House Of 1,000 Souls 2

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Prince George, B.C. -  Get ready to jump...a journey through this haunted house is not for the faint of heart!

The 'House of 1,000 Souls 2' opens its blacked out doors at 5pm this evening in the old Saan Store in the Hart Shopping Mall and, for the next nine days, organizers anticipate between seven- and nine-thousand people will clutch each other as they make their way through the spooky, interactive scare-fest.

Promotions Director and Volunteer Coordinator, Pat Wenger, says an amazing group of about 50 volunteers has been working long, hard hours to put this venue together. 

She says many are students from Kelly Road Secondary and Heather Park Elementary and they've done everything asked of them, without complaint, including raking up 150 bags of leaves.  Members of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles have also been fully involved.  "Our fundraiser is in conjunction with the Eagles, so the money goes back into the community," says Wenger.

Admission is a less-than-frightening $5 per person.  And, Wenger says, as much as possible the ghouls in the haunted maze with tailor their tactics to their audience.  "If there's little ones coming through the maze and they're really scared, we have the actors take off their masks, show that there's a real person inside, 'Don't be scared, sweetheart', those kinds of things.  When teenagers come through -- it's full on, scare them silly."

She says all the actors are super-excited about tonight.

Micheal Pockett and Barry Williams run the organization that has been working with the Eagles to pull this event off.  Pockett says just over 5,000 people braved last year's House of 1,000 Souls over the four days it was open.  This year, the venue will have a nine day run, complete with a masquarade ball on Saturday night that's hoped to draw 200 attendees.

Pockett says the haunted house is designed "to allow a constant flow through to keep the volumes moving, but we also have attractions to keep them occupied with carnival games for kids and food, so you can spend time here, as well."

President of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles 3318, Darcy Legeard, says his group is so pleased to be the recipient charity.  "Working with Mike and Barry has been awesome, they're all about bringing something to the Hart Highway for the kids to do.  Most of our members are 'Hartarians' so it's been a great match and we're hoping to work with them in years to come."

The haunted house runs 5pm-9pm from tonight until Friday, October 29th.  It's open 12pm until 8pm on Saturday, with the masquarade ball in the evening.  And then the October 31st finale will be 12pm until 9pm.

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