User blog:Affectos/Haunts of the Past

As the Halloween season decends upon us, a ghost of the past arises on the wikia: Affectos'....

Okay, seriously though, Garr finally figured out how to stream and we watched a few of the WH13 specials which re-ignited a small flame in me.

So, today I come bearing a few concepts and ideas that for artifacts tying into the season. I'll be avoiding the obvious horror film landmarks and going for more original concepts that might not have gotten their fair spotlight: Horror Attractions.

Alton Tower's Hex -- Legend of the Towers
This was what kicked it off for me: how an English theme park used an existing Urban Legend and made a horror ride that is still in operation today.

The story is


 * The legend goes that on an autumn night Earl of Shrewsbury was returning to his home at Alton Towers when an old woman suddenly appeared in the road. The coach stopped to find why she was there, and then the old woman begged for a coin. The Earl cruelly dismissed her, so the old woman placed a curse on him. The old woman said, "For every branch on the Old Oak Tree here that falls, a member of the Earl’s family will die." The Earl dismissed this and carried on his way.


 * The same night a violent storm caused a single branch from the old oak tree to break and fall. Later that same night, a member of the Earl’s family suddenly and mysteriously died.


 * Now firmly believing the power of the curse, Earl ordered his servants to chain every branch together to prevent other branches from falling. To this day, the Oak tree remains chained up

Now, the story of the ride is that the Earl collected the fallen branch and stored it in a secret vault where he experimented on it. The Vault would be sealed and put behind a bookcase, only to be found centuries later by researchers who have gone in to explore.

The ride is already unique as it uses existing urban legends as well as Alton Tower's castle itself for the entrace to the ride, creating a seemless facade. Moreover, when the ride's life span is over, it'll be removed and no evidence of the ride should exist on the property.

You easily could have the ride using said fallen branch as an artifact

Terror on Church Street
We know that themeparks this time of year deck out their parks with the halloween motif and seasonal haunted houses, but the sort of grandmaster/granddaddy of them all had to be Terror on Church Street.

This was a year-round horror attraction in downtown Orlando that had a high level of detail and used sensory elements to enhance scares while not relying on blood and guts. Where as most haunted houses are staffed by volunteers, the Terror on Church Street was seen more as a theater production who put work into the settings, costumes, and even using high-quality makeup talent and skill.

Sadly, the group closed when Disney and Universal opened their own late-night entertainment in the form of Pleasure Island and City Walk, taking their customer base.

Universal Halloween Horror Nights/Jack The Clown
While Terror on Church Street might have had production, Universal turns out has a massive LORE when it comes to their Halloween Horror Nights with reoccuring characters, plots, and a lot more, with Jack the Clown/PsychoScarepy being a long running element. (There's also apparently a lore to the concept of the Horror Nights dealing with an ancient Sumerian god possessing Universal Staff....look, if you have the time, you can look it up yourself)

Basically you have Jack the Clown who has appeared for years in the park and has his backstory, but it's interesting to note that a lot of the years have had some sort of overarcing plot to the haunted houses, sometimes including the ones based on IPs.

An example would be 2011's 'Your Luck Has Run Out' where a twisted version of Lady Luck appears in some way in all the attractions, tempting people to gamble on their fate; Then there was 'Reflections of Fear' where you had the attractions tying into to a muder of Bloody Mary, her granddaughter, and the revenge through having people face their fears in twisted ways.

For all three ideas, Theme Park Expedition on YouTube has videos on all three (Jack the Clown specifically for the last one).