With Halloween fast approaching, I'm reminded of a particularly funny day in my life, and I thought it would be fun to share it with the world. About 8 years ago, my volleyball team was involved in a fundraising activity. We agreed to work one night at the local Six Flags amusement park for "Fright Fest" and donate our earnings to the team. We were asked to dress all in black and work in either the haunted house or the outdoor hayride through the woods. Most of us had to make sure scary things jumped out at just the right time by pushing a button or releasing a rope, and the rest of us had to don scary masks and jump out at people. I was unfortunate enough to get the "jump out and scare people" gig at the haunted hayride.
Three of us were led to an area in the hayride that was set up as an abandoned spooky gas station complete with rusty cars, and special lighting and fog effects. We were told that the hayride would be coming along every 5 minutes or so, and that our job was to hide and then jump out and roar ferociously as the wagon passed. We were also instructed not to actually touch the wagon. No problem. I put on my mask, and we all hide.
Wagon #1 comes along, and first time jitters get the best of us. We hold our positions and giggle.
Wagon #2 comes along, and the three of us jump out and roar. One small child screams. Mission accomplished.
Wagon #3 comes along full of teenagers. We jump out and roar. Not a single scream, and someone says, "Is that supposed to be scary?" Someone else says, "Are those girls?"
By this time it is starting to rain. Did I mention were were outside?
Wagons #5 -10 are uneventful. A couple of screams. My roaring is improving, and I've even got a great lumbering monster skipping thing down. But, I'm wet now, and it's starting to get cold.
Wagon #11. I'm a little late on the scare, so I have to run a bit to get to the wagon. I slip on the way there, my feet fly up over my head, and I land flat on my back in a puddle of mud. Needless to say there were no screams out of this wagon. Just howls of laughter as it passed by.
Fast forward a few wagons. By this time we are cold and wet, muddy, disheartened, and starting to lose our voices. Wagon #15 comes along. It's another wagon full of cynical teenagers. I gather up my pride, and let out a ferocious roar. Someone laughs and yells, "You Suck!," and at this point I lose it a little bit. I like to think I was just really into my character. Anyway, something ignites in me and I run and jump up onto the wagon (definitely breaking a few rules by now), and the teenagers all scream and run to the front of the wagon. Even the driver is a little frightened. Well, they paid money to be scared didn't they? After this, we decide it's probably best to call it a night and we abandon the abandoned gas station.
So, if you go on a haunted hayride this Halloween, remember that those people are working very hard to scare you, and you might want to let out a little courtesy scream. It might just make their night...or at the very least, keep them from completely losing it.
3 comments:
omg...I have tears rolling down my face....this really has me going
Hey Melissa~It's been forever, but I found your blog on Ally's, and I am crying at this entry. I am the girl who nearly faints from the fear of being in one of these places and the scary people feed off me. Hope you don't work at one near me this year. HA!
Pelt - Bree called me hysterically laughing after reading this post. I couldn't even understand what she was saying. All I heard was blog - since she was laughing so hysterically, I ran to the computer and looked up Bree's blog thinking she must have posted something funny on it. But, there were no new posts. So, I called Bree back - by this time she had calmed down enough to tell me it was YOUR blog that she was laughing so hard at.
I would have paid money to see you jump in that trailor. I can't imagine you doing that!
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