haunted by twelve year olds

While on our anniversary weekend in Annapolis Royal,  we made one last stop before going home. We spent an afternoon at a nearby amusement park.  Upper Clements Park has many of the classics that one might expect: carousel, roller coaster, pedal boats, ferris wheel . . . and a haunted house.

I was intrigued. This would compensate for my disappointment over the poor timing of the lantern-lit graveyard tour. And being a traditional sort of amusement park, I fully anticipated a traditional sort of haunted house.  Walking up the long, winding path toward the house on the edge of the park, my hopes were encouraged.  Suddenly a house, quite an impressive stone house, came into view. 

There was a hearse parked in front.   And a suitably spooky sign beside the door.   I was certain that this would be the highlight of the park.  I waited to be "summoned" inside.

The door opened . . .

As we walked inside, we were greeted by several teenagers in park staff shirts.  No costumes.  No make-up.  Nothing creepy.  Or at least nothing creepier than a group of teenagers in t-shirts.  Odd, I thought.  But I wasn't deterred.  They were obviously saving the real creepiness for deeper inside the house. 

We were asked to "take a look around upstairs".  As I walked slowly up the dark, narrow, winding staircase to the second floor, I was prepared for anything.  Costumed actors.  A terrifying tableau.  Vague whispers emanating from the darkness. I wasn't prepared, however, for what I actually encountered.

In retrospect, I believe the house must have been there when the property was acquired for the park. It was a beautiful stone structure. Too nice to have been built solely for this purpose.  And I believe the house sat there, unused, until someone had the brilliant idea to turn it into a "haunted house".  And it would have been a brilliant idea indeed.  If they hadn't turned it over to a bunch of twelve year-olds.  Because that was certainly the impression we got as we "explored" the haunted second floor.  Three rooms.  A blood-splattered bathroom.  And two similarly "haunted" bedrooms. One of which was black-lit with a "ghostly" figure in a wedding dress sitting in a rocking chair.

That was the highlight.  We couldn't actually enter the bedrooms. Only look at them from the doorways.  As we moved along to look for more horrors, we were greeted by an EXIT sign.  Which led us past the haunted kitchen/mad scientist's lab, with various saws and axes strewn around.   And finally the group of teenagers in t-shirts that had greeted us when we entered.  We appeared to be disturbing their conversation as we left.

At least the sign was impressive.