Mansion Mayhem at the Haunted Mansion Event
Mansion Mayhem
By Al Stromer
On September 25th 2010 over twenty DAFE members and guests gathered in Wappingers Falls, NY to attend the Mansion Mayhem event at Kevin McCurdy’s Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion is located in Bowdoin Park which is a great setting since it is set back in the woods away from any populated cities or suburban towns. 
Kevin has been operating and creating elaborate themes for his attraction for over thirty years. He started the Mansion when he was at the age of sixteen and he has been entertaining guests during the Halloween season ever since. During the past several years he started to also transform the Haunted Mansion into a winter wonderland and light show for the holiday season that runs from Thanksgiving through Christmas.
The Haunted Mansion’s theme changes completely from year to year. I have been visiting the Mansion for over twenty years now and I have experienced a haunted amusement park and evil sideshow where the guests were mysteriously vanishing, a tribute to the horror movies of the past where you became a part of the movie, Ravenhurst Manor when the eccentric owner created a machine to contact the dead, a Mummy’s Tomb and a time machine just to name a few. To add to the theme of the Mummy’s Tomb, Kevin purchased five tons of sand to spread out and also rented a live camel!
After all of us arrived we were greeted by Kevin McCurdy and Frank Petruccelli. Frank has been working together with Kevin on the Mansion for years. He creates almost all of the soundtracks and sound effects that you hear throughout the attraction. Frank also plays a big part with his acting talents and helps with managing and training other actors.
Kevin went on to say that since he has started the Mansion he has created over six-hundred different room designs. Also, all of his actors and staff are all volunteers. He has so many friends and fans of the Mansion that they are all willing to actually work for free!
Mr. McCurdy gave us a detailed “lights-on” walkthrough of all three of his attractions before we were one of the first groups to be led through before the general public during regular show hours.
The Madness
The theme of the Mansion for 2010 was called The Madness. The setting takes place in 1959 where you join detective Williams as he investigates the Oakhurst Lunatic Asylum on reports of murder and strange occurrences. When we entered the asylum there were monitors throughout the queue area displaying a video of Prof. Stephen Murk who is the resident Director. During his interview, Stephen explains about his new revolutionary treatment, Psycho Invasive Surgery. As the propaganda film goes on, you can clearly determine that Prof. Murk is trying to hide something from the public.
The first room that you enter with the detective is the receptionist area where a framed picture of Professor Murk is displayed behind her desk. The receptionist has a hard time hiding her fear of the professor as she seems very nervous in trying not to wrongly answer any of the investigator’s questions. One of the deranged patients was also in the room and started to act violently. The receptionist told us not to worry if any of the patients started to get out of control. She stated that we should sing the song Mr. Sandman. So we all started to sing and the patient calmed down. Another thing that we were told that calms them down is a piece of chocolate.
We were given permission to investigate the asylum and were led into a room with an experimental chamber. As a patient sat in a chair that was hung by chains within the chamber an experiment goes wrong. The lights flicker out as the glass of the chamber shatters letting the crazy patient free! From this moment on you are sure that the experiments that Professor Murk is performing are not for the good of his patients.
Kevin has been trying to incorporate more interaction with his guests over the years which makes you feel like you are part of the show. The next several scenes are very interactive and draw you more into the story line.
We made our way into a security area where there were several video surveillance monitors overseeing areas of the asylum including the next room. A volunteer was selected and was told to enter the filing room and look for a specific patient’s file. As we entered the next room the volunteer of our group started to search filing cabinets to find the file. After the file was found we had to find the secret way out. It was finally found by moving one of the filing cabinets aside. We then ventured into a boiler room with steam jets and a loud rumbling throughout. You had to make your way through a pipe maze until you reached another one of the asylum’s residents. Several volunteers were needed in this area to turn several valves in order to get through. And of course, after a forgetful inhabitant tells the guests to turn the big valves the wrong way, the room gets to the point where it is going to explode!
Another room that followed was the morgue. As we entered, a nurse quickly asked us for the file we found in the other room. A key was given to one of the members of our group. One of the morgue’s temporary residents was not quite dead yet as one of the drawers flew open and we were whisked into the next area.
Something didn’t quite feel right as we spent a few moments in the next room looking around at the blood stained walls as a deranged person laughed at us from the far side of the room. This was probably due to the fact that the walls were closing in on us, crunching us into a tight group as a slow pulsing strobe blinded us. Before we were flattened, a door opened and we were in a cockroach infested hallway. (With combining fake cockroaches and video projections the illusion looked very real.)
Another area of the asylum was very different since I never seen it done in any other haunted attraction. The key that was acquired by our party member in the other room had to be given to the actor in this area to open a barred gate that blocked our way to the other side of the room. Our party was actually split into two groups and separated from each other. Half of our group was led into a padded cell and the rest were led into a tight chamber. The doors were slammed shut behind us locking us in. After some commotion a door opened to a hallway and we eventually joined with the rest of our party.
The last area of the Mansion was inspired by the remake of the movie House on Haunted Hill. Kevin wanted to create something that resembled the saturation chamber scene. In the movie, a psychotic person was supposed to be put in this chamber where strange Images were flashed at them. Since it was probably out of budget, and it would be difficult to display this in a way where the audience would see the images that the patient was seeing, Kevin used a different approach. He used a small projection screen with the images flashing on it facing the guests with a dummy facing the screen away from the audience. The scene still resembled what was in the movie, just in a different way. It seemed to work, because after the psychopath in the room delivered the scare we were all heading outside either laughing or screaming.
The Legend
The second attraction was actually based off of a true story dating back to the western era. The story was based on Elmer McCurdy; one of the most unlucky outlaws of the west. Of course Kevin took a shine to him because of his name. Legend has it that people would come from miles around to gather up their courage to stare into the eyes of this infamous outlaw’s corpse.
All of us gathered in front of Dr. Phinas Phiasco’s Curiosity Sideshow before we ventured inside. We all took a seat in a small theater, and in front of us there was a partially opened curtain revealing a coffin with the remains of Elmer McCurdy inside. Dr. Phinas Phiasco didn’t waste any time introducing himself. He explained about an old Indian elixir that will cure what ails you, but we were warned not to let any of this potion touch the ground as it would bring the dead to life. As he displayed a bottle of this elixir he took a sip. The nasty taste of it caused him to spit it out. When the spittle of elixir hit the ground the skeleton remains of Elmer McCurdy started to slowly come back to life and he made his way to the audience sending us towards the exits!
Our group then made our way through a mine shaft and several other scenes including a cemetery before we found ourselves in front of a foreboding castle entrance.
Nightmare Castle
Before we entered the Castle one of the comical actors caught us off guard. It was a heavy-set man that was fully dressed in drag. We were all laughing hysterically as he flirted with all of the guys in our group. And of course we all told him to go over and kiss Rick Davis. Being the ham that the Director of DAFE is, he went along with it and we all had a photo opportunity and a lot of laughs!
Upon entering the Castle a larger-than-life demon head leered down at you with a giant chandelier hanging down from the ceiling on each side of him. (The demon head was actually from the old façade of the Dante’s Inferno darkride on Morey’s Piers in Wildwood, NJ.) The next area had a glass ceiling that you can look though at the night’s sky. A giant skull hung over the exit way and several corpses were enclosed in hanging cages. A claustrophobic hallway was ahead that we all squeezed our way through. Then we made our way through a twisting corridor that was lined with corpse-filled coffins where you didn’t know which one was dead or only semi-dead. Many different areas followed including an encounter with psycho clowns and a car gag.
After our tour we all gathered at the concession stand for our meal. Mrs. McCurdy did a great job with the desserts. She made a special “DAFE cemetery” with all of our names on tombstones made of cookies! There were also other desserts including a delicious pumpkin cheesecake.
Most of our group headed back through the attractions one more time before we all said our goodbyes and parted for the night.
