Prepare to be scared!
For more than three decades, members of the GFWC Sebastian River Junior Woman’s Club have been targeting peoples’ fears and this year’s 36th annual Haunted House: Terror on Main Street promises to be more terrifying than ever.
“We don’t have a lot of blood and guts. We do predominantly Alfred Hitchcock mentality,” says Teddy Hulse, public issues chairman. “We mess with what you’re afraid of. We like to play with your psyche; everybody has a phobia.”
The Sebastian River Junior Woman’s Club, formed in 1977, is a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Noting the woman vs. women variance, she explains: “Because we are a member of a group of clubs, the federation is considered the plural and we’re singular. We have the hardest time getting people to put it right.”
But they have no intention of putting anyone’s mind right at the Hunted House – quite the opposite, in fact.
“It’s almost like a terror walk,” says Hulse. “We have different sections.”
The Sebastian United Methodist Church provides them with a vacant field across from the church and volunteers construct the spectacularly scary setting entirely from scratch. Only the ticket booth and storage units have roofs; otherwise, creative “ceilings” in the maze contribute to the creepy claustrophobia.
Hulse explains that “eye candy” – think salt and pepper shakers draped with a rat – are essential to get you to look in a particular direction, adding, “Haunted houses basically work off the philosophy of getting you to look one way and coming in to get you from a different way. Your scare has to be unexpected. You walk past a picture and all of a sudden the picture drops and somebody comes out at you. We’re known to come from above, from the side, below, behind; you never know where we’re coming from. You never know what we’ll do.”
Each room has at least one or two frights, with occasional interaction by performers. “It’s kind of like one big huge theater, moving from scene to scene to scene.”
The main house features a foyer, music room, dining room, conservatory, kitchen, master bedroom, nursery, attic and library, and an expanded “door room” challenges folks to find their way out.
“It’s amazing. It’s just a square but they’ll keep walking around; they can’t find their way out,” she says with a laughs. “We have to have a trip switch that opens the door to get them out of there.”
There is also a western ghost town with storefronts, hangings and a spooky saloon, a ghost mine, graveyard with crypts and a swamp.
Clowns, a phobia shared by 51 percent of the population, will inhabit a new 3-D section. “The 3-D glasses really mess with your vision and your depth perception. If you paint a clown’s face and the nose is 3-D, that clown will literally come out of the wall. His nose will look like it’s right up against yours.”
They suggest children should be 8 or older. They’ll have a quiet spot to entertain little ones with coloring books while their siblings go through.
“It’s not a kiddie haunted house. Usually I work security out front and we can tell right at the door or while they’re standing in line when a child will not make it. Most of the parents are pretty cool about it, but we also have parents that are bound and determined that their child is going to go through.”
To keep them separate from folks who do want to get scared, those children go through in small groups and are given “wimpy sticks” to give performers a head’s up for a toned-down version.
“The minute a kid says they can’t make it through, we pull them out. This is supposed to be fun. It’s not supposed to be where the child has nightmares for the next four weeks. We want people to enjoy themselves.”
Club members, their friends and family members all get involved in some fashion, from construction to event nights and tear-down.
“We live, eat and breathe this thing,” she says of the year-long process.
The Haunted House is the club’s biggest fundraiser and supports their community programs and activities throughout the year, including the upcoming Nov. 4 to 6 Sebastian Clambake Festival, Dec. 3 Christmas festivities at Riverview Park, and Dec. 10 Children’s Arts and Crafts Festival.
