My
sister's side of the group arrived at our house around 5:00 PM, right on schedule. We hung out in what became a cramped living room for about a quarter hour. I called
Keith up and he said although the rest of his group weren't there yet, we were welcome to come. We travel around the block and I made introductions. His group wasn't set to arrive for another half hour, and some people expressed concern about getting food, so we decided to go drive around
Route 22 and choose a place to get some quick eats. We stopped by
Wendy's and returned to Keith's.
His cousin Rob, who brought the remainder of the group, was a little late and arrived around 6:15 PM. We ended up with four cars, and headed off to Pennsylvania. Traffic, and the fact that we were trying to keep all four cars together, resulted in a pretty slow trip. We arrived at Rob's house in Palmer a little after an hour. We still had to wait for a few more people who were coming from Staten Island. In the meantime, Keith showed a few of us who were interested his new Valentine radar detector, and the rest watched television and played billiards.
When the group was finally complete, we headed off to the Haunted Inn. It seemed simple enough - follow Route 191 North then take Route 360 when it hits the junction. 191, however, is one twisty road. There were a lot of traffic lights, and we missed turns twice, which ended up in a really long trip. One odd little incident involved a turn at a traffic light. We were turning right, and opposing traffic was turning left onto the same road. The opposing traffic was slowed down by Spiderman. Yes, Spiderman. Some guy in a (classic red-and-blue) Spiderman suit was running around the road trying to stop cars, frantically waving his arms.
We finally make it to the Haunted Inn. Traffic was backed up to the entrance. The parking attendants explained they had insufficient parking and were parking cars as space freed it. After 15 minutes, we were able to park. I hadn't parallel parked since I took my driver's exam, but one of my passengers hopped out and guided me.
All four car groups were split up and we all assembled after about 10 minutes of trying to find each other. We still had to wait in line that extended for a good 1/16 of a mile, out in the cold. We finally got in after 45 minutes. One of the proprietors explained the history off the Inn. It was built in 1901 as a resort facility and operated for 90 years before it was abandoned. Looking at the massive structures, it was apparent they were not taken care of at all. I started wondering if it was safe to set foot inside. I was more worried about the building collapsing than ghosts. The proprietor continued to explain that there were several deaths and suicides, and that there were no props, no fake surprises. It would be an "all-natural haunting experience."
Yeah, whatever.
Every door in every hallway was slightly ajar, and once in a while someone would pop out of one and scare you. Some were armed with buzzers and compressed air. I was quite annoyed that the proprietor lied. There really was no reason to do that except to make the first scare more surprising. After that, it just became totally lame. I had been to much better haunted Xs than this before. For such a massive structure and excellent location, it was a real letdown.
We decided to try to go get to the Haunted Greenhouse on Route 512 before it closed at midnight. Some in the group had already been there and thought it was so much better. Exiting the Inn location, we got separated by other cars. We lost the first two cars, and since we didn't know how to get to the place, we just decided to get to Interstate 80 and go home.
This ride went a lot quicker, and we decided to go to a diner. Then we called it a day.