Milburn's Haunted Manor

So after our disappointment with the Haunted Woods we went to a more established Haunted Manor that had three different attractions for $20 or $9 each. The three where:
1. the Woods
2. the Darkness
3. the Manor

The Woods was the best one and we laughed and jumped and almost shit our pants all four. They used wires and suspension in a good way as well as the broken room of the trees mixed with small boxed houses that often were pitched dark.

The Darkness was more of an indoor experience where we walked from room to room. It had some disgusting children and a clown but it was clear that this one was not where the focus had been put.

The Manor was the tour that probably had most planning and resources gone in to it. It was of course an indoor experience although it actually lacked a manor and was housed in some kind of tent. It started out with a kind of story when we met an old crone in the hallway. She was creepy enough and then we walked through a number of rooms and corridors with some fancy designs making use of furniture and different levels, although we remained on the same ground level all the time. There where plenty of actors in all three tours as well. In one room a huge Hern-like man took our picture that was sold outside later on.

All in all it was a interesting and fun experience, the woods was the best of the three. I could definitely recommend it if you are looking for a cheesy Halloween experience. The Milburns home page is here.

The Haunted Woods

I got invited to go to a Haunted Wood/House thing/event.
Some people who have a house outside of the urbanized area and probably likes Halloween very much had put together a ghost-walk of sorts.
It consisted of a lady selling tickets in a barn where there where big cages with big bones in them and a small sized dog in one. Then you walked out into the darkness, hearing very horror like and over the top sounds from another barn we where lead to a scene where a car seemed to have crashed down into some marshland and a man in what to me looked like a orange prison jumpsuit stood very still further away. I started thinking that that man was just a scarecrow but I am not sure. When we got closer someone came out of the bushes and started following us. That had a scary effect, but then it all just broke down because all of a sudden there was so many different person lining the path we where on that it felt like a market place or something like that. Then one of the guys who where with us broke it completely by talking loudly about how he would smack anyone who came close to him. That took away much of the fun and he seemed to be having issues. Then a clown showed up with a chainsaw and that was a bit scary, clowns often are, but again to much in to little space. Finally we came to the loud barn where they had built a walk with black plastic bags and where playing loud music: Living dead girl with White Zombie actually, which gave us a bit of a Rave feeling: going out in the dark woods with glow sticks seeing people in strange attire. So we danced the last part of the walk and then we where at the cars again. Not that scary, unfortunately. What was more scary was when we drove to get to the place we went wrong and passed some "no trespassing" signs. Then it felt like that could actually be the tour. Later we where even informed that the neighbour was crazy and had been threatening people.

The Accomplice

We went to experience "the Accomplice" a tour, a game, a show but foremost an experience according to their homepage.
In reality it was an old-school live action role-play. And I mean really old with the exception of no present game-master. But they had everything else: a linear plot, some locations to visit to get clues and meet cast-members who would point you further and give you things.
I will not divulge any parts of the story since I do not want to ruin it for you. But I will tell you some of my experiences and observations.
We bought the 3 last tickets for the tour according to the website. Even so we would have been the only three if 4 Florida girls had not been drinking so hard the night before. But they did and one of them was sick and missed their slot 30 minutes prior so they joined us. This was strange because I would have invited one more friend if we had thought that there was any tickets left which there should have been. Made me think that the tickets left was just a marketing stunt, and a bad one.

Anyway the tour started a few minutes late and it all seamed very out of place, so much so that I thought for a moment that the Florida girls where even part of the story. Everything just went strange very fast. The only people I could trust where my 2 friends. As time progressed we could develop our interactions somewhat but still we parted as strangers. The whole thing was jolly fun and I recommend it. It is not tiresome or hard but the experience is dependent on what you put in. So if you look for something different to do for a couple of hours in NY, LA or London and can pay for it then this is it.

According to the people who makes it there are two more in NY and one each in LA and London.

As far as storytelling goes there where glitches and clichés to go around and I think that it was written under the influence of weed, when to the authors the connections might have made sense. I understood it all, but only in the greater context not as a free standing story because of the faults and holes in the story. Having said that I still think it was great fun and I also think several of the actors did a great job with handling the situation.

Interaction wise you got your fair share. Comparing to most other theatrical activities I would even say that I got a 1000 times as much. Even compared to "Sleep no More" which I wrote about here, this experience is much more interactive. Still for someone with extensive interactive experience this was a bit under-developedand it is easy to understand that more freedom would break their production budget and time frame.

Sleep no more

I went to a theatre called "Sleep no more", which was not a normal theatre but rather a ghost house with actors playing out a 1920-ties version of "the Scottish Play" for those of you who know your Shakespeare and your Black Adder. It is supposed to be a Hotel called the McKiddish and is housed in a five story building with a cellar. You as a visitor and guest are assigned a white mask and implicitly given the role of ghost. You are free to roam the building anywhere and way you might be able to. There are keepers who can stop you and move you at times. And then there are the actors somewhere around 10 or fifteen of them. Acting out their different schemes only rarely with other actors and much more often roaming through the rooms and interacting with the environment. There is also dancing going on when acting out fights and sex. It is an experience, I did like it and was probably most impressed with the surroundings. The actors are good as well. But there is an element missing and that is the interaction. You can of course fiddle around with the stuff and so but you are in no way any ingredient in the story and what happens. There are so called secret rooms to visit, some if not all of which you will be chosen to by one of the actors. Again, I being an interaction designer and a storyteller think there is a missing element in the set up here.
It is quite costly, just shy of a hundred if I am not mistaken, but if you are looking for a different experience this is a good one. If you are in to dancing as well you should definitely go, and if you are a roaring 20-ties guy or gal you should try to get a year long membership.
It is my understanding that the theatre company hail from London where they have set up this and other events like it before so the appearance in NY is surly time limited.
It can also be mentioned that I met a man in the line to get in who had been to the event earlier this week and felt compelled to explore it further. Something I understand very well: it is impossible to follow the whole timeline and see all the actors during the few hours that you have to your disposal.