I’ve always wanted to be scared to death. That’s why I love
haunted houses so much. I’ve been to most of the good ones. I’ve
been to every haunted house, from the big theme parks to Vegas to
the home of witches in Salem. I love haunted houses just like I love
Halloween. I love to be scared. Many of my friends love to be scared,
too. I found that in the last few years since I graduated from college,
it’s more fun to go into haunted houses alone. Everyone must face
death alone so I figured out that the best way to be scared is to go
all alone. They said on a television documentary that haunted house
attractions are a metaphor for confronting your own mortality. I like
that.
There is only one haunted house that really, really scared
me. Only one that I guess you could say changed my life forever.
That haunted house was Séance Manor. I’ve seen good haunted
houses where actors jump out at you. They’re usually just high
school kids dressed up for their summer job. I’ve seen state of the art
animatronics, too. That’s good for the eye but typically doesn’t invoke
real terror. I can’t remember exactly when I visited Séance Manor but
I knew it was going to be the ultimate haunted experience.
The first sign of the upcoming terror was the look of the
attraction itself. It was at an amusement park called Hill’s Park. It was
unusually far from all the other rides. It was a big, black building with
a giant white skull painted on the front door. There was no one else in
line. I walked up to the ticket booth and a man dressed like the grim
reaper approached me.
“That’s ten dollars even, William Price.”
That really took me off guard. How did this actor know my
name?
“How do you know my name?”
“We know everyone who comes through these doors, Mr.
Price. Since introductions seem to be in order my name is Ignatius. I
will be your guide through Séance Manor.”
I was really annoyed. How did this guy know my name? Then
my annoyance turned into sheer delight. Any haunted house that goes
to this much trouble must be very good. I decided to just go with it
and accept the fantasy. Ignatius left the ticket booth and then opened
up the front door.
“Please come this way, sir. There is much to see.”
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I must confess I was somewhat disappointed with what came
next. Ignatius had made such a good introduction! There really wasn’t
too much to see. There was nothing very original anyway.
I walked through a dark hallway. There were eerie paintings
with eyes that followed me. Perhaps I’m somewhat hard to please but
I’ve seen this too many times to appreciate it anymore. There was
also a lady dressed like a witch in the next room. She cackled and
then continued to stir her kettle. Then there was a dungeon master. He
tortured what was obviously a plastic mannequin. Finally there was
a room filled with coffins. Oh…let me guess…vampires? It won’t be
too long before some stupid kid dressed like the undead jumps out
at me. I was wrong. The coffin slowly opened but it wasn’t some kid
pretending to be Dracula. It was…Ignatius.
“What’s wrong, sir? Are you surprised to see me?”
I told him I was very surprised to see him. I thought that he
was behind me. It was odd to see him come out of the coffin like that.
I was wondering if this guy moonlighted as some sort of magician.
“You’re finding the first part of Séance Manor to be too
typical and ordinary. Aren’t you, sir?”
I told Ignatius that I was disappointed because I’m a harsh
critic when it comes to haunted attractions. I’ve basically seen it all
before. I wanted to see something that I’ve never seen. I wanted to see
something I would never forget.
“Please follow me. I promise that what you’re going to see
next will be something you’ve never seen before. I guarantee that it’s
something that you will never forget. It’s all in the last room.”
Ignatius led and I followed. We walked down a long, dark
hallway with two windows. There was one on each side. I head
thunder outside. Then I saw lightning flash twice through the
windows. It didn’t seem like special effects. I think the lightning was
real. Ignatius smiled at me. Then he opened the door that was in front
of us.
“This way, please. You can sit down now.”
It was a séance room. I sat down at the table and looked at, of
all things, a crystal ball. The room was dimly lit. Ignatius closed the
door where we walked in.
“Goodbye.”
The crystal ball lit up. Everything was black except the bright
ball. Then it started to spin. I heard voices in the room. I tried to
listen to what they were trying to say. I couldn’t do it. There were too
many speaking at once. The crystal ball was spinning very fast. Then
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Séance Manor, continued
it began to levitate off the table. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I
started to recognize a face inside of it. It looked like my grandfather.
“It won’t be long. You’ll be with me again soon,” he said.
Then I saw a young boy. It was George. He died when he
was eleven. George and I went to school together. He died in an auto
accident.
“You’ve lived a much longer life then I did. No one lives
forever, Billy.”
The ball kept spinning faster and faster. Then I saw glimpses
of my aunt, my uncle, my cousin. The faces kept making appearances.
There was the secretary where I used to work. There was my old
neighbor. The faces kept appearing. The faces of the dead were
everywhere. Then they all seemed to speak to me at once.
“Be with us….come to us….it won’t be long now………”
The ball floated right in front of me. It had one more thing to
show me. The most important thing it saved for last. Then it showed
me the last face that would appear. It was my face. Only it wasn’t my
face. I was older. My hair was gray. I felt a sigh of relief. I have a few
gray hairs but the image of the man in the ball was completely gray.
Then I disappeared from inside the ball. The ball quickly stopped
spinning and landed gently back on the table. The lights came back on
and Ignatius showed me the exit. In the light, he didn’t look like the
reaper. He looked like a kid in a costume. Ignatius, or whatever his
real name was, smiled at me.
“I hope you had fun tonight. The park doesn’t close for
another hour or so. You should try the upside down rollercoaster.”
I told him that I would and said goodnight. I was too tired to
ride the coaster. I went home and went straight to bed.
The next day I got up and wondered how they did the séance
effects in that haunted house. Do they get pictures from your friends
and family? Did one of my friends play some sort of trick on me?
That was the scariest haunted house I’ve ever walked inside in my
life.
I was starting to realize that I was obsessed with this haunted
house. I thought about it all the next morning. I thought about it
when I ate breakfast, I thought about it when I was in the shower. I
didn’t think about when I was shaving. I could only think about my
reflection in the mirror then. I looked and saw the reflection of a man
whose hair had suddenly become completely gray.

by David Kempf, ’07