Orcutt's version returns from the dead this year

By Mark BaylisStaff Writer

Don't be fooled by the banal exterior of the Orcutt Fire Station.

There are no cute Dalmations inside the Union Street building today. There are no cherry red fire engines inside or any of the traditional shiny equipment that captivates children.

Behind the station's tranquil façade, a lynched corpse swings from the rafters, a mangled cadaver lies on an operating table, and chipped gravestones creep up from an overgrown cemetery within the garage.

Back from the dead is the fire department's annual Haunted House and Carnival, which returns after a year off to welcome thousands of expected visitors to a new batch of horrors tonight.

Firefighters are confronted with horrific images throughout their career. Perhaps it's no surprise that a group of firefighters would put together one of the most gripping haunted house in the North County.

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The crew of volunteer firemen have spent three weeks transforming the station into a maze of terror and expect 4,500 visitors tonight to visit the house and carnival, which will fill the 300 block of Union Street in Old Orcutt with music, games and food.

Fire Engineer Joey Cappo said the crew strained their brains to come up with new ideas this year. The challenge to reinvent the haunted house sparked Cappo to acquire a real coffin, which he brought from San Diego in the back of his truck, earning him disturbed looks from fellow drivers for the five-hour trip.

He hopes to get the same reaction tonight.

“It's a strange phenomenon, isn't it? People go in knowing they're going to be scared,” Cappo said, about the popularity of haunted houses. “We've gotten a few people we've had to escort out because they get too scared.”

Jason Davie can't explain the phenomenon of fear as fun either, but claims Halloween as is his favorite holiday. Davie is the brains behind the haunted house at the Abel Maldonado Community Center, which has been running since Friday.

“When I was a kid, I was scared of everything,” Davie said. “Now I get a kick out of watching everyone else get scared and have a good time.”

The thrill is contagious for others too. Davie shares a story of how one adolescent boy refused his friends' urges to go into the haunted house all Friday night, too scared to go with them. After he finally relented, he marched up to Davie and asked if he could be a participant.

By Saturday night, he was dressed as a scarecrow and crucified on a stake inside the maze, raising his limp head to shout at groups of visitors huddled together as they scurried through the dark alleys of the haunted house.

At the Maldonado Center, boys and girls line up outside the maze, becoming visibly more nervous as they reach the front of the line and anxiously quiz people who are leaving about how scared they were.

They jump as the roar of a chain saw rips the air and listen to the shrieks echoing from inside the gymnasium. Then the door opens, and they are shown inside to be spooked by butchered heads, demonic clowns and projectile mannequins.

Both haunted houses recommend against anyone younger than 7 or 8 years old entering.

The Maldonado Center Haunted House, 600 S. McClelland St., finishes its run tonight from 7 to 10 o'clock. The Orcutt Fire Department's Haunted House and Carnival, 300 block Union Street, runs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Boomers! Family Fun Center, 2250 Preisker Lane, is hosting its third annual Halloween Fright Nights event tonight. Employees have transformed the business into a “Halloween Horrorville,” with a sinister circus theme. It runs from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Mark Baylis can be reached at 739-2218 or mbaylis@santa

mariatimes.com.

October 31, 2005