It’s Halloween time again.
Whether you’ll admit it or not, people like to be spooked. Horror films, books and television shows are still extremely popular, especially with the 17- to 26-year old demographic.
 Ace Hendrickson, dressed as a 'dead sister,' is ready to greet haunted house visitors as they move from room to room at Gateway to Darkness in Wasilla. |
Cashing in on the fear factor in the Valley is a recently erected haunted house in Wasilla that has had many people scared out of their gourds. Those who braved the experience and lived to tell about it told others and lines have began to form outside the house’s doors.
The once empty No. 4 Quonset hut on Melanie Drive magically has transformed over a four month period into the Gateway to Darkness, probably the biggest self-induced scare factory for teens and adults in Alaska, thanks in large part to owners Sam and Michelle.
For this article, Sam and Michelle’s last names have been omitted to keep their day identities kept secret.
Gateway of Darkness is a full-fledged haunted house filled with a maze of themed rooms inhabited with 15 real ghouls, ghosts and goblins. Actors dressed up in realistic and horrific detail inhabit the house three days a week. The one-floor building is chock full of elaborate props and costumes.
For Sam and Michelle, detail was everything.
“Where I grew up, it was a big deal at Halloween and you got to be a kid again,” Sam said. “What did you do when you were three-years-old? You probably hid around the corner around and went ‘boo.’ Scaring people is so much fun.”
Sam and Michelle were married in 1991 and soon learned that they had more in common than just day-to-day interests, they shared a bond of the supernatural.
They both loved to be scared.
An idea came one year to transform their two-car garage into a miniature grave yard for their kids and their friends and a haunted house was born.
“The next year we did it again and got more supplies to make it better,” Sam said. “My wife got online to learn about special effects and makeup, and we found a conference in L.A. where people actually got together and round-tabled how to start up a haunted house.”
Sam and Michelle had so much fun at the L.A. conference that they went to Denver for a similar gathering the same year.
When they got home, they were full of ideas and set up a haunted garage once more. They began making and ordering costumes, props, makeup and special effects, getting advice from haunted house experts and people in the business of scare. Together, they toured over 30 haunted houses around the United States, taking notes and paying attention at what worked and got the screams.
According to Sam and Michelle, their eye for detail last Halloween brought over 1,500 people to their haunted garage.
One of the noticeable attractions at Gateway of Darkness is the full-sized, operational electric chair. In it sits an odd looking, yet life-like man, who unexpectedly receives a loud jolt of energy once you enter the room. The chair and it’s victim shake wildly, creating a maniacal light and sound show that sends chills literally up your spine.
Sam and Michelle’s first big scare project has been filled with plenty of surprises and lessons learned.
“We learned to be a lot more organized the next time around,” Michelle said. “It takes a long time to put everything together. It takes a lot of coordinating with the City, Fire Marshall and setting up the rooms, but ti all finally comes together nicely in the end.”
Sam and Michelle said that with what they’ve seen in the lower-48, it was just a matter of time before the technology to erect a modern haunted house in Alaska became a reality.
“We just want to bring things we’ve seen down south to the people up here,” Michelle said. “There’s a lot of features we have that many people in Alaska haven’t seen before.”
Gateway’s construction phase took five months, but Michelle and Sam have been preparing their haunted house for almost a year. They developed floor plans that give patrons over five minutes of frightening features.
Michelle and Sam don’t want to reveal all of Gateway’s scary secrets, saying mystery is part of the experience.
There’s a torture room, equipped with an executioner, a Victorian library, a hockey mask emporium, and illusions galore, all in a short yet heart-pumping trip. Visitors must feel their way through strange sounds, smells and textures, with inevitably always something lurking in the darkness. Your name will be heard by strange voices and screams will surely follow.
“The Valley needed some different entertainment,” Sam said. “We believe we are providing something that a lot of people here haven’t seen before.”
Gateway to Darkness is not for young children under 12 years old, this attraction is geared towards teens and adults.
Anchorage resident Ace Hendrickson loves to be scared. This year, Hendrickson added Scare Master to her resume. Hendrickson plays one of the many actors lurking within Gateway who’s job is to horrify and traumatize. She plays the fictitious dead sister of Chelsea, Sam and Michelle’s real daughter, and walks around in a dead-like daze asking questions. Her face is cold and baron, her eyes piercing and alive.
“My character is a toss up between Linda Blair and a cabbage patch kid,” Hendrickson said. “I get to pick the make-up, costume and spooky contact lenses, which made my character pretty unique to my tastes.”
Hendrickson was talked into working at Gateway of Darkness by her boyfriend. She has spent the last month arriving early on the weekend to suit up into character. On some nights she works the ticket counter inside, as a dominatrix or a character suiting her mood for the day. Then she waits with the other actors for the victims to show. Inside the walls, she stands ready, waiting for the signal. A horn or radio ear-piece alerts her to incoming patrons. It’s show time.
Hendrickson thinks people love getting scared regardless of what they say. That fear is a natural adrenaline rush and should be tapped into.
“It’s like watching a train wreck,” Hendrickson said. “You don’t want to do it, but find you can’t stop it. Most of the time it’s to see if you can actually BE scared, like a test of bravery for some.”
Hendrickson, Sam and Michelle have seen everything from the typical reactions to their creations, to the not so expected.
“A couple of adults wet themselves,” said Sam. “Several people have actually ran out yelling.”
Hendrickson said her costumes have produced similar reactions.
“It’s not some cheesy thing with chicken wire,” she said. “That’s the whole point. Last weekend I scared a little kid. I felt bad, and he had to be walked out. It kind of gets addicting after a while. There’s a thrill of upsetting people. I like to keep an element of surprise in what I do, so I’m always there watching you.”
Sam and Michelle said they wanted to be able to entertain a 18- to 24-year-old target audience and that kids should not show up at their haunted house this year, saying trick or treating might suit them better.
“We figure if we can scare a 20-year-old male, we can scare anyone,” Sam said. “No one leaves our haunted house disappointed.”
Wasilla resident and two-time Gateway patron, Eric Unruh, said he definitely wasn’t disappointed.
“It wasn’t what I expected, it was more,” Unruh said.
Unruh, 21, showed up at Gateway to Darkness with seven others expecting a “weak haunted house,” but he got a different experience all together.
“The rooms were decorated well and the atmosphere was super-sick,” he said. “I went a second time because the girl I was with was too scared.”
Unruh said his favorite feature was the tunnel where he was chased by an unidentified life form through the halls with a chain saw.
If that wasn’t scary enough, Sam and Michelle plan on operating Gateway of Darkness again next year, making it even more frightening. Eek!
Gateway to Darkness is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and will run all week long starting Oct. 25 until Halloween. Admission is $12 a victim.
The haunted house is located at 1241 W. Melanie Ave., #4 in Wasilla.
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