Blog – The Dread House

Haunted

Here in the most northerly section of the nation's capital, we have an abundance of haunted residences. Comparable with other so-called counties such as Cornwall, Devon, Norfolk to name a few. It's a question that caused me to ponder for many years. I wonder if it's a legacy to do with Roman roads leading out or north, a coincidence, or do our residents have an overactive imagination.

Needless to say, a haunted house is the next stage in the evolution of the Dread House story. As a genre, horror is a rich tapestry to draw from and there are a few avenues we haven't strolled down as of yet and it would be exciting to try. For now though, as the name suggests, haunting a space, pulls on my creative talents and there are many areas of this sub genre that I haven't explored.

So far in our history, we will have attempted two different haunted house offerings. Performing at a place like Forty hall has its positives and negatives, it is a house with it's own history and you can't mess with that, it's also very spooky. The house is older than the States and the history is solid and emotionally charged (for some people). Creating a story has to fall in line with the house's history. We didn't do that and I suggest that's why we son't fit in there. Doing it in a Marquee decked out to be a haunted house, gives you a limited amount of credibility, people are mostly aware it's a tent. They are mainly afraid of what you will do to them (and they should be). The challenge for this year is to stop it looking like a tent in a field and use that advantage, that designing a haunt in a marquee offers, flexibility. A completely original and bespoke experience that people will never forget in a good way. That in itself is difficult enough, I know for the first time in 3 years, we've cracked it. Our theme and design this year is what the past 4 years has been leading up to and not to say we've peaked or plateaued, we haven't. We are on the right path heading in the right direction. The first of many and the rung 1 on the ladder.

A greater challenge, once all of the above has been put in place, is creating a haunt design that entertains everyone. There isn't one demographic that we are aiming for. This offering is the correct format as it will include everyone;

- 5+

- The nervous dispositions

- The gore heads

- Adults and or over 16s

- Thrill seekers

- Halloween fans

Not a member of the community will be left out. That is my intention and what we've planned

Friday 24th October 2025, we will know for sure.

Spooky or Scary?

As the dust settles on 24 and the countdown clock resets for 25, it is the perfect time to reflect how this years offerings were executed (pun intended). This was an ambitious attempt at providing the best in children’s Halloween entertainment that the London borough of Enfield could provide, in the most part, I believe we were and are successful. Planning started in January 2024 with the circus idea, 1 sort of theatre that the audience would walk into and then be entertained by six different acts. Reflecting on last years success, it was clear to me that a maze of some description was both required and needed for the Dread House to work. The previous years had been a walk through past different actors and their performances, this concept had the actors coming to them.

I went back to the drawing board in February and redesigned the stage area to allow one performer at the end of a maze. One of the criticisms from myself and Alex at Capel Manor, was making sure that the audience weren’t stopped in their tracks for too long. This is something that became apparent during this years show. I was able in my performance on some days, to ask people if they were suitably freaked out and did they just want to move along through the Spookarium. Everyone said yes. Valuable feedback that shaped the remainder of the haunt and for further years to come.

The final redrafting came at the end of August, when Greg suggested four stages happening at the same time, and the audience having moved through the Spookarium, could choose which stage they wanted to go to. For some reason, only one stage happened at one time, and we resorted back to the previous queuing system, making people wait for a long time. The maze took at the most 2 – 3 minutes to walk through and the circus a fair bit longer for each of the 4 acts to perform. Setting aside the various internal nonsense arguments, some actors refused to be directed, I would have to say it was the worst of the years so far. One actor was abused by a member of the public and for personal reasons was unable to continue. Another actor and company director was ill and worryingly so, he needed to have 3 days off to recover.

For this reason alone, I chose to close the circus and concentrate on the maze and move all the actors there. An obvious side effect was the many repeat customers who wanted to walk through the maze over 6 times. I took that as a massive compliment, whether that was deserved was neither here nor there, there was plenty to do on the grounds, the pumpkin patch, bouncy castle, spooky walk, Labyrinth, zoo, pumpkin carving etc. Coming back to go through the Dread House and the Spookarium says something as to it’s fun nature and quality of product. The design was correct for the moment it was conceived, in practice, the Spookarium was set the wrong way round. The Tunnel of Terror should have been at the end and the Box Office at the start instead of after the ToT. There were too many actors and they weren’t needed. We got away with it and I hate getting away with it, I like things to be done well. I introduced two shows, one was called spooky, it was aimed at young children who were scared. It was dressed in green light, actors stood still and there weren’t jump scares. Then there was a scary version, actors jumping and screaming in your face, all dressed in a red light. For those who had done both versions and wanted something more, we turned off all the lights and sound and the actors jumped out on you at the end. I also tried to add a couple of circus sections but there wasn’t any real interest.

In regard to our 3 haunts at Capel manor, this is ranked as 3^rd place, so much so, there is a lot I want to forget. I also spent a lot of time wishing it was over, so unlike me, I live for Halloween. I am putting in place major changes for next time, a complete separation between the youth group and the Dread House, that partnership has run it’s course. Some of the actors said it would be their last year and I will hold them to that. With the support of Greg and Jordan and a couple of extra people, it is clearly possible to set up a top rate functioning experience, given the same time to set up as this year. The plan for 2025 has already been designed. I doubt we will end up with it but it gives me hope and a feeling of control, that The Dread House 2025 will be much better.

The Dread House 2023

This was by far the most exciting event we have ever done, I started the planning in February 2023, although the idea and concept for this year's event, started on the 1st November 2022.

One of the many benefits of being part of the DH is the final product is far removed from the early initial plan. When I first met with Alex and Joely from Capel Manor and we walked around the site looking for a spot, we only had the Witch theme and little else. I then went back to the team and Greg and Julie had one idea and the PE crew had another. Jo suggested buying a marquee and then the spook house was created. It took me months to commit to the concept and buy one, I confess I was scared by the idea but once it arrived I was confident it could work. On a late summer afternoon, Myself, Greg, Julie, Ozan and Baris went to Hilly fields with the marquee frame and set it up. Once it was up, I knew we were onto something.

Jo and I went to Walthamstow to visit the recycling project and we filled up my car with materials to build props. The Friday sessions became prop building and Capel allowed us to set up the marquee a week in advance. Greg and I spent two evenings in my garden building various props and the coffin, Greg and Julie also passed a skip with a massive haul of materials we used to build various partitions. That gave us a whole week to install the props. It took till the Saturday to resemble anything that was in my head and a week of stress because of the weather and little advancement was occurring. Fast forward a week and 1500 people later, I would say overall it was a success, it wasn't the Dread House I planned and saw in my head but it was the one I got and I failed to communicate my idea well, a mistake I won't make again. Like Bjork says "Full artistic control!" Thanks for reading.

Mark.

The Destination Midnight

It started from a festival or feast to celebrate the abundance of food saved/ stored/ grown over a successful spring and summer. With ancient peoples looking at a few months of cold dark long nights. They would ration and have a gratitude for what they had. They called it Samhain, then came modern religion who wanted to get involved and instead of eradicating it, try to get involved and attempted to include their own festival to celebrate the deceased, hence the inclusion of the darkness and death. The first day celebrated would be on the last day of Autumn, October 31^st . They called it ‘All Hallows Eve’, then ‘All Saints Day’ and finally ‘All Souls Day’. Continuing on the first day of winter for the latter two days. Through the evolution of the English language, the term ‘Hallow’ referencing of the phrase holy person or saint, gave rise to the abbreviations, All HallowsMas, All Hallows Day and Halloween for All Hallows Eve. Catholicism being the main denomination of Christianity to celebrate and observe the festival.

It is worth noting the hysteria surrounding the 15/ 16 & 1700s regarding witches, witchcraft, interaction with the devil and devil worship. To be fair, it hasn’t gone away and we still have an irrational fear and use it to describe our level of ignorance.

As a result many Women were killed, murdered in fact for being disagreeable, midwifes, for wanting their torture to end, for being Women with no support network family or friends, for being Widows, any other rubbish excuse they could get away with, simply because they were Women.

If ever there was a reason to be fearful, it is to be fearful of those poor souls who suffered harshly. That first hour on the 1^st November is the time we remember and acknowledge them and what they went through and invite them back to celebrate with us, as we ask for their forgiveness. This is our journey on how we attempt to make it right as we travel to October 31^st, destination midnight.