The
Haunted Theatre on Hill Street is located in the small town of Griffin,
Georgia. This event is limited to
approximately six nights each haunt season and is held to benefit the Griffin
Ballet Theatre. The group responsible
for this haunt is a tightknit group of people who are passionate about the arts
an about haunting. They love what they
do and are all volunteers, even the management.
Each year they choose two of their nights to break from whatever theme
that they have chosen to present and do special events. One night will have a unique theme
change. In the past that particular
night has been zombie night, vampire night, and carnival night. Each of those takes its own special twist
upon whatever they are already presenting.
Their other special event night is a tradition for them and still
manages to use their yearly theme. They
present one night in which all of the lights within the haunt are turned
out. On this particular night you
traverse the basement haunt in complete darkness…well, maybe not complete, they
might give you a glow stick or the world’s worst flashlight if they have any
available. This year we have learned of
an upcharge choice that you could also make.
The regular admission is $7, but if you want to pay $10 you can go in
alone and leave your friends behind to fend for themselves.
The
location of the haunt is a wonder in and of itself. The event is held in the basement of Studio D
Dance on Hill Street in downtown Griffin.
The aged location adds a lot of character to the event itself, but them
you add to it the ideas which are created within the space and it can become
quite spooky. The space is normally used
as costume and prop storage for the ballet, however for a short time each year
the haunt team is permitted to move things around and get creative. They have constructed walls and sets to make
the environment as different from its normal life as possible, though it is not
entirely able to hide what lies beyond.
In some cases, what you may see past their sets might be creepier than
what you would expect to find there, and this could be a good thing.
Many
years they have guests who pay for their tickets and still can’t quite seem to
make it to the actual haunt. This could
be owed to the long and narrow hallway which you must walk down before opening
the basement door to the stairs. When
you see the stairs you can understand why others may have backed out and forfeited
the cost of their admission. The walls
are pealing and crumbling, the ceiling is sloping down, and the stairs make an
abrupt left turn which prevents you from knowing anything at all about what you
are going to walk into. The unknown is often a huge fear for guests,
and this alone can be enough to stop them in their tracks. If you go, don’t be surprised to find people
exiting through the entrance who can’t bring themselves to make that one turn.
The
actual haunt is very short, but for $7 and for charity you really can’t expect
more. Their space is limited and provided
to them freely, so again, beggars can’t be choosers. There are usually anywhere from six to ten
rooms or unique spaces within the event, and they encompass a variety of scenes
are scares.
This
year their theme was Bayou in the Basement.
With this concept they attempted to bring the swamp and its inhabitants
to Griffin for a visit. In doing so you
may encounter fiercely protective Cajun families, swamp monsters, voodoo
priestesses, mausoleum maniacs, and redneck friends. The characters are often well planned and
thought out. The gentlemen who greeted
us when we entered what appeared to be his bayou home did so with a rifle and a
little attitude. He maintained his
character and was so good at his acting that we might easily have been
convinced that he would use that gun on us if we had been the general
public. At some points we questioned
whether the gun was there to scare us out or to protect him from what else lay
beyond his home.
Within
the swamp there are trees, creatures, and people who will interact with
you. The floor beneath your feet even
changes as you enter and exit the swamp, so be aware that things are not always
as they appear. You will need to able to
handle at least two sets of stairs and a long alley which may hold your doom if
you choose to enter this haunt, so be forewarned about what physical
expectations are made upon you when you enter.
Nothing is dangerous about it, but it certainly helps to know that
stairs are involved and there is no way to avoid them.
When you
meet the country man’s daughters please feel free to get to know them if you
dare. They are highly interactive and
will try to keep you around if they can persuade you to stay. They may have a little something they want to
sell you, but sometimes you just have to make the best out of a crappy
situation (and they are sure trying to).
There
are a lot of great things which can be said about this haunt and we encourage
everyone to visit (we saw that Leonard Pickel recently visited!). Every cent that they raise through this event
is for a good cause and their actors are well aware of the need to scare or
entertain so that you get your money’s worth out of the experience. We rate The Haunted Theatre on Hill Street
3.25 severed heads out of a possible five and wish them much luck in their
fundraising this year and in the future.
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