Haunted Forest screams into 1999
Mount Pleasant's Haunted Forest will scare the community for its 14th year from Wednesday until Friday on a dark and scary trip through Mission Creek Woodland Park.
The Haunted Forest is always a large community event that brings out many scare-worthy students and community members, said Christine Graybeal, Mount Pleasant Parks and Recreation Special Events Coordinator.
She said the event started as a one-night event that attracted 500 visitors and has now turned into a three-night affair that caps out at 3,000 visitors.
"With the three nights that we have they're packed. Over 3,000 people is our capacity for the nights we do," Graybeal said.
The Haunted Forest consists of a one-third mile trail through the woods with 10 to 12 "scare stations," each with a different frightening theme, Graybeal said. Groups of 10 to 12 participants are led through the trail by a volunteer while holding onto a rope.
Graybeal said they try to add new scare stations each year, but also maintain the previous years'. Visitors will be scared by environments such as a cemetery, the castle of doom and the big top of horror.
"It's usually a couple of hours affair. But it's usually 15-20 minutes of being scared," Graybeal said.
Graybeal said the Haunted Forest is for mature audiences only.
"There are lots of things that kids would have nightmares about," Graybeal said.
The scary atmosphere is furthered by frightening sounds, provided by one of the event's sponsors, WCFX 95.3 FM, Graybeal said. The radio station provides all of the music and sound effects in the forest as well as supplying volunteers and doing live spots during the event.
The Haunted Forest is completely volunteer-run. The Mount Pleasant Department of Parks and Recreation spends a couple thousand dollars on improvements each year, but other than that, all admission fees go to community improvements, Graybeal said.
The $5 admission will be used to support a new community recreation project to be determined after the event, Graybeal said. In the past they have used the money to build a new playground.
The playground project, which is one of many, and the Haunted Forest is made possible because of the support of over 100 nightly volunteers, Graybeal said. She estimates over 95 percent of volunteers are CMU students.
Parking for the event will begin at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m. Shuttles will begin taking participants to the Forest at 6:15 p.m. and tours will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Parking is available only at Pickard Place. Visitors can find Pickard Place by traveling north on Mission Street and turning left onto Pickard Street. Then travel west on Pickard Street and turn right onto Harris Street. Pickard Place is on the southeast corner of Pickard and Harris streets.
