was a medical themed haunt. There was some quality acting and good scares in this haunt along with probably some of the best scenic design and decorating of any of the Haunts.

NNES is a huge undertaking and the leadership is putting a team together that seems to be up to the challenge. NNES is a unique event with a lot to do (including many non-haunt activities) and will likely become a New England tradition in time for the entire area. To have seven haunts at one location is a lot of work, but to have seven haunts that are this good is amazing. Thank you for your hospitality and it was great seeing everyone again. Good luck and have a great season!