Before heading out for a night of Halloween booze and barely-there costumes, check out Hysteria City, an indoor Halloween village in Springfield.@@http://www.hysteriacity.com/id9.html@@
Hysteria City cast member Joyce Vessey loves to dress in costume to stare down patrons of fright-filled town now inhabiting the formerly abandoned warehouse off Centennial Blvd. in Springfield, Ore. Vessey can’t get enough of finding outfits fit to frighten even the most seasoned scare-seekers, owning over 35 different costumes and 40 wigs. “I accidentally bought five more the other night,” Vessey laughed.(Aaron Marineau/Oregon Daily Emerald)
The local event is in its 10th year of operation and its second year in its current location. The event has been running a few days a week since Oct. 13, and has hit its capacity of 1,200 people more than once.
“(Last) Friday and Saturday we were slammed,” said John Magness, an actor who plays a bellhop in the Hotel Hysteria part of the village.@@Can’t find Magness@@
“We’ve already outgrown this location,” owner and founder Scott Michael said.
Even now, Michael is looking forward to next year and says that they plan to expand into the parking lot in order to accommodate more guests.
Hysteria City, which features attractions built out of recycled materials, has about 50 people on staff, half of whom are paid and half of whom volunteer. Although most staff and volunteers began working for the event in just the last few weeks, Michael and a few others have been preparing for more than nine months.
All of the attractions were completely rebuilt for this year. For the 2010 Halloween season, significant renovation work was done in order to get the building the event uses up to code.
“We had to do a lot of design and engineering in order to get the permit to use the building,” Michael said. This includes new lights, a sprinkler system and backup power systems.
But according to Michael, all of the work is for a good cause.
“We try to give people an overall Halloween experience.”
Hysteria City features four main attractions: Hotel Hysteria, the Clown Asylum, the Time Machine and the House of the Undertaker. In addition to these, the event also has a mini golf course, roaming Halloween-dressed actors and various vendors.
Each of the four attractions is a walk-through haunted house that, along with the help of some actors, will make you jump and shout out.
One such actor is head bellhop Magness, who leads guests through Hotel Hysteria.
“I try to have a very regal sense of what I do,” Magness said when describing his acting style.
Magness leads tours of 12 to 20 people through the hotel. He estimates that on busy nights, he and a second bellhop collectively take up to 500 people through the exhibit.
Katie Martin is the assistant cast manager.@@can’t find her either@@ She works backstage, making sure that all actors are where they need to be and helping to keep things running smoothly. Martin herself started work with Hysteria City by volunteering for the last two nights of last year’s run. This year, she applied to work for the event and got hired as the assistant cast manager. Another part of her job is to manage and recruit more staff members to dress up and scare guests.
“We need volunteers. Whatever you’re good at is good,” Martin said.
Dylan Bivens works on the opposite side of the event at the Clown Asylum.@@or this :(@@
“You have a lot of scary clowns in the asylum – I’m one of the psychotic clowns,” he said.
According to the actors, the Clown Asylum generates about 80 percent of the screams in Hysteria City. Bivens, a student at Springfield High School, agrees.
“I had one girl yesterday almost pee herself,” Bivens said.@@hot@@
The clown-clad actor laughed as he explained the scariest part for him.
“I’m terrified of clowns.” @@BREAK OUT BOX@@ @@Hysteria City@@ @@1650 Centennial Blvd in Springfield@@ @@6 p.m. to Midnight@@ @@Tickets are $15/person (3 attractions), $20/person (4 attractions) and $25 V.I.P. ticket includes unlimited attractions and shorter lines.@@
