Scary Hotels

I've watched about a zillion videos like this, but this one is pretty great - and included a bunch of places I hadn't heard of before. Fun watch on a Friday night.

Memories of Elm Knoll Farm

 Elm Knoll Farm, Somers, Connecticut, circa mid-2000s:
Memories of my favorite pumpkin patch ever.

 

Back in the 1990s til the mid-2000s or so, Elm Knoll Farm was THE area pumpkin patch destination. 

 

Everything essential to the feeling of autumn and Halloween in New England was concentrated here in rural Somers, CT in the month of October every year. 

 

This place has everything...

 

Here is a list of some of the things I loved most about Elm Knoll, with photos I took over the years:

1.) Pumpkins and gourds (obviously) -- you could choose your pumpkin from pre-picked ones, or take the hayride out to the fields to pick your own right from the vines. I always opted for the latter, which was a fairly long ride out to the scenic hills and fields.

 

 

2.) Hayrides -- The best kind where the benches are made of hay bales, and the floor is scattered with loose hay, in a rickety old wagon.

3.) A corn maze -- and acres and acres of golden cornstalks drying out in the shady autumn sun.

4.) Gorgeous views --  of the rolling hills, fields of wildflowers, and spooky forests at the edges of the farm, the perfect way to enjoy a brisk, overcast, moody autumn day.

5.) Farm animals --  geese, chickens, ducks, turkeys, goats, pigs, and puppies.

6.) Weekend entertainment -- which usually included live music, a kids' magician, and a mulled cider & hot chocolate stand.

7.) Scarecrows and other Halloween structures -- made out of cornstalks, hay, and wood; probably designed for children, but delightful to adults, too.

8.) Overgrown and dilapidated old stuff -- crumbling buildings, seemingly abandoned farm equipment, and various other signs of rural decay that make the countryside spooky AF.

 

 
9.) And: A fantastic haunted hayride on weekend nights in October. 

Picture this: A hayride through the aforementioned spooky rural woods, on the aforementioned rickety trailer full of sweet-smelling hay, which takes you to various spooky scenes along the journey. Best of all: the entire trail is lined on either side with carved, lit jack o'lanterns, literally miles of them. The moon is out, and you're huddled up with your friends, laughing and enjoying the whole sensory spectacle of the whole thing.

 

One of the most vivid and precious Halloween memories I have is of being on that hayride sometime in the mid to late 1990s, on a night when the moon was full or nearly so, dark clouds partially obscuring the moonlight as they passed, and the warm glow of jack o'lanterns all along the way; the smell of the hay and the forest, of earth and decaying leaves, of night air and fire and pumpkin guts. The props and scares were all home-made, as I recall; simple and effective. And, the farm itself already felt seriously haunted to begin with, day or night.

 

How I wish I had photos of those times I went. Those was pre-mobile phone days, and I didn't usually carry a camera. It would have been too dark then to capture anything well enough to do it any justice. Most of it was hidden away in the woods, but here and there around the farm, hints of it were visible, like this facade that was the official entrance to the haunted forest:

This haunt is on my top all-time favorite Halloween attractions: I rate it 10/10 Jackos.

[🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃]

The Demise of Elm Knoll

It seems as though things of this nature never last, and Elm Knoll was no exception. The haunted hayrides stopped sometime in the late 1990s, if I remember right. I imagine it must have been too much work and not enough people to do it. I can't even imagine how much it must have taken just to carve all those hundreds and hundreds of jack o'lanterns for the hayride path -- and to light them every night, on top of that! 

 

Around 2006, the elderly owner of Elm Knoll sold off the Somers property to his son, a sad and heartbreaking ending to the legacy of this wonderful place. You can read about it here, in an article from about 12 years ago, but fair warning: it's pretty dismal, with accounts of animal neglect, etc.

 

A farm by the name of Elm Knoll still exists, but on different land. It spent some time at a spot in Enfield, CT for a few years, and is currently located in Stafford Springs, CT. I have no idea how these iterations of Elm Knoll were/are connected to the old farm, and I haven't been to either location. They might be perfectly nice places, but I doubt they could ever compare to the sheer Halloween greatness that once existed at the old location.

[All photos and content by Petrichor & Pumpkins/ Nebulosus Severine/ CMPauluh, with the exception of the Stefon picture. Do not reuse without permission & credit.]

Somewhere in dreams on Elm Street

Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water or whatever and couldn't be sure if you were actually awake, or just dreaming...?

[click the pic for some mood music]

(Photo by Petrichor & Pumpkins/ Nebulosus Severine/ CMPauluh 2021)

Getting freaky in Fall River & New Bedford

 This past Saturday was Halloween daytrip #1 for the 2021 season. Whenever I travel back east for Autumn, I get together with the usual suspects and plan at least one entire day outing which always ends in a haunted house-related event. This year's adventure was planned around Factory of Terror in Fall River, MA. 

It's absolutely true that New England in general is haunted af. Coastal towns like Fall River are even more fucking amplified. It's pleasant and charming enough on a sunny, balmy day, like this past Saturday, but don't let that fool you.

We got to town around noon and our first stop was at a flea market that had advertised itself as a Fall craft fair. Hmm, not so much, although a couple of the vendors had some Halloween/horror related stuff, including this shop, Wicked Weird.

 
The weather was perfect when we arrived, but by the time we left the flea market for our next destination, it was beginning to cloud over. Not surprising for this time of year. 

 

When we had first booked our tickets to Factory of Terror, I noticed that Fall River was just a stone's throw from New Bedford, wherein is located the New Bedford Whaling Museum, a bucket-list destination of mine since I first read (and became obsessed with) the novel Moby-Dick. So I convinced everyone to check out the museum with me.

I imagine New Bedford to be especially especially haunted as fuck, considering its violent past as one of the most important whaling ports in history. The ghosts of dead whales must lurk up and down every corridor, in between the crags of every cobblestone here. That's not even counting the other restless souls who probably linger nearby: widows pining for their husbands lost at sea; Indigenous ancestors betrayed by colonists; sailors who never made it back alive.

And as an animal lover who is particularly fond of whales, I'm not really sure why I also love the novel that is entirely focused on the hunting, brutalizing, and slaughtering of them. Fortunately, the museum devotes a lot of attention to the conservation of whales, not just the history of hunting them for oil.

The main entrance and lobby area displays some impressive, imposing life-size models of whales, and their giant skeletons hovering eerily from the rafters overhead. 

 

Glass cases present an array of other gruesome and fascinating objects: whale fetuses, teeth, brain models, vials of oil, and, yes, a whale penis.

 

Yes, that vertical object on the right is a genuine huge-ass whale penis.

 

In other rooms, there are boats, harpoons and hunting equipment, giant tree-trunk size lengths of rope, massive iron cauldrons, photos, clothing, paintings, and thousands of other whaling and maritime artifacts.

In this room, there is a scale model of a typical whaling vessel. Also, during our visit, there was weirdly a wedding party about to take place. According to the friendly gift shop attendant, the museum is a popular event space - who knew? Well, we do now!

 Across the street, more or less, is a microbrewery named after that infamous white whale, Moby Dick Brewing Company. We ventured out into the rainy afternoon for dinner there before heading to the haunt. Food was great and the beers were pretty damn good too, though I don't partake of it often.

They had these cute "tiki" style glasses too for fancy rum drinks.

As we walked back to the parking garage, night was beginning to set in. Despite it being a Saturday night, New Bedford and Fall River seem to be the sort of towns that just shut down almost completely by darkfall. Both are fairly large metro areas, with populations of roughly 100k people each. But here we were, the sun had barely set and there was practically nobody out and about.

There's all sorts of unsettling/creepy vibes here, from the old architecture, to historical buildings with dubious backstories, to the cobblestone streets, to the empty alleyways and the punched-in LCD screens in lobbies, to unpleasant looking figures in murals. 

 

I don't mean any of this in a critical or derogatory way at all, I honestly love the energy of these places.

Finally, it was about time for us to arrive at our main attraction, the infamous Factory of Terror.

 

A couple of the friends who came along had been to this one years ago, but it was my first time. I'd heard some things about a change in ownership that had a positive impact on the Factory, which had been getting a reputation as lackluster for a few years in a row. None in our squad knew what to expect.
 

Fortunately we didn't have to wait very long at all to get in. We had timed tickets and there was practically no line, which made us wonder if this haunt wouldn't be very good.

I have to say though, that I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I won't give too much away, but here are some of its positive aspects:

• It looked to me as if the vast majority of the props and animatronics were home made, not in a negative way. Whoever puts this together didn't just throw a bunch of money down at Spirit Halloween and call it good. These sets were made by experienced DIY haunters. 
• It didn't use any licensed characters or franchises (not that I noticed, anyway). Yes, to me that is a plus. I don't mind seeing famous movie baddies occasionally in haunts, but it's sort of being done to death in regards to everything else related to Halloween and I'm frankly really fucking tired of it. Of course I have my horror movie favorites, but their overuse makes them not scary anymore. (Familiarity can truly breed contempt -- or at least, boredom.)
  
• The use of lighting, sound effects, and fog machine were great, and the actors were pretty energetic & enthusiastic.
• The murals -- THE MURALS in this haunt -- those blew my mind. All were done in neon paints in great details - screaming skulls, flames, eyes, and other horror motifs, distributed along blacklight-lit corridors in one section of the haunt. They were fantastic, and combined with the sets in somewhat unconventional ways that I hadn't seen before in neon-themed haunts. I wish I knew the artist because I'd love to follow their work. The murals were, to me, worth the cost of admission. (Tangent: Haunted houses/yard haunts/etc. are a seriously underrated form of "outsider"/installation art -- but that topic is for another post)
• There was a gift shop at the end with Factory of Terror tees and hats, plus "oddities" like preserved bat skeletons, crystals, incense, etc. Shut up and take some of my Spacebuxx.
• The overall vibe of this haunt made me pretty damn nostalgic for the ones I used to adore back in the mid to late 90s. Huge, huge plus for me.
  

A few other details:

• This is an indoor-only haunt, so inclement weather is not an issue. However, covid-safety might be an issue for some for this reason. Masks were not mandatory, but we wore them by choice.
• Photos inside the main part of the haunt aren't allowed, which is pretty standard, but there is a photo op spot right when you first enter. One of the hosts will take a pic of your group & text it to you for free.
• The walk itself wasn't too challenging. It's not fully accessible, but anyone who can walk shouldn't have much issue. It's dark in there of course, but the floor is mostly even and if you go take your time going thru the haunt, you will be alright. There's lots to see all around you so why rush, anyway.
• Our whole experience from entry to leaving the parking lot took about an hour & a half. We arrived and parked around 7:30, our timed admission was for 8pm. By the time we got through the haunt, went to the gift shop, and hit the road, it was about 9pm. Of course, your experience may vary; as Halloween gets closer, wait times are likely to increase.
  

I recommend this haunt and give it 7 out of 10 jackos.
[🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃_ _ _ ]

And on the way out of town, don't forget to appreciate the creepy looking buildings in the city. Industrial areas like this always make me feel some type of way. A creeped-out-but-I-don't-know-why way.

 Preeeeeetty sure I saw this shit in a nightmare at some point in my life.

And that's how I spent my first Halloween day trip in 2021! More adventures coming up soon.