A weekend of pumpkins and ghouls

nospam@example.com (NYCP) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:57:46 -0500

As Halloween approaches in less than a week away, people are scrambling for last minute costume ideas and trying to get to the last weekend of horror events or even just breaking at the old horror/ Halloween themed movies at home. So here are some fun filled haunted happenings that kids and adults will enjoy on this last fright fest weekend throughout the state of New York.

Ghosts of Greenwich Village Hunt

Armed with a flashlight, you’ll visit ghost-plagued buildings and secret cemeteries while learning the stories of the restless souls you might disturb. Starring the spirits of Mark Twain, Aaron Burr, Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, Thomas Paine, artist John LaFarge, The Shadow, Clement Clarke Moore, Mayor Jimmy Walker, Lee Chumley, Patrolman Schwartz, a few skeletons and various other apparitions, sudden chills, rustlings and knockings. Tickets are only sold on-line. Family (kid-friendly) and Adult hunts are available. For more information visit www.watsonadventures.com

Nightmare: Bad Dreams Can Come True

For its 5^th anniversary, Psycho Clan decided that NIGHTMARE should actually be about nightmares so, as in years past, it conducted an online poll about its audience’s recurring bad dreams—and thousands responded! The creative team then selected the most twisted, demented responses, added some iconic recurring nightmares, and created a house that will force audiences to experience awake what few can handle asleep. With more special effects, more elaborate sets, and more evil baddies waiting to get you then ever before, NIGHTMARE: BAD DREAMS COME TRUE will bring your worst night terrors to screaming life.

CSV Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street @ Rivington, 212-929-2963, www.hauntedhousenyc.com

Boo at the Zoo

Celebrate a New York Halloween tradition! October weekends are packed with activities, including magic shows, spooky stories, costume parades, and musical hayrides. Best of all, come visit with our bats, cats, and creepiest critters. Also enjoy this special offer: One child in Halloween costume will receive a free child’s limited admission ticket with the purchase of one full price adult limited admission ticket.

The Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Boulevard – Bronx, 718-220-5100, www.bronxzoo.com

Amazing Maze

Enjoy getting lost in our 3-acre interactive corn maze. The adventure begins with a stalk talk to prepare you for the challenge of finding clues, solving puzzles and making your way out of the maze. To add to the adventure join us for Maze By Moonlight on Saturday October 18th and 25th when the maze will be open until 9:00 p.m. Feel up to the challenge? Then join us for the fun of getting lost and loving it!

Queens Farm County Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Parkway – Queens, 718-347-3276, www.queensfarm.org

Central Park Pumpkin Sail & Prospect Park Haunted Walk

Charles A. Dana Discovery Center (Inside the Park at 110th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues)?Enjoy spooky storytelling, pumpkin crafts, live saw music, yummy candy, and New York City’s largest pumpkin flotilla! Bring your own 5lb to 10lb jack-o’-lantern by 6:00 pm to participate in the pumpkin sail. For more information, call 212-860-1370 or visit www.centralparknyc.org

Prospect Park Is Haunted! ?The beloved Halloween Haunted Walk is back and scarier than ever! Lurking high on Lookout Hill are zombies, wolf men, headless horsemen, good and bad witches, and other creepy characters. Visitors brave enough to experience this harrowing hike should head to Lookout Hill. The Halloween Haunted Walk is suitable for young children accompanied by parents/guardians or older siblings. ??There’s also a carnival on the Nethermead featuring all kinds of fun, games, seasonal treats, and a puppet parade. Begin at Prospect Park Southwest and 16th St. The Haunted Walk and Carnival is open to all and completely free of charge. For more information visit www.prospectpark.org

Blood Manor

Blood Manor unveils eight newly themed horror experiences, dozens of cutting-edge animatronics and scores of state-of-the-art props. Featuring the I Scream Parlor, the immediate chill you feel is intensified while battling the terrifying elements of the Thunderdome: a fierce electrical storm complete with pounding rain, howling winds and blinding lightning. You’ll squeal like a hog and your only escape is through Skull Alley, the petrifying path is bathed in UV light, which is utterly shocking as it envelops you. Duck into the Boiler Room where scalding hot steam emits from the pipes and smoke abounds in this dismal underground passageway. Make your way through this psycho superintendent’s lair quickly or you may wind up looking like one of the charred bodies. Show off your new coif while staggering down the all-new, electrifying 3-D maze, experience sensory overload as she-demons, creatures, zombies, spiders and other unidentifiable beings take note of your presence and breathe down your neck. There are a total of nineteen environments - each with its own creepy digital sound effects that will make your heart skip a beat. Blood Manor, 542 West 27^th Street (between 10^th & 11^th Ave.), 212-290-2825, www.bloodmanor.com

Outside NYC

Jack O Lantern Blaze & Legend

Take a day or night trip up north out of the city where many spooky legends began. Entering its 4^th year, the Jack O lantern blaze features more than 4,000 individually hand carved pumpkins that will illuminate at night. Visitors wander through the dark woods of artistic displays of jack o lanterns with different themes and landscapes. Meanwhile, at Legend, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow still lives and the Headless Horseman still rides in the night. Lit by only lanterns and bonfires, visit the haunted landscape of ghosts and goblins coming back to life. Tickets are sold only on-line and are often sold out. So purchase as far in advance as possible. For tickets and more information visit www.hudsonvalley.org

Forest Of Fears

Now in its final weekend, here is another reason to get out of the city and head into an actual forest about an hour up north from NYC. Featuring the Slaughterhouse that has 26 rooms of fear, The Cemetery of Lost Souls of fire manipulating fiends, Midway of Mayhem that features thrilling carnival rides and the spooky marketplace of unique trinkets, foods, souvenirs and much more. For more information, directions to Tuxedo, NY and tickets, visit the website at www.theforestoffear.com

Nightmare: Bad Dreams Come True

nospam@example.com (NYCP) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:22:02 -0500

Just when you thought the economy hasn’t already given us enough scares this month, there’s more scares to be had with unnatural creatures of horror in a fun way. When you are going to a place that begins with the dreaded word ‘nightmare’, one must know what to expect and yet, what not to expect when visiting your fears. Every year around this time, many of us thrill-seeking adventurers go looking for monsters & ghouls to give us the adrenaline rush of death and fear thus creating what is known as the mid-october crisis.

If you are one that itches and yearns to cure your mid-october crisis, and you want something to do this weekend, then start by visiting NYC’s most horrifying Haunted House. Nightmare has been scaring up some interactive experiences to record-breaking crowds for the past 5 years on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Expect this attraction to be packed with a lot of people. My friends and I went on a Tuesday night and it was packed with very eager and enthusiastic thrill seekers. I didn’t expect a turn out like this. Once we were finally at the front of the doors, the rules are explained to you. They can slightly mention what to expect without giving away what’s inside there. But the main thing to remember is to not touch the actors and the actors can’t touch you. No photography and no flashlights. You heard correct, no flash lights not even the light from your cell phone. In other words, you have to enjoy the darkness.

I can’t tell you what awaits you in the darkness, however, I can mention to expect a whole bunch of scares, unique characters and very innovative and creative paths to take within the house that is bone chilling. There are two paths within the house and of course my friends and I opted for the unconventional and yet, scarier path. All in all, I had a lot of fun, it’s a great way to interact and meet new people and bond with the friends that toughed out this spooktacular event with you.

NYCP Blog - Halloween

A weekend of pumpkins and ghouls

Nightmare: Bad Dreams Come True