MEXICO — The upcoming fifth annual River Valley Haunted Walk is bigger and better than ever, with more than 1,000 people expected to get scares from the amazing props.
Nick Graham, who organizes the effort, said that with more than 15 rooms and nearly 9,000 square feet, WICKED is one of Maine’s largest and scariest haunted houses.
The haunted walk takes place Oct. 22 and Oct. 28-29 at the River Valley Recreation Center, 15 Recreation Drive. Doors open at 6 p.m., with walks starting at 7.
Admission to the River Valley Haunted Walk is $8 at the door, up from $5 in 2015. However, creators invested in many of the 100 modular walls being used this year, and about $500 went into a pair of new props for this year’s event.
Proceeds will benefit the River Valley Recreation Center, which provides recreational activities for families.
Graham is using technology to help create the props.
At home, he has a map of the downstairs portion of the recreation building, where the haunted walk takes place. Graham combines that with a 3-D design program on his computer.
He said he is able to match those designs pretty closely with the recreation center, mapping out where people are going to be walking within more than 100 modular walls that will be used.
There are a couple new props for this year, but Graham wasn’t giving clues, other than to note that one of them is 8 feet tall, 9 feet wide and 34 feet long. He said he has a solid core of 10 people working on the props.
Because of the popularity of this event — about 1,000 people do the haunted walk each year — the wait time could be up to two hours. For that reason, people paying at the door are given time slots so they can leave and come back 15 minutes before their time slot. For those staying at the facility, movies will be shown in the gym and the snack bar will be open.
The haunted walk is given to groups of five or so people at a time, with the experience generally lasting about 20 minutes.
“This is very scary,” Graham said of the walk, noting that some people in the past have been so scared they did not finish it.
He said that in the past, people included their young children in the experience and they became very frightened, which draws concern and attention away from the show.
So, for the first time, there will be a smaller, tamer haunted walk upstairs especially for younger kids. Parents can go through with their children, or adult volunteers will be available. The fee for this walk had not been set at this writing, but Graham said it would cost less than the larger walk.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/RiverValleyRecreationHauntedWalk.
bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net
Send questions/comments to the editors.
