Photo by Damani Edgington
Julien Wolford (left) gets acquainted with a terrifying lurker of the MAACabre Haunted Attraction (Shawn Hughes) on Friday, Oct. 13 at the MAAC Foundation in Valparaiso, Ind.
A survivor’s tale of the MAACabre Haunted Attraction
By Julien Wolford
Staff writer
VALPARAISO, Ind. – Debra deserved it. We watched her die in the colorful room while the furious magician impaled her. She joined the rest of the dead that haunted Bogathy Fright Productions’ MAACabre Haunted Attraction on Friday, Oct. 13.
At that point in our journey, we couldn’t even be sure if her untimely demise was real or not. Maybe all of this was fake, a hallucination created to haunt our dreams.
We were first told about the chemical spill by one of the infected, or at least someone whose brain was affected by the radioactive gas. He and his family resided in a bus, and for a short time he offered guidance to us, advising us not to breathe it in.
We were rushed into another room, where a scientist of some sort informed us about the gas, telling us about how it robbed innocent people of their sanity. If we breathed in the nuclear gas, we’d be forced to reach the end of the attraction where we’d supposedly receive the antidote.
After we knew the essentials, we rushed into a room, keeping ourselves as quiet as possible so as to not disturb the infestation of roaming monsters and creatures. We were greeted with an eerie silence that built great suspense. The air grew tense as we waited for the next scare.
While we crept through the compact room, the dead silence was interrupted by a loud banging against the metal cages. Screams erupted from everyone in the group and we rushed out of the room.
We went through a few other frightening areas before we reached the room with the magician and Debra. When we first entered the room, I looked in awe at the colorful scenery before the magician and his assistant began their scene.
He started off by saying he ordered a box off of Temu and he was going to perform the “sword box” magic trick with his annoying assistant, Debra. The magician explained to us that she was watching his dog one time, and when he got home all that was left was an empty food bowl and the dog’s leash.
She climbed into the box and was tragically impaled by her (un)trustworthy partner in magic. She fell to the floor, her death evidence not to order things off Temu.
The magician ordered us to go through the door with the big question mark on it. We did what we were told, and went through the door into the darkness. We made our way through the dark and we saw a group of clowns yanking and pulling onto the bars of a cell. One of the bars snapped and immediately the clowns all ganged up on one of their own.
We ran out of the room and into a hallway that looked like it led outside. But a 6-foot-7 scare actor appeared with a knife in hand, so we ran for our lives as we screamed at the top of our lungs. By the time we got outside, my throat hurt from all the screaming I’d done.
Just when we thought it was over, we heard the sound of a chainsaw drawing closer, and we ran as fast as we could away from the danger.
As horrifying as it had been to feel the chill through my bones, I was sad when it was all over. By the time we turned the corner and saw the concession stand, I was ready to do it all over again.
The Truth from the Youth staff contributed its experience to this report.