Monday Morons--Haunted Houses

Well, I am always a bit down after Halloween. It is over for the year. I know that it will be back next year, but I didn't get to do all of the stuff that I wanted this year.

I make myself feel better by planning the stuff that I want to do next year and by doing lots of after-holiday shopping.

Not that I'll actually do everything that I imagine next year either.

Anyway, this year I did not do much, because I was out of town a lot. While I was out of town I went to this place. It used to be the location of the Catacombs, but it was bought by the people who run The Beast, after the owner of the Catacombs died in an accident. So, technically, the Chambers of Edgar Allen Poe was a new haunted house, and since I'd never been to the Catacombs I don't know how much was kept of the Catacombs attraction.

I love The Beast, and their other place, The Edge of Hell isn't bad either. Both of them are really big haunted houses in four or five story buildings with giant slides at the end. They can take almost an hour to get through. But my husband didn't really want to go to The Beast again, and he is a bit of a Poe fan, so we went to the Chambers instead.

I like mood lightning in a haunted house, or dim lighting. I'm not a big fan of no lighting, except many for just very small stretches here and there. But I don't like places where you have to feel your way about for very long, and unfortunately all three houses have more of that than I like. But the Chambers was really bad, cause there were several places where you had to step up or down a bit, and the lighting wasn't good enough, and I'd trip or stub my toe or something. Not a lot of fun.

But what was really bad was a small staircase, with only four or five steps, and there was no lighting. Complete darkness. So of course I fell down the whole thing. It felt like a really bad fall. But I got up okay, and nothing appeared to be broken. I got a bad bruise on my knee, and I felt bad for a bit, but not bad enough to go to the hospital or anything.

But I don't get how that happened in the first place. Usually, people go through a haunted house and point out problems like that before a house opens. And that was a major problem that shouldn't have needed anyone pointing out. The neccesity for having proper lighting near stairs should be obvious.

Not nearly as bad is something they have at the Dungeon of Doom in Arlington. At some point you are going through the house, and you step on this turntable thing and fall backwards a bit. Not that you actually fall down, cause even if you lose your balance completely, there's a wall behind you. I've complained about the thing, and I've been told that it's been tested and that no one ever falls down. It's completely safe. Thanks for pointing it out, but there's nothing to worry about.

Which isn't to say that for some of us, it doesn't still hurt.

I haven't been back. I don't like things that intentionally make a person stumble, even if there's no danger of falling and really getting hurt. It is still a very unpleasant feeling.

Besides, I like a bigger haunted house. For an extra five dollars I might as well go to the Boneyard. Unfortunately, I did not go to the Boneyard this year, so I can't comment on their new place. I went a couple of years ago and really liked it. I got some free tickets, went again, and still liked it. They seem to have really bad luck finding locations, and this is their third or fourth place, and I believe they've only been in business for about six years.

Well, if I'm not out of town, I'll be going to see them next year.