Haunted Houses: Behind the Scenes Edition
Photo creds: the castle of Muskogee
By Finley Wettstein
Those who like Halloween. Those who are interested in the story behind the mask. Have you ever wondered what it is like to work behind the scenes at a haunted house? Just for you, here is the other side to the terrifying, spooky stories we hear this time of year.
Haunted houses, spooky trails, spine-chilling theme parks, all famous Halloween traditions. A fun, festive activity for some but an “absolutely not” for others. We all have heard the stories and scares, but we don’t hear about the scarers themselves.
The people behind the mask. This must-have tradition is participated in by Jenks students and even Jenks programs. Whether it’s running the Turkey Mountain Haunted Trail, dressed up as a kidnapped girl, or chasing kids with chainsaws, all of these people have at least one thing in common…
They agree that scaring people is fun.
First up on our list: The Turkey Mountain Haunted Trail. Turkey Mountain, for those that don’t know, is a public wilderness area with beautiful trails all through its woods. Located in Tulsa, its trails are perfect for bike riders and hikers, or just a nice walk. It is also the perfect spot for a festive Halloween event.
Each year the West Side Alliance (WSA) soccer club runs the event known as the Turkey Mountain Haunted Trail. Girls from their league volunteer by helping out with the “scare stations” and being a tour guide through the park.
Anna Weins (11) and Ashlynn McCrackin (10) are two players who help behind the scenes.
“The goal is to look scary,” said McCrackin.
Volunteers dress up in costumes and the club's different teams get assigned a “station”. Here they get to pick their station's theme and decorate it accordingly. Some of the past years have featured the girl from Scream, and a witch brew scene.
“One of my favorite moments during the trail was scaring one of the dads. He was walking with one of his kids, just enjoying the walk, and I jumped out from behind a tree to scare them. I definitely scared the dad more than the kid," said McCrackin.
Another fun job, mentioned Weins, is being a tour guide. Tour guides get to lead a group through the woods of turkey mountain and through each scare station.
“I was going through a station and the scare was a loud noise, I jumped so high that I literally twisted my ankle,” said Weins. “It was terrible because I had to tell my coach, and couldn’t play the game the next day.” Said Weins.
Victory Church holds a haunted house annually called the Nightmare. Haylie Huckabaa, a senior at Jenks High School, is one of a few students who have volunteered at this festivity. Huckabaa’s 8th grade year she and her friends decided it would be fun to do something different for Halloween, instead of just regularly trick or treating they wanted to experience volunteering behind the scenes at a haunted house.
Huckabaa and her friends arrived at Victory Church before the Nightmare opened to get their makeup and costumes done.
“I was a kidnapped girl,” Huckabaa said. Dressed in old clothes with dirt and mascara running down their faces “to make us seem like we were kept in a van for a long time.”
“We were in this cage, and there was this guy who ‘abducted us’. We were supposed to scream whenever he gave us the que,” Huckabaa said. “We would cry out for help.”
From scarring behind the scenes, or experiencing it first hand, this job is perfect for those who like a good scare.
Even our Jenks own Future Farmers of America (FFA) club partakes in this Halloween tradition. Every year FFA hosts a haunted house, where their club officers dress up to hide and scare.
Jenks FFA members participate in their annual haunted house.
“Dads bring chainsaws to chase kids around with, they get really close and act like they are going to kill you,” said Sage Grider.
Now wrapping it all up with an unexpected haunted house employee, Shianne Foust. Ms Foust teaches English at Jenks High School and worked for 10 years at the Hex House as a line manager. Although she was not working as a scarer, plenty of situations happened making it an exciting job.
Workers at the Hex House. Photo creds: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/oklahoma/evil-history-ok/
“There were stories of some people being so scared that there would be medical episodes, where ambulances would have to be called, there were some pretty serious reactions to some of the scares inside,” said Fouts. “People passing out from fear…And if you were not equipped to be around strobing lights it affected people that had epilepsy.” All the horrors behind the scenes make it an eventful job.
“Being the person behind the mask? Yeah, I’d say it’s pretty fun.” Said Weins.
