Haunted house starts scares tonight
Haunted house starts scares tonight
Corners reveal unexpected surprises
MOSES LAKE — A little girl sitting alone in a toy room. Monsters in camouflage. Demented runway models.
The 10th annual Nightscare Production haunted house starts scaring tonight at 7 p.m. at the Grant County Fairgrounds.
"I've had some of the biggest 'bad boys' drop to their knees in this house," said Casting Director Woody Rowley.
From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., younger children can get their thrills, but after that, the haunted house is recommended for those 12 and older.
"We put more of the blood out, the actors get a little closer," Rowley said.
Adults are $4, and children 12 and under are $3. Visitors can receive a dollar discount by bringing in a can of food, which benefits the Soap Lake and Royal City food banks. The haunted house is not recommended for anyone under 7 years old. Nightscare President Randy Reynolds said a day care is available for those with younger children.
Without giving away all the details, rooms include scenery from "Saw II" and "13" Ghosts. There are 15 rooms total.
Youth design the sets, one of which is a room of runway models.
"They had enough of modeling and not being able to eat and they're kind of hungry," said Rowley, who has worked on haunted houses for the past 18 years. Rowley is one of the founders of Nightscare Production, a non-profit organization. Before that, he worked with Scare Productions in Seattle. Actors from Scare Production's troupe intend to come to Moses Lake and scare visitors of the haunted house, Rowley said. Scare Productions gave Nightscare its first walls for its haunted house.
About 4,000 to 5,000 people walked through its doors last year. Groups are kept small so the surprises remain surprises for everyone. A running contest among actors is to see who can make an adult pee their pants first. Last year, 12 adults actually did so.
"I've had adult men we've had to take out of this house because they're so scared," Rowley claims.
Rowley said he provides two acting classes each year, which volunteer actors in the haunted house are required to complete. Set ideas must be approved by the Nightscare Production board. This year, the haunted house combined themes from the past 10 years.
"It gives them something to be proud of," he said of the youth who design the sets. Rowley conducts grade checks to make sure they are performing well in school.
Sharon Reynolds, who runs the concession stand and whose husband is Randy Reynolds, remembered when her 10-year-old son started acting in the house. Sharon Reynolds played a crazy house wife.
"I hit the table, and then he'd pop out," Reynolds said.
Her other son played a patient in an insane asylum when he was 3 years old. Both are still involved with the haunted house.
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