The True Workings of a Haunted House

This year I was asked by a local radio station, 92 Moose, to help them with a large new project for Halloween. They had decided to do their own haunted house calling it Town of Terror. How could I resist such an offer?

    Helping out with a haunted house has been an interesting experience. In the case of Town of Terror it’s not just a haunted house. It’s more like a haunted fair ground. The set up is massive taking over the Pittston Fair Grounds. It has been a ton of work and I have only actually been apart of about 1/3 of it. Let me give you an idea of what’s been going on.

The prep, at least when I got asked to assist, started at the beginning of September. I joined the people behind Town of Terror to sort through 500 foot truck trailer filled with animatronics and totes filled with various Halloween décor, props, and costumes. After sorting everything into categories it was put back into the trailer.

At the end of September was the first build out at the Pittston Fair Grounds. Julie, one of the master minds behind Town of Terror, had a map of how the haunts were to be set up. Each area had a specific theme assigned to it. Not counting the contractors who were there to build the main event, there were about15-20 of us there hauling out supplies and getting things set up.

That day I ended up working with about a ¼ mile of corn stalks that had been laid out in 2 rows. My job was to put them around the pavilions and buildings. It may sound easy, but there was more to it than it sounds. By the end of the day I had dubbed myself the leader of the Children of the Corn.

    The following Tuesday I was asked to go with Merry, the second out of the 3 who had come up with Town of Terror, to help her gather donations made to the project. Now when I say donations I don’t mean like spiders, costumes, or little things. I mean toilets, chairs, couches, and a refrigerator, stuff to furnish the various horror scenes.

The weekend after it was 2 days of build and set up. This time I got to stay away from the corn stalks and got to design one of the scenes: the creepy hospital. I think that I and my partner Christy did a good job on it. The following day felt like horror arts and crafts. I spent a lot of time with paint. I painted platforms for zombie babies to move around in, black cats, and street signs.

 Now you may ask why it is I’m being so vague on what it is that Town of Terror has going on. The answer is because I don’t wanna let the demon out of the bag and ruin any of the scares we have planned. If you want to see Town of Terror for yourself it opens this Friday October 10 at 6pm on the Pittston Fair Grounds. Admission is $15 per person. For more information visit the Town of Terror site.




If you’re wondering how I’ll be haunting and what I’m doing, well that’s easy. When you get to the gate tell them Chucky sent you. Wanna play? BWAHAHAHAHA!