Laurie Hahn
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
PALM COAST, Fla. — Prepare to be scared.
Take a walk past the “human sacrifice” and into the “Chop Shop,” while the strobe lights, fog and eerie music add to the creepy mood.
These are just two of the chilling attractions at the Palm Coast Fire Department’s 20th annual Hall of Terror, and because it’s free, you can go through as many times as you dare.
Fire Department Lt. Dan Driscoll is the brains behind the show, and this is his eighth year working on the Hall of Terror. He said this weekend’s event is a kind of compilation of previous years and includes some enhanced sound and visual effects.
The setup at Fire Station 21 takes about a week, he said, but the planning takes a lot longer.
“I start flushing out an idea in the spring, early summer, so I start making some lists,” he said. Then he and representatives of the Firefighters Union and the Volunteer Firefighters Association sat down and made the final plans, as well as the dates for preparing the rooms.
He said there are between 50 to 60 people at the fire station each night, directing traffic, manning the door, working as actors and more.
Fire Chief Jerry Forte and Lt. Rich Cline developed the Hall of Terror 20 years ago simply as a place for kids to get candy, Forte said.
Forte and Cline brought some supplies and effects to the fire station, “and kids would come in and we’d scare them small,” Forte said. “And it grew from there — it grew exponentially.”
“We started it because a lot of kids are out on Halloween and there’s nothing for them to do,” Forte said. “Twenty years ago they said there was nothing to do in Palm Coast so we gave them something. And it’s free and it’s safe.”
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Driscoll said they can see as many as 1,200 to 2,000 visitors a night. When Halloween falls on a weekend, the Hall of Terror is open for three nights, but if it’s during the week, they do only two.
“But when it’s all said and done, we probably average between 2,500 to 3,000 over a two-day, and then a three-day, we’re up over 3,000 easily,” he said.
Forte added, “You figure 20 years of that, and nobody was charged a dollar to come in.”
Forte and Driscoll recommend that children no younger than 12 go through the Hall of Terror, but they don’t police the families who come in.
“It can get pretty scary,” Driscoll said, “but we’re never going to turn people away. If you want to be the parent that brings your 2-year-old through, I’ve seen it when they push strollers through, and we stop them and we’re like, ‘It’s probably not the best idea,’ but if they want to do it, we’re not going to turn them away. We have security, we do have people in place, that way if they become overwhelmed, we can pull them out safely. Thankfully we’ve not had any serious incidents with anybody.”
Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin said he’s never experienced the Fire Department’s haunted rooms before.
“I’m a little nervous,” he said. “So I’m a newly minted mayor that’s never been through the house of horror before.”
He said he thinks the public for the most part just wants to get out of the house, and if the large Creekside Festival attendance was any indication, he hopes that will translate into lots of Hall of Terror visitors.
“Everybody is very conscious of the increased levels of scrutiny to ensure safety, so I hope the community will understand everybody’s pulling together to make this as safe and as fun as possible,” he said.
The Hall of Terror is open from 7-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 7-10 p.m. on Halloween. The terror takes place at Fire Station 21, 9 Corporate Drive, in Palm Coast. Admission is free.
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