By LINDSAY ALEXANDER
Darkness descends, hordes of possessed people lurk, screams fill the air, and someone with a bloody face just ran past. Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream is returning for its 13th year. Themed, The Dark Side of the Gardens, the motif returns from last year, but creators say it is not the same.
“It really isn’t [the same thing]. We are kind of doing a sequel to the dark side of the Gardens. Last year you met the Lady in White; this year you meet the Trickster. You’re meeting more and more of the family. It’s the same name to keep the story going. It is not the same event,” Alex Crow, Show Manager of Consumer Events, said.
Trickster’s antics carry throughout the park. Crow says Trickster is the guest at a party who throws the pie, lets the food fight unfold and then walks away smiling. One of the scare houses has an electrical shortage. It could have been a storm, or Trickster could have played with a few wires.
There are seven haunted houses. The two new houses are Blood Asylum and Circus of Superstition. In Blood Asylum, a serial killer escapes his cell and begins murdering residents of the Oglethorpe Asylum. The other new house, Circus of Superstition 3D, showcases 13 different superstitions. Beginning with the entrance under an A-frame ladder, guests must conquer their fears as they walk through the house.
The five returning houses are Ultimate Gamble, which must be navigated using only a flashlight and is startling to walk through even during the day; Night Shade Toy Factory, where hired “scare-ers” resemble mutated toys; Nevermore, recreating works of Edgar Allen Poe; Zombie Mortuary, which was the most popular house last year according to Crow; and Alone. Since Alone is experienced by small groups of one to four people, how many people get in each night is limited. According to Crow, Alone has sold out every single night of its creation.
“[Alone] torments me because you’re by yourself or you’re in a very small group. It is one of the only houses [where] you can be locked into a room and our actors control when you get out. That’s really tormenting,” Crow said.
The houses prey upon the senses. “Scent boards” are used to make the opening of a house smell like blood or trash. Synthetic darkness is created with strobe lights. When a strobe light flashes, the pupil is constricted and as one walks into the next room, it will appear even darker than the one prior.
However, guests looking for a scare are not confined solely to houses because 18 roaming hordes made up of 260 performers will fill the streets of the Gardens, looking for people to scare.
Scott Swenson, the Creative Director who has been working with Howl-O- Scream since it first began in 2000, says Howl-O-Scream producers always try to listen to their guests.
“Our guests tell us one thing very simply: They want to be scared. That is our goal. We will try everything we possibly can to terrify you,” Swenson said.
Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream opening weekend was Friday and Saturday, Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 from 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Howl-O-Scream is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night following Sept. 22 through Oct. 27. For more information, visit http://www.howloscream.com
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