BRISTOL, Connecticut, U.S.A. — There I was, standing in a corner, right by the bleeding fountain, wearing my stylin’ brown robe and Grim Reaper mask and acting like a statue. I was just doing my job — jumping out at people and scaring them — when around the corner came my next victim.
He was about 18, the last in a group of people. He passed me, thinking I was just a statue. I decided to show him otherwise. I crept up behind him, intending to scare him out of his mind.
I succeeded.
He turned back, saw me, gave a frightened scream, tripped over his own feet and fell on his butt.
Then he ran away like a scared puppy. I laughed so hard and I could not stop — not even to scare the next group of people as they came around the corner.
That’s what it’s like to work inside The Haunted Graveyard.
The real fun of working inside the spookiest spot intown, is, of course, scaring the crap out of people.
It’s one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done, and is leaving me with memories I’ll never forget.
There are material perks that go along with this volunteer job, too: you can earn prizes for working, like tickets and season passes to Lake Compounce, tee shirts, and gift certificates to Bob’s Stores. And you get free food.
But there are disadvantages and hazards to this job, too.
One girl, who was playing a statue like me, suffered a broken nose. Some guy — who supposedly had too much to drink before his trip to the Graveyard — got way out of line. He apparently wanted to play a tough guy, and thinking the girl was really a statue, decided to punch it.
So all she did was stand there doing her job and she gets a broken nose.
There are also the weird people that walk through the haunted house.
You’ve got the guys who think they’re big and tough and swear and call you names, the groups who get so scared — or laugh so hard — that they almost pee their pants, and the assorted oddballs.
One lady actually tried to hug me and one guy walked though dressed as a woman.
But it’s all for Halloween — and to raise money for juvenile diabetes — so it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re having fun.
Danielle Letourneau is a Reporter for Youth Journalism International.