The concept of Halloween has always struck me as, well, odd.
....we reward our children with candy for pretending to be someone else? We dress our houses in lights and cobwebs to try and frighten strangers?
This week in Community Stories I faced my fears and took a peek behind the "mask" of Halloween.
Or, more literally, spent a night with a team of people that know Halloween better than anyone in Milwaukee: the employees at The Hill Has Eyes Haunted House in Franklin.
Voted the #1 haunted attraction in Southeastern Wisconsin by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Hill Has Eyes takes customers on an hour-long haunt through graveyards, operating rooms, carnivals and even a chair lift.
Or, excuse me, a scarelift.
But with over a hundred employees, I quickly learned that working a haunted house isn't as easy as it might look,
"We work some long nights. It's a blast, though. Customer's expect you to not be nice to them, it's the opposite of a real job," explains Brad Metzger, one of the house's 'scarers'.
Nothing's more fun for us then watching somebody run from your scene.
And for being covered in blood and guts, Brad, a full-time pharmacy manager in Muskego, assured me that the ‘scarers’ are a lot more normal during the day then they are at night,
"I've got a wife, three kids....would never come here in a million years. She's deathly afraid."
But how does one start working at a haunted house?
Surprisingly, a background in theater really helps.
"I was a set builder five years ago and was hired with an art background and a construction knowledge-base, so I was
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all different parts of life, you're happy sometimes, you're sad sometimes.... excites people.
But, back to my initial question, why do we enjoy being scared?
While each person may have their own explanation, Metzger, while dressed in dried blood and full military gear, gave me the best answer,
“all different parts of life, you’re happy sometimes, you’re sad sometimes…. scare builds up that emotion of fear and a reaction. It excites people. It builds up adrenaline and energy.”
Ready to be scared? The Hill Has Eyes at the Rock Complex in Franklin is open until October 30th. For tickets and more, check them out online at www.mke.hillhaseyes.com .
"all different parts of life, you're happy sometimes, you're sad sometimes.... scare builds up that emotion of fear and a reaction. It excites people. It builds up adrenaline and energy."
"all different parts of life, you're happy sometimes, you're sad sometimes.... scare builds up that emotion of fear and a reaction. It excites people. It builds up adrenaline and energy."