On a lighter note...

Sazerac · 10-09-2001, 11:20 PM

How many of you plan on going to what we call in the South a "Haint House" this month?

Haunted houses (the for fun variety) are a tradition here in the States; an excuse to go out on a hayride or through a darkened building with props and actors popping out at different directions and scaring the be---us out you! There are at least five or six quality haunted house exhibits around the Dallas/Fort Worth area. One of them, interestingly enough, "The Pit", is a two-level walk-through dungeon based on AD&D / Forgotten Realms (apparently the people who put it together are BIG into gaming). It's located south of Fort Worth.

So my questions to you are:

1) Are you planning to go to a haunted house this season?

2) Have you ever been to one?

3) If you have, what was your best/scariest/most exciting/best done experience with one?

I'll go on and answer my own question to begin with. My best experience was in 1982 with a haunted house called "The Exposition of Fear" that was featured at the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport. This particular "haint house" showed no gore, no Jason with a chainsaw, etc. It was all psychological, and it was one of the most delightfully terrifying houses I had been through. To begin with, you had to sit in a darkened room with 20 or so others (your group). This lasted about 15 minutes (which seemed like an hour) in which the screams of others going through the house were piped in over a P/A system into the room! You can imagine everyone's state when the resident ghoul came to take you on the "tour."

Much of the tour was stumbling in the dark, then coming into key rooms in which every possible childhood fear was examined (and oh, how those fears loomed again with one's nerves on edge!) Fear of the dark, fear of monsters, fear of death, fear of insects (this was a particularly grisly one, as the narrator was going on and on gleefully about roaches crawling all over people, a ceiling with strings dangling was quietly lowered to where the strings would tickle against cheeks and stroke down one's back and arms. People were literally about going hysterical.

There was far more to it, and I was so relieved to be back out on the fairgrounds about 20 minutes later (and then I promptly got back in line for more!)

Cheers (and pleasant dreams

)

------------------

10-09-2001, 11:24 PM

MEEEEEEEE!

I miss the hayride I used to go on down in 'Bama, but I'm looking for one 'round here. I always exspect to see the headless horseman on a hayride, ever since I was a child. Maybe this year....

John D Harris · 10-09-2001, 11:33 PM

I love haunted houses, I love holloween I used to spend hours craving intricite designs in jack-o-lanterns. I used to hide and scare the kids coming to trick-or-treat. I had an old chainsaw with out a chain, we would open the door for the kids and just as they started "trick-or-treat" I'd fire up that chainsaw and step out of the kitchen. Oh for the good ole days before self-employment.

------------------
Crustiest of the OLD COOTS
Airline ticket to Afghanistan $800
High powered rifle with scope $1000
Hotel room with roof access $100
A clean Head shot on that sack of Horse Manure Usuma Bin Laden PRICELESS!

Epona · 10-10-2001, 08:26 AM

It sounds BRILLIANT!!!
OMG, why does no-one do them like that here?

The only similar things I have ever seen are those crappy 'Ghost Train' rides at fairs - not the same at all.
Oh - I want to go to one now....

------------------

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Epona of The Laughing Hyenas
Proud winner of the 'Most Useless Post 250 Has Ever Seen' Award 2001. "I'd just like to thank my friends and family, without whom none of this would have been possible..."

[This message has been edited by Epona (edited 10-10-2001).]

Sazerac · 10-10-2001, 11:07 AM

Epona, unless I'm mistaken, I thought England didn't celebrate Hallowe'en; at least the way the States do. I know you guys have "Guy Fawlkes" (sp?) day a few days later, but that's a bit different. Interesting festival...a rememberance of the successful apprehension of a terrorist attack on Parliament.

Haunted houses are quite a bit fun. I'm really intrigued by the AD&D themed one, but it's a bit of a way's off. I may try to go to that one this weekend. There are several that are closer, though.

G'Kar, you're in the neck of the woods for the Headless Horseman now, LOL! Are you planning on going to Salem? They have a lot of Halloween festivities there, I know.

ROTFL, John D.! I can just see you doing that with the chainsaw and all. I bet some of those kids had to run home and change! LOL!!

Thanks for the input! Any more?

------------------

DragonMage · 10-10-2001, 11:12 AM

Well, I, for one have found a 'new love' in Haunted House concepts. We have a place near hear called "Camp Blood" (after Friday the 13th). It is mostly OUTSIDE!!!! It's so neat! You stand in queue until it's your turn (preferably you get your friends together - they send you through about 8 - 10 at a time. You then have a 'guide' who leads you through. It takes about 20 minutes wherein people chase you with chainsaws, pop up out of the ground, jump out of bushes or buildings, you get led through one building that is pitch black and the walls are close and lined w/plastic (too hard to adequately describe) - and just generally get the bejeebers scared out of you!

There's much more to it, but it can all be scary. I tend to go through it laughing because it's hard to scare me when I'm expecting it. I get startled sometimes and just laugh all the harder at my silliness.

------------------

Alureth...Dragon friend of Breanna, Mage and Advisor in the Court of Lady Lioness

Co-Owner/Operator of the Evil Petting Zoo and devout member of the HADB clan.
Commander of the Dragon Fleet, IW Peacekeeping Force
Sublime Sister of the Illuminati - may the Light shine forever!
Second Historian and Scribe of IW. Mother Hen of IW.
Mage extraordinair, Pin-Up Girl for the OLD-COOTS
Magey-Wagey: performer in the Nekked Dancing Trio of the ORT.

Hopeless Romantic *sigh*

Donut · 10-10-2001, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sazerac:
Epona, unless I'm mistaken, I thought England didn't celebrate Hallowe'en; at least the way the States do. I know you guys have "Guy Fawlkes" (sp?) day a few days later, but that's a bit different. Interesting festival...a rememberance of the successful apprehension of a terrorist attack on Parliament.

Unfortunately Halloween is catching on fast here. Kids knocking at the door all hours of the night, bah humbug! The problem is that most adults are not used to the idea of handing out sweets to kids and are not prepared for the occasion. There have been a few problems with windows being smashed etc.

Terrorist attack? Religious fanatics hitting at the heart of Democracy? Who would have thought it.

------------------

Save Chip - Don't let Sarah win!
Official Titterer of the Laughing Hyenas
Don't mention the score - I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it!

Sazerac · 10-10-2001, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Donut:
Unfortunately Halloween is catching on fast here. Kids knocking at the door all hours of the night, bah humbug! The problem is that most adults are not used to the idea of handing out sweets to kids and are not prepared for the occasion. There have been a few problems with windows being smashed etc.

Terrorist attack? Religious fanatics hitting at the heart of Democracy? Who would have thought it.

LOL, Donut! You old "Grinch", you!

Although I must say the "window smashing" bit is NOT a welcome addition. We have our own problems around Halloween here, too, of course, but for the most part it's a safe holiday. I wonder how many "scare warnings" we're going to go through this year, though, what with all the national paranoia that's going on.

Terrorist attack...yup. As they say, there is truly "nothing new under the Sun." Just different technologies, that's all.

------------------

Epona · 10-10-2001, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sazerac:
Epona, unless I'm mistaken, I thought England didn't celebrate Hallowe'en; at least the way the States do. I know you guys have "Guy Fawlkes" (sp?) day a few days later, but that's a bit different. Interesting festival...a rememberance of the successful apprehension of a terrorist attack on Parliament.

It's not the big thing that it is in the states, true - but nevertheless I have celebrated hallowe'en all my life (30 yrs

), and many people I know enjoy it too.
Of course for pagans Samhain is a very special occasion. Like it or not, there seems to be a bit of pagan in all us brits

But seriously, does anyone have any bright ideas about things to do to celebrate Hallowe'en? (nothing tacky). My bf absolutely loves the idea of doing something special, but is always disappointed - there is nothing much going on apart from kids demanding candy with menaces and reruns of all the worst slasher movies...

Oh and of course Guy Fawkes can be fun, but I know that the fire brigade and ambulance services are always on standby - there are more burn injuries than at any other time of year, and emergency rooms are always full.
Anyone ever been to Lewes in Sussex for the bonfires?

------------------

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Epona of The Laughing Hyenas
Proud winner of the 'Most Useless Post 250 Has Ever Seen' Award 2001. "I'd just like to thank my friends and family, without whom none of this would have been possible..."

[This message has been edited by Epona (edited 10-10-2001).]

DragonMage · 10-10-2001, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Epona:
It's not the big thing that it is in the states, true - but nevertheless I have celebrated hallowe'en all my life (30 yrs ), and many people I know enjoy it too.
Of course for pagans Samhain is a very special occasion. Like it or not, there seems to be a bit of pagan in all us brits

But seriously, does anyone have any bright ideas about things to do to celebrate Hallowe'en? (nothing tacky). My bf absolutely loves the idea of doing something special, but is always disappointed - there is nothing much going on apart from kids demanding candy with menaces and reruns of all the worst slasher movies...

Oh and of course Guy Fawkes can be fun, but I know that the fire brigade and ambulance services are always on standby - there are more burn injuries than at any other time of year, and emergency rooms are always full.
Anyone ever been to Lewes in Sussex for the bonfires?

I don't know if you would find this 'tacky' or not, but the last few years, my friends and I have gotten together for Halloween and had a party. The kids around here don't do much trick-or-treating anymore as most parents in my area have their children attend church-related functions instead of that 'God-awful paganistic' stuff. Oh well! Last year, everyone dressed up (tastefully as can be). I was the 'spider queen' (this year, I'll be the 'dragon queen'). Each of us prepared dishes with a Halloween theme: I made a wonderful 'Ghoul punch' by mixing Margarita Mixer, orange juice and gingerale. I have this ice cube tray that makes small rounded ice cubes (about like a small gumdrop) and filled it with cherry Kool-Aid and froze it. When serving the punch (which was a creepy blend of bright green to weird light brownish), I dropped in a few of these to make it appear 'bloody'. It was so frightfully interesting. I also made 'finger' sandwiches and one of my friends made 'eyeball' pizzas using English Muffins as the base. We then watched scary movies, listened to songs like "Monster Mash" and talked till late in the night.

------------------

Alureth...Dragon friend of Breanna, Mage and Advisor in the Court of Lady Lioness

Co-Owner/Operator of the Evil Petting Zoo and devout member of the HADB clan.
Commander of the Dragon Fleet, IW Peacekeeping Force
Sublime Sister of the Illuminati - may the Light shine forever!
Second Historian and Scribe of IW. Mother Hen of IW.
Mage extraordinair, Pin-Up Girl for the OLD-COOTS
Magey-Wagey: performer in the Nekked Dancing Trio of the ORT.

Hopeless Romantic *sigh*

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10-09-2001, 11:20 PM	#1
Sazerac Ironworks Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Monroe, LA Age: 60 Posts: 7,387	How many of you plan on going to what we call in the South a "Haint House" this month? Haunted houses (the for fun variety) are a tradition here in the States; an excuse to go out on a hayride or through a darkened building with props and actors popping out at different directions and scaring the be---us out you! There are at least five or six quality haunted house exhibits around the Dallas/Fort Worth area. One of them, interestingly enough, "The Pit", is a two-level walk-through dungeon based on AD&D / Forgotten Realms (apparently the people who put it together are BIG into gaming). It's located south of Fort Worth. So my questions to you are: 1) Are you planning to go to a haunted house this season? 2) Have you ever been to one? 3) If you have, what was your best/scariest/most exciting/best done experience with one? I'll go on and answer my own question to begin with. My best experience was in 1982 with a haunted house called "The Exposition of Fear" that was featured at the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport. This particular "haint house" showed no gore, no Jason with a chainsaw, etc. It was all psychological, and it was one of the most delightfully terrifying houses I had been through. To begin with, you had to sit in a darkened room with 20 or so others (your group). This lasted about 15 minutes (which seemed like an hour) in which the screams of others going through the house were piped in over a P/A system into the room! You can imagine everyone's state when the resident ghoul came to take you on the "tour." Much of the tour was stumbling in the dark, then coming into key rooms in which every possible childhood fear was examined (and oh, how those fears loomed again with one's nerves on edge!) Fear of the dark, fear of monsters, fear of death, fear of insects (this was a particularly grisly one, as the narrator was going on and on gleefully about roaches crawling all over people, a ceiling with strings dangling was quietly lowered to where the strings would tickle against cheeks and stroke down one's back and arms. People were literally about going hysterical. There was far more to it, and I was so relieved to be back out on the fairgrounds about 20 minutes later (and then I promptly got back in line for more!) Cheers (and pleasant dreams ) ------------------

10-09-2001, 11:24 PM	#2
G'kar Guest Posts: n/a	MEEEEEEEE! I miss the hayride I used to go on down in 'Bama, but I'm looking for one 'round here. I always exspect to see the headless horseman on a hayride, ever since I was a child. Maybe this year....

10-09-2001, 11:33 PM	#3
John D Harris Ninja Storm Shadow Join Date: March 27, 2001 Location: Northport,Alabama, USA Age: 62 Posts: 3,577	I love haunted houses, I love holloween I used to spend hours craving intricite designs in jack-o-lanterns. I used to hide and scare the kids coming to trick-or-treat. I had an old chainsaw with out a chain, we would open the door for the kids and just as they started "trick-or-treat" I'd fire up that chainsaw and step out of the kitchen. Oh for the good ole days before self-employment. ------------------ Crustiest of the OLD COOTS Airline ticket to Afghanistan $800 High powered rifle with scope $1000 Hotel room with roof access $100 A clean Head shot on that sack of Horse Manure Usuma Bin Laden PRICELESS!

10-10-2001, 08:26 AM	#4
Epona Zartan Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: London, England Age: 53 Posts: 5,164	It sounds BRILLIANT!!! OMG, why does no-one do them like that here? The only similar things I have ever seen are those crappy 'Ghost Train' rides at fairs - not the same at all. Oh - I want to go to one now.... ------------------ Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. Epona of The Laughing Hyenas Proud winner of the 'Most Useless Post 250 Has Ever Seen' Award 2001. "I'd just like to thank my friends and family, without whom none of this would have been possible..." [This message has been edited by Epona (edited 10-10-2001).]

10-10-2001, 11:07 AM	#5
Sazerac Ironworks Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Monroe, LA Age: 60 Posts: 7,387	Epona, unless I'm mistaken, I thought England didn't celebrate Hallowe'en; at least the way the States do. I know you guys have "Guy Fawlkes" (sp?) day a few days later, but that's a bit different. Interesting festival...a rememberance of the successful apprehension of a terrorist attack on Parliament. Haunted houses are quite a bit fun. I'm really intrigued by the AD&D themed one, but it's a bit of a way's off. I may try to go to that one this weekend. There are several that are closer, though. G'Kar, you're in the neck of the woods for the Headless Horseman now, LOL! Are you planning on going to Salem? They have a lot of Halloween festivities there, I know. ROTFL, John D.! I can just see you doing that with the chainsaw and all. I bet some of those kids had to run home and change! LOL!! Thanks for the input! Any more? ------------------

10-10-2001, 11:12 AM	#6
DragonMage 20th Level Warrior Join Date: September 6, 2001 Location: The lighter side of life, a.k.a. Newnan, Georgia Age: 55 Posts: 2,767	Well, I, for one have found a 'new love' in Haunted House concepts. We have a place near hear called "Camp Blood" (after Friday the 13th). It is mostly OUTSIDE!!!! It's so neat! You stand in queue until it's your turn (preferably you get your friends together - they send you through about 8 - 10 at a time. You then have a 'guide' who leads you through. It takes about 20 minutes wherein people chase you with chainsaws, pop up out of the ground, jump out of bushes or buildings, you get led through one building that is pitch black and the walls are close and lined w/plastic (too hard to adequately describe) - and just generally get the bejeebers scared out of you! There's much more to it, but it can all be scary. I tend to go through it laughing because it's hard to scare me when I'm expecting it. I get startled sometimes and just laugh all the harder at my silliness. ------------------ Alureth...Dragon friend of Breanna, Mage and Advisor in the Court of Lady Lioness Co-Owner/Operator of the Evil Petting Zoo and devout member of the HADB clan. Commander of the Dragon Fleet, IW Peacekeeping Force Sublime Sister of the Illuminati - may the Light shine forever! Second Historian and Scribe of IW. Mother Hen of IW. Mage extraordinair, Pin-Up Girl for the OLD-COOTS Magey-Wagey: performer in the Nekked Dancing Trio of the ORT. Hopeless Romantic sigh

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