A month of screams
<p>Kate Colbert, center, and Kassie Russell, both 17, react to one of the ghoulish characters Thursday inside the "Blood Bayou" attraction at Scarywood in the Silverwood Theme Park.</p>
<p>Micah Fechner, 16, and Ammi Trump, 18, brace themselves as they speed backward along the track of the Timber Terror.</p>
<p>One of the creepy clowns walks through a group of his hanging companions waiting to scare Scarywood visitors.</p>
<p>Cristal Chavez, 12, has an experience with on of the "scare zone" characters as she walks through Scarywood.</p>
You don't want to leave your baby behind in this bayou.A gaggle of Coeur d'Alene High School girls huddled together on Thursday night as they slinked through Blood Bayou, Scarywood's newest attraction.
They screamed as creature leapt out in the muggy forest. They screamed at the leering couple gorging on a bloody skeleton. They screamed at the corpse in the high voltage area, at the giant clawing spider, at the zombie bride.Afterward, though breathless, they dubbed it well worth the hour and a half wait.
"It was the best haunted house I've ever been to," said Kassie Russell, 17, with a smile. Her friend, Jackie Tawney, agreed, still laughing from the last scare.
"It kept going on and on," the 17-year-old said. "Just all the work they put into it."Crowds can expect plenty of changes this year at Scarywood Theme Park Haunted Nights, which opens tonight and had a sneak preview on Thursday.
About $1 million worth of changes, in fact.Finding that the theme park's pilot attempt last year with Halloween-themed attractions scared up real success, Silverwood blasted out the idea this year with a hefty financial investment, providing all new attractions, including Blood Bayou, and modifications to old ones.
"Last year, we kind of took Scarywood for a ride and said, 'OK, let's make a small investment, and see if this is something the community would enjoy," said Silverwood spokesperson Nancy DiGiammarco.It was.
Even with minimal advertising and a small budget - a tenth of this year's, in fact - more than 20,000 attended, DiGiammarco said.The park now plans to make it an annual event, she said. And they want to do it right.
"This year it was like, 'OK, let's take it to a whole new level,'" she said.The most expensive investment was the Blood Bayou haunted house, featuring several different scenes through a cemetery, forest and various rooms filled with actors and animatronics.
Annalee Fox, exploring Scarywood with her father, Brian Fox, said her favorite part was the Bayou entrance, winding through a cemetery with a mammoth grim reaper perched above."They do it just right so it really freaks you out," the 14-year-old said breathlessly. "I like being scared."
While Terror Canyon Trail, the drained water ride transformed into a ghoul tour, remains the same from last year, the park has revamped the ghoulish train ride. Previously featuring a recorded story, the 30-minute attraction is now an interactive zombie hunting ride."Each car has their own zombie hunter on board," DiGiammarco said. "It's kind of a fun, blow-'em up adventure."
Various rides are open at the nighttime park, and the park has added the Timber Terror roller coaster. Going backward.
Screams projected as the ride sucked backward into the dark on Thursday.Iris Chavez, 17, was beaming when she got off the ride.
"Usually I really, really don't like roller coasters," she admitted. "But It was really fun going backwards. It was different."There are still actors loping around the park dressed as zombies and demons to frighten visitors. This year, some are operating towering scarecrow puppets with glowing red eyes.
And don't forget the new clown zone, where delightfully clad figures with demonic faces literally hang around, spasming as visitors pass by. Actors pop out of shadows and croon shudder-inducing songs.Tyler Corirossi, 19, shook his head as Clarissa Bernhardt tugged on his sleeve to walk through the entrance of hanging clowns.
"We've made it this far," she coaxed with a smile."I hate clowns. I really, really do," he said.
Watching actors spring across the dark street and peer wide eyed into people's faces, he clarified: "I love clowns. It's just when they pop out at you that it freaks me out."More than 2,000 attended Thursday's sneak preview, for which the theme park gave away 1,200 tickets to local nonprofits and high schools to sell as a fundraiser for $5 each.
Scarywood runs on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays through October 30. Scrapping last year's daytime activities, the park is open from 6 to 10 p.m. on Thursdays, and from 6 to midnight the other days. It will also be open from 6 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 27.
Tickets are $24.99 for all ages. Concessions will be for sale throughout the park.Kids under 13 are not recommended.
Walking with her Lakeland High School cross country team through the park, Ashley Metcalf shrieked as she was approached from behind by a lurking zombie.Moments later, she shrieked again at a grim costumed man offering a box of fingers.
"It's so scary," she said with a laugh. "You have to check over your shoulder every few seconds."