THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510250161
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 192 lines
NORTHWEST RIVER PARK supervisor William ``Bill'' Petree showed off the black casket built by his staff.
``Then, as he resides in his coffin, Dracula is discovered by the vampire hunter, who plunges a wooden stake into his heart,'' Petree said, while fussing about the Haunted House, making sure everything is all right, everything is draped in black mourning motif.
On this late October day, as the low-lying sun casts everything in a crisp late-afternoon glow, Petree, park programmer Tom Rummel and other members of the park's custodial staff were running around making sure everything was in place and in working order to transform the bucolic 763-acre park into a haven of horror.
Are there enough fuses for the gunpowder flash pots? Will the guillotine work? Will the electronic control system trigger the explosions? Will the fog machine work? Is there enough fake blood? Will the public address system be powerful enough to carry the voice of the Prince of Darkness throughout Satan's Lair?
When the teenage volunteers arrived later that day, they were ushered into a make-up area, where they were turned into depraved zombies, blood-sucking vampires, Frankenstein's monster, hapless campers about to be sawed by a chainsaw-wielding psycho, witches and warlocks.
Not exactly nature lore. Certainly far removed from usual park activities of identifying night owls and a far cry from observing fall leaf colors or discussing the mating habits of a canebrake rattlesnake.
But it's park business, nonetheless. As much a part of its operation as collecting camp site fees and selling hot chocolate to campers on a cold weekend morning.
It's the annual Northwest River Park Ghost Train, an event that's been scaring Chesapeake citizens and folks from all over South Hampton Roads for many years.
Since its inception more than 10 years ago, this train of terror has been a Chesapeake favorite and has now become a local Halloween tradition, Rummel explained.
It brings people and bucks to the park.
``This is a money-making enterprise for us,'' Petree said. ``It's the biggest special event we do all year. After this we will realize somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000. And it all goes back into the park.''
Petree said the money earned by the train goes back to help pay for upkeep, equipment and whatever else is needed for the park. Everything used to stage the Halloween event - from smoke machines and gunpowder to horrible masks and hot dogs to help feed the volunteers - is entered into the park's official budget.
``We budget for this every year,'' Petree said. ``We probably spend between $1,500 to $2,500 to put this on.''
The money used by the park to produce this annual Halloween event is well spent, Petree said. Ghost Train tickets usually sell faster than garlic at a vampire hunter's convention.
The 1995 Ghost Train ran Oct. 19, 20, 21 and 26, and will run tonight and Saturday. But forget about getting tickets; they will more than likely be sold out.
This year's edition features 10 tableaux that range from simple to complicated, complete with script and action directions. A group of dedicated volunteers, mainly Deep Creek and Great Bridge high school students, will have fun shivering in the cold night air helping the public shiver with fright.
Putting on this massive undertaking takes time, planning and lots of creative input from the volunteers, Rummel said.
To put on a Halloween event of this scale doesn't just happen overnight.
``This year we began planning the logistical stuff early in July,'' Rummel said. ``We spoke to our script writers in the summer. We make sure everything is still on track by Labor Day and then sometime in mid-September, we get serious, we make sure we have the scripts and the skit ideas ready.''
For the past three years the Ghost Train scenarios have come from scripts written by Jason Watts, a 17-year-old Deep Creek High student; his brother Eric, 20; and friend Jeremie Gibbs, 20.
``We all love halloween. We love scaring people, and we're into all kinds of horror and science fiction films,'' Jason said. ``We also love the behind-the-scenes technical work. We got together sometime in July to plan out the scripts.''
Also in on the technical work, script writing and acting is the Ghost Train's grand old volunteer, Scott Hasty.
Petree and Rummel cite him as one of the train's most dedicated and hard working volunteers.
``I've been doing this for at least 10 years,'' Hasty said as he busied himself painting a red devil's mask. ``I like Halloween. I like the legends behind it, and I've always been interested in behind-the-scenes stuff for horror and sci-fi flicks. I've loved this stuff since I was 8 years old.''
Currently, Hasty's daytime job is helping scare up Halloween business at the North Battlefield Boulevard Party City location. With the pyrotechnical skill he's learned over the years, he aspires to work professionally with a major Hollywood studio.
``I'm heavy into Stan Winston (responsible for special effects in such films as `Predator,' `Aliens' and `Pumpkinhead') and his California studio,'' Hasty explained.
Until he gets the call from Winston's studio, he's perfecting his theatrical witchcraft with the Ghost Train.
``I've been in contact with them and am hoping this kind of work will get me a little closer,'' Hasty said. ``I've been here from the beginning. I remember we started this as a child's event but, early on, we decided to make it into a horror train, using the park's natural night setting as a perfect backdrop.''
This year Hasty will play the part of the Grim Reaper, wearing a homemade skull mask he made from a mold, which he cleverly attached to a wool ski mask using Velcro.
As the Ghost Train narrator, Hasty tells his passengers the park is a haven of horror, pointing out each scary skit and site.
The journey really heats the cool October evening when the train reaches the southern terminal, a site overlooking the Northwest River. There the Reaper does battle with Satan for the souls of the train's passengers, complete with thunderous dialogue, spooky lights, fog, sound effects and flash explosions.
The role of the Prince of Darkness, the disagreeable chap who vies for the souls of the Ghost Train passengers with Hasty's Reaper, is being played by Rob Wygand, a Virginia Beach resident who works for the federal government.
Wygand is an instructor with the park's popular ropes and initiative course. He said he's never ever done anything like his Satan gig before. He said he was chosen to play ol' Scratch because of his booming, very theatrical sounding stentorian voice.
``They liked my voice and said it would work well here,'' Wygand said. ``This is a real experience for me all the way. But I'm enjoying myself and I get to work with a lot of good kids. These kids come out here on their own time and put in a lot of hours. We've had fun. We've all become friends.''
Wygand points to the groups of Chesapeake high school students who are milling around waiting to be morphed into denizens of the night.
Great Bridge High students Robbie Brink, 17, and Mary Meeks, 16, were being transformed into zombies, while Melissa Selby went from a 17-year-old Deep Creek High student to become a witch sorceress.
``I love scaring people, it's great,'' Brink said as Meeks enthusiastically shook her head in approval.
Mindy White, 17, from Deep Creek High, became a vampire in a French maid's outfit.
``I've been doing this for the last four years,'' she said with fangs protruding from her mouth. ``I love it, especially last year when they ripped my guts out.''
Staci Dockery, a 17-year-old Deep Creek pupil, received the finishing touches of fangs and graveyard pallor from make-up expert Hasty.
Heather Tood, 16, a Great Bridge High student who plays an executioner, said she always does volunteer work and thought this would be ``kinda neat.''
Matt ``Ace'' Flick, a 20-year-old Deep Creek graduate, also interested in film special effects work, volunteered to help behind the scenes.
``I hope this kind of work helps me get a little closer to the movies,'' Flick said.
Other students - Mandy Willey, Angie Petree, Jessica Haring, Chris Carey and Heather Lamb among them - were all there waiting to become zombies, devil slaves, victims and other characters to bring life to this rollicking carnival of death.
``This is stress relief for me,'' said Lamb, 20, who has been working on the Ghost Train for the past three years.
Ghost Train began years ago as a humble little Halloween walk through the woods, but hikers kept straying off the path and away from the guide, Hasty added.
``So as not to lose a visitor or have him or her disappear into the park's darkness, we decided to make it safer by using a train,'' Rummel explained ``That's a pick-up truck pulling three wooden wagons.''
Past scenarios have included Chesapeake Police SWAT team members whooshing down from the trees as Batman and Robin, a scuba diver emerging from the murky waters of the Northwest River as the Swamp Thing and even an anti-drug House of Horrors presented by the Chesapeake Teen Council that seemed to do more harm than good.
``They did a great job of presenting the horrors of drugs,'' Petree said. ``But we got terrible complaints. Many people just told us they didn't come here to see that kind of thing. They just wanted the traditional Halloween things, I guess.''
Those traditional Halloween things have been scaring Chesapeake folks ever since.
``We've had some fun here,'' Petree said.
``Most people even survived,'' Rummel added. ``As soon as this year's train is over, we'll begin planning for next year. There's always another Halloween.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
TRAIN TRAVELS TO TERROR
[Color Photo]
Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
Rob Wygand portrays the Prince of Darkness, the disagreeable devil
who vies for the souls of the Ghost Train passengers with Hasty's
Reaper.
Staci Dockery from Deep Creek High School gets appropriate makeup
for the horror show.
Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
When he isn't ol' Scratch, Rob Wygand is a Virginia Beach resident
who works for the federal government.
Mindy White of Deep Creek High School prepares for her role. She'll
join zombies, vampires, psychos, witches and warlocks.
by CNB