Haunted house event brings new chills to Halloween

Although Halloween is traditionally a major holiday in Juneau, local opportunities for a good scare tend to be few and far between. There's the kids-oriented haunted house at Nugget Mall - great for kids but too mild for most over 4 feet. There are classic horror movies at the cinemas around town. And then there's always a fairly frightening after-hours crowd to contend with if you venture downtown. But as for real-live, nail-biting, heart-pounding scares, there aren't that many opportunities.

But fear-o-philes take note: New this year is a haunted house event geared toward older kids and adults, one that promises to deliver "the scariest night of your life."

So scary, in fact, that posters describing the event caution that it may not be suitable for pregnant women or those with heart conditions. Jackie Wagner, one of the event's organizers, said that has more to do with the participants' physical safety than their emotional stability.

"We have to be cautious," she said. "It's dark. There is the potential for a couple sessions to become slippery. So those kinds of (warnings) are in there not necessarily because we're going to scare a person so bad that they'll have a heart attack, but because they'll be in a really confined space with limited visibility."

Organized by Juneau-Douglas High School students and local Americrops volunteers, the Reign of Darkness haunted house runs from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Juneau Arts Culture Center. Tickets are $7 at the door, $5 in advance (through Friday). Proceeds go to the local chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions, and is sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

Wagner, an Americorps volunteer and local coordinator of SADD, said she and other organizers felt the event was something Juneau was lacking on Halloween.

"I'm from Michigan, and (haunted houses) are a really big thing where I'm from," she said.

So she and about 35 others began plotting to make it happen, back in May, ordering props and costumes and working on concepts. They've designed a house of eight rooms, each with its own theme and team of volunteer horror-makers, with connecting hallways in between. The crew plans to finish building the structure Friday.

"We've made all the props and we've got the layout designed, all we have to do is put up the walls and fill it with everything we have," she said.

Though some themes will be familiar to haunted house veterans, she said the organizers tried to keep the frights unexpected.

"The overriding theme is everyday reality - but where everybody's trying to kill you," she said.

If all goes well the team plans to make it an annual event.

Wagner said the organizers are dissuading people from bringing small children; tweens, teens and adults are the intended audience.

The less brave will be encouraged to learn that if they get cold feet after they've already entered the house, there is an out: Those who become too scared to continue can yell "mercy" and they will be quickly escorted to the nearest exit.

Then they will be directed to go wait for their friends alone in the dark outside.