Dating : A Lesson Learned from Scare Acting: Be Careful What You Wish For, It Might Come True

A Haunted House Scare Actor’s Paranormal Narrative

“Be Careful What You Wish For,” a term used to describe a seemingly desirable concept that may have unanticipated consequences. To prove this is true, I will tell you my paranormal encounter from working at a haunted house attraction.

Amongst scare actors, telling ghost stories was the typical way of introducing yourself to others. Ask any seasoned scare actor, and they’ve all got a story to tell. My friends who worked at the haunt all had theirs, but I didn’t. Even though I didn’t believe in ghosts, I was secretly hoping to have a paranormal encounter so I could also have a story to tell. Looking back, I realized that this seemingly attractive concept was not so appealing at all. The reason being: I got what I wished for, but I didn’t expect to fear it.

For better understanding, let me first explain the layout of the haunt. In order to have more rooms and character roles, the original house was modified with plywood walls. These plywood walls were decorated with seemingly innocent paintings, which were actually drop-panels where scare actors will pop out for a brief second and scare the guests. Next to the drop-panels were peephole, which allowed scare actors to see when the guests are coming. Stationary scare actors operated these drop panels while in between the plywood walls and the real walls of the house, and to enter this space, actors must open the emergency doors that were disguised as plywood walls.

On the night that I encountered the paranormal activity, I was operating a drop panel under the main staircase of the house while sitting on a broken cast iron radiant heater (shown in the picture above). The plywood walls were installed around the area under the staircase, creating a 3 by 6 by 7 feet room. The room was designed for three scare-actors, but on that night, I was the only one present.

When the night started, all the lights in the house were turned off, and the room was pitch-dark. Around 9:00 p.m, a long line of guests had passed. Through the peephole, I saw the emergency door swung open and then closed. I didn’t take my eyes off of the peephole and just assumed that a hall roamer had entered my room. (Hall roamers were the supervisors of scare actors in an area of the house. They check on scare-actors every hour to make sure everything was alright.) Realizing that no guests were coming through the hallway, I took my eyes off the peephole. In my peripheral vision, I felt a figure standing next to me. I looked at its direction and recognized the outline of a human being. I said, “Hello?”, but no one answered. I then repeated it two more times, and still, no one answered. This was weird because if it was a hall roamer, then they would say “hello” back and ask if I needed anything. The creepiest aspect of this was that it had a strong smell of women’s perfume when it entered the room. It was the type of scent that would attract men. I know for a fact that no scare actors would wear perfume because the costumes smelled rather the opposite. You’ll never find a good-smelling “zombie”. It also couldn’t be a guest who accidentally ran into my room because he or she would need to know how to open the emergency door that’s hidden in the plywood walls.

The fear rushed in me, but I pretended to ignore whatever was there. I then heard a group of rowdy guests and had no choice but to look through the peephole and disregard whatever is next to me. After scaring them out of the hallway, I looked to my right again, and the figure was no longer there. The emergency door didn’t open this time, so it couldn’t be a person. However, I no longer felt fear and was somewhat relieved. To this day, I can’t explain what happened in that 3 by 6 by 7 feet room, and I still wonder if it had anything to do with my wishes of seeing a ghost. From that day on, I was more careful about what I wished for because it might have unanticipated consequences.