Plainville, Connecticut, U.S.A. – In this small town, Hollywood’s most famous monsters are kept eerily alive with the help of artist Cortlandt Hull and his museum, The Witch’s Dungeon.
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Named after the first lifelike figure, Zenobia – Hull says she is a “Gypsy witch,” – the museum showcases the last decades of classic horror film history.
Hull, who was fascinated by horror films and their monsters even as a child and created Zenobia at age 14, began his artistic career by building small Aurora horror figures. When these became too small for him, he began building larger, lifelike figures.
Today, the museum Hull created as a teenager is full of classic horror figures and original movie props. Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the museum.
Even today, Zenobia cackles as she welcomes visitors at the entrance to the exhibition, her greeting recorded by the late June Foray, a voice actor.
Visitors also hear from the late Hollywood star Vincent Price, who also loaned his voice to the museum. Through his work with the museum, Hull became friends with Price.
The museum is divided into two exhibitions: one, dubbed “The House of Wax,” showcases Hull’s lifelike recreations of iconic movie monsters and another is filled with rare collectibles and signed film posters.
Each figure, from Frankenstein’s Monster and The Phantom of the Opera to Maleficent, is crafted with glass eyes, human hair, and painstaking detail. Many of these Universal Studio classics, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Mummy celebrate their 90th anniversary this year.
Hull, whose mother worked as a costume designer on Broadway, often collaborated with her on pieces like the Red Death to bring the figures to life.
Some figures are made of fiberglass or latex, while others – true to the exhibition’s name of the wax museum – are wax. His most intricate piece – the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, took nearly a year to complete.
Hull’s passion for movie magic grew thanks to his great-uncle Henry Hull, who starred in the 1935 film, WereWolf of London.
“My uncle knew how much I loved make-up, so he introduced me to these Hollywood artists,” Hull recalls. “That’s where I got all these collectibles from. I’ve never bought anything.”
For Hull, each creation is a race against time and imagination.
“The fastest figure I ever made was for a film production in Florida,” he says. “They gave me three weeks, and I worked day and night to get it finished. When I brought it down, they were surprised I had finished on time, because nobody ever meets the deadline.”
Decades later, Hull’s creations still come alive each day, when the Witches Dungeon opens and the shadows of classic horror stir once more.
To find out more about the Witch’s Dungeon, including operating hours, go to its website at www.preservehollywood.org.
Lina Marie Schulenkorf is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International.
