screamhollowtx-blog

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How scary are we? So scary that we're in the top 25 Haunted houses in the US, and one of only two in Texas! Don't believe us? We dare you to come see for yourself! Thanks @buzzfeed

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September thoughts with our owner: Norm

“Finally this week marks some awesome fall weather for Central Texas! Mid 80's with 60 at night! The Halloween season is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. When you think about it, it marks a new beginning with the new season! A new season of crops, new start of school, new weather, and pumpkin everything! Well...seems like Pumpkin and Hatch Chile everything here in Texas! As a kid growing up, I loved Halloween! The idea that I could dress up and become anything I wanted to be for a night. No limits, no boundaries, just a celebration! I invite everyone to step outside their box and be whatever they want to be this Halloween season! Above all find a way to get out of the house and celebrate the new season! Austin is rich in Halloween celebrations! Downtown Sixth Street festivals, haunted houses, corn mazes, scary movies, hoodies, and hayrides await! A long time ago I heard a quote about celebrating your victories no matter how big or how small! The fall season is a victory! Fall is here and I'm so ready to celebrate with Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin coffee in hand and Blue Moon Pumpkin Wheat beer in the fridge!”

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Our hearts go out to those who are suffering in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. We are so proud of our many crew members who have donated their time, money, and supplies to help those who are putting their lives back together. We were very fortunate that the storm did very little damage to our haunts. We have been getting inquires about changes to our season and we wanted to let you know that there have been no changes to our schedule. Scream Hollow Haunt Season begins September 15 and we will be open all scheduled days. Check out screamhollow.com for the complete calendar and we will see you soon!

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In 2 weeks (& 2 days) Scream Hollow unveils new 4th Haunted House, "Wicked Darkness the Maze". We dare you to enter the mouth of the abandoned cave of Wicked Darkness and find your way out! Can you survive areas of complete darkness? dead ends? Multiple paths? Creepy crawly critters lurking above you! Come see what ancient rituals have cursed this cave! Not to worry, you are not alone in the darkness! They will find you!

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Hey sinners

Y’all deserve to know which layer of Hell you’re going to

Take the Dante’s Inferno test here and tag your results so we can find out who sins the hardest

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Appreciation post

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if someone tells me it’s too early to be excited for Halloween I will throw a jack-o-lantern in their face

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IS IT HALLOWEEN YET

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Let the creatures out at the #bastrophomecoming and took #firstplace in the parade! #bastroptx #hauntedhouse #halloween2017 #whosready

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👻🎃🖤

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Apriljean aka “Adella” ticket taker of Mansion of Terror

I have been a fan of horror and Halloween for as long as I can remember. In 1979, Stephen King's Salem's Lot aired on ABC. I was about 4. I remember sneaking out of bed and hiding behind my grandmother's chair to watch. It scared the hell out of me and I had nightmares of crosses burning into flesh for nights to come. I was hooked. Instead of forbidding me from horror, my grandmother fed that love. We watched The Birds, The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both the 1950's version and the 1970's version). King Kong in 3D and Joe Bob Brigg's Monstervision? Yes, please. I LOVED Halloween. We had a special box in the storage shed with all the old jointed skeletons, black cats, witch faces and jolly pumpkins. Right about mid August is when I would start pestering my grandma and grandpa to pull out the box! Of course, mid-August was too early and they would fight me off till about the last week of Sept. All the Gurley candles with a scent I still associate with Halloween, black and orange crepe streamers, all the window  cut outs were enthusiastically unboxed. I was in heaven. Don't get me wrong, I adored Christmas, but there was just SOMETHING about Halloween.

Fast forward to having kids of my own. I started them on horror movies pretty young. Halloween was a big production for us, and my kids really enjoyed it (not quite as obsessed as I was at their age, but that was alright). We started our driveway haunts. Fun little productions with costumes and a home made cemetery, fog machines. It would get bigger every year and I began to try my hand and making our own props and I wasn't too bad at it. But the kids grew up and flew the nest. My last year to do my driveway haunt with the help of my kids and their friends was 2014. I was pretty disappointed cause I knew I could never do it all by myself. Then I caught wind from 365 Bastrop that there was a new professional haunt coming to Bastrop county and they needed HELP! Sign me up. I contacted Norm Glenn via email and expressed my interest and he invited me out to see what was going on. That following Saturday I drove out to the property, parked my car and, feeling extremely self conscious as I was wandering around with a broken rib, proceeded to go through the gates. And, suddenly, I was home. There were skeletons everywhere. Body parts, an old mansion erected in the back where I could see, GENUINE coffins!! It was March or April and pretty warm out, but there was "Halloween" every where I looked. After a tour of the 3 haunts (that were still very much taking shape) I tried my hand at some ladder climbing, but that didn't go over very well with my mending ribs. Norm said not to worry that there were SO many ways to help and to just keep coming out when I could. And that's how it started.

I made some great friends right off the bat. Since I couldn't climb the ladders, I would help the folks who were up on the ladders by being the tool gopher so they didn't have to keep going up and down and saving time. We put up wall coverings, distressed walls, marked sections for holes, visited and joked and just had fun. Norm had approached me about painting the tables in our safe zone, and painting sayings for patrons to read while they enjoyed a little safe respite from the haunts. So I began to look up different demons and sayings that would fit in with the haunt. The goal was to make it as detailed as we could in every aspect. From sayings and definitions to spells and Ouija Board outlines, the tables came together. As it got closer to Season Grand Opening, Norm told me I could be a ticket taker. I was A-OK with that because I thought he meant taking or selling tickets to get IN to the park. Nope, he wanted me in costume and taking tickets at the door of the Mansion of Terror. And terror is just what I felt. I had never acted before! Even in my own driveway haunts I was the "Woman Behind the Curtain" so to speak. But, it's for Halloween! So I said "I can do this."

I began to try getting a costume together, and a story in my head. I wanted to be able to tell the rules of the haunt in a way that would make me part of the horror I was sending them into. So I began to research the story that had already been written. It was a great story and it incorporated the very land that it sat upon. From tales of settlers and Native Americans, the Texas Revolution, it really incorporated the history of the area. Through some dark force of fate, Adella had been called to the area to help the creatures, the demons, the Devil, himself to grow their strength in both sacrifice and souls. And her story developed, she built the orphanage to take in the children who were left behind due to the death of their parents, be it the war, the Indian raids or simply disease. I wrote myself a little guide of what I should say and practiced for a few weeks before opening. And the time came for the curtain to go up! For the first few groups of patrons to go through, I would guess that I was as scared as the patrons were! But after a little while, I began to relax, I let the identity of the costume creep forward. And then I got my first real scare. A young lady of about 20 or 21 broke down and needed to leave my front room during my speech and suddenly I knew... I was addicted to the scare!

I think one of the things I enjoy the most is the team effort. No ideas are stupid. You throw out some kooky idea you're thinking of and 10 or 15 other people latch on to it and figure out if we can make it work and how to make it bigger and better. This year is no exception. The whole park is a collaboration of all of the great minds that work on it. There is blood (real and fake), sweat (oh lots of sweat!) and tears. There's screams and laughter. And when it's all over we're ready to start again, making it bigger and better than it was the year before. And I just can't wait.

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First photo reminds me of our very own character.... maybe we should get a posse of them?

❈ Grim Aesthetics ❈

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All. Year. Round.