First they ask for a coffin size, then leave visitors to roam single file through a haunted funeral home that hides a disturbing butcher shop.
Sponsored by Townsquare Media and Laser Skin Center, The Main Avenue Mortuary in Northport welcomes Halloween with Tuscaloosa’s first haunted house in four years. Tickets are $15 with part of the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club of West Alabama.
The coordinators of the house are skilled and experienced in the haunting business. Brenda Ewart, the live event manager, operated Tuscaloosa’s previous haunted house, the Fright Factory. Ewart has been preparing the house since July to give locals a good scare worth their time and money. She said she feels Tuscaloosa deserves a good quality haunted house since there is not one nearby.
“It’s not fair that we have to drive to Birmingham,” Ewart said. “We have three universities here and they deserve a place that they can get to and not have to drive 45 minutes to an hour and pay almost $30 to go through it.”
This is not a haunted house thrown together with little thought. The creative director, Cody Miner, has been designing haunted houses since 1997. The tour takes visitors through various rooms with different scares. New technology such as an odor machine with settings including “rotting flesh” and “death” gives the tour a sensory experience. There are also video and animatronics incorporated within the Victorian house. Miner said he likes to think of things to disturb people. He said he loves to see them come out crying and laughing and shocked, knowing they were entertained.
“I like to mess with people’s heads,” Miner said.
About 25 volunteers help the haunted house each night. Actors from the University’s theatre department, Tuscaloosa Theater and high school drama clubs dress up in destroyed clothes and gruesome make-up to pop out unexpectedly at visitors. The volunteers are not told prior to the hours before opening where they are going to be. Although they have to stay in position, they can choose to be more conservative or horrific depending on their comfort levels.
Daniel Phadke, a freshman majoring in biology, is one of the actors for the house in association with Circle K International, a club that does service work around Tuscalooosa. Phadke’s first time working the house will be next week, but he said he has enjoyed getting to know new people and having some Halloween fun.
“I like Halloween because it’s the one day you’re supposed to be someone else. Usually you have a set role in life but it’s the one night you can change who you are in every way,” Phadke said.
Kassidy Beum, a senior at Fayette County High School, was bent over panting after running out of the house Friday night.
“I was not expecting anything that bad,” Beum said.
Not a frequent haunted house visitor, Michelle Coviello, a junior majoring in hospitality management, went through the house not knowing what to expect.
“I was expecting either really scary or not at all,” she said. “I laughed a lot, but it was good. I would recommend it to people. It’s a fun thing to do for Halloween.”
