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Follow Observer reporter Carli Berry on the Spook Trail at Spooktacular

The Observer got a first-hand experience of the 22nd annual Spooktacular.
Spooktackular
Spook


Ghosts, ghouls and grim reapers crept from their crypts at R.J. Haney Heritage Village and Museum.

The Observer got a first-hand experience of the 22nd annual Spooktacular, as I strapped on a camera, and headed into the woods to experience the terrifying Spook Trail.

Screams were heard in the distance as Observer photographer Evan Buhler and I were greeted by two employees cleaning up what looked like a body, laid waste by noxious substances. "Biohazard" was posted in bold letters.

They ushered us onward, down into the forest.

"HEHEHEHEH," I jumped as a joker, with a face painted like the Mexican Day of the Dead masks, poked his head out from the mist.

Not a bad start, any kid would have jumped, right?

Wrong.

Three-year-old River Bischke, dressed as Batman, refused to be scared.

"It was cute," his mother, Kat Bischke, laughed.

This was her first time at Spooktacular since her childhood and she enjoyed the experience with her son.

"He kept saying (on the trail) 'Oh, that's not good.""

The joker wasn't the only thing on the trail that gave me a fright.

Freddy Krueger from my nightmares, pointed his bladed glove towards me and a young girl asked me if I wanted to play with her teddy bear.

I reached for the bear and she clutched it to her chest, yelling "No, I don't share."

I trudged past zombies as they moaned and staggered behind me. I meet a vampire standing in the trees and she followed me with her eyes, blood dripping from her mouth.

River was a trooper if he wasn't scared.

Child vampires, Scooby Doo's, clowns, and animal onsies were abound at the heritage village, as families gathered to celebrate the Halloween festivities.

A spooky theatre story kept the children occupied and a less-scary Storybook Trail filled with colourful characters like Gina the Gypsy and Kerry the Kangaroo, encouraged children to play games as they walked past a graveyard, with tomb stones reading "Dentist Cole Filled His Last Hole" and "In fond memory of no one in particular."

SA Evan and Carli Spooktacular

People lined up for the Fortune Teller and screeches were heard from the Mad Scientist booth. Others took in the exhibits at the new Montebello building, which displayed ghoulish wedding dresses among other spooky items.

The village also had a blacksmith, who banged out his metal work with a soot-covered face.

Spooktacular is Haney's largest fundraiser, said general manager Susan Mackie.

More than 700 people visited the site Saturday night.

The village encouraged visitors to come in costume and Mackie said her favourite was a girl dressed as a devil fairy.

The decorations took three weeks of work to set up, with 100 to 150 volunteers stationed for each night.

Spooktacular ran Oct. 22 and 23.