Terror of Tallahassee is an annual haunted attraction

Haunted attraction

A haunted attraction is a form of entertainment that simulates the experience of entering a haunted location that might be inhabited by ghosts, monsters, criminals, humorous characters, and other such creatures...

 that opens every October in Tallahassee, Florida

Tallahassee, Florida

Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...

. With a performance area spanning more than 20,000 square feet [1], it is one of the largest haunts in Florida. Unlike the corporate haunts with which it competes, Terror of Tallahassee doesn’t admit patrons in a continuous line, but rather, in small groups. It also foregoes modern animatronics in favor of elaborate illusions, gruesome special effects, and a large cast (30 to 45) performers [1]. “Monsters, murderers, and madmen menace isolated customers as they try to traverse the long, twisting passages in the dark" [2]. Because of the intense scares, it is rated PG13 and parents are strongly cautioned against sending their kids [3].

History

Three giant warehouses make up the main building. They were originally part of a F-R-M grain depot built in 1950, but it was closed for a number of years before the property sold in 1999. The new owners gutted the steel building and rebuilt the interior into a giant maze with secret passages for the staff to surprise patrons. It was opened as Nightmares Haunted House in September 2000. It lasted two seasons before closing in 2001. It reopened in 2002 as Bloodlines Haunted House, but again closed. It reopened under new management in 2003 as Terror of Tallahassee and has grown ever since [4].

Spook Show Influence

Many of the special effects used at the Terror of Tallahassee originated in the traveling spook shows of yesteryear [5]. During the mid-20th century, magicians including Bill Neff, Ray-mond Corbin, and Phillip Morris spellbound millions with black magic shows held in movie theaters at midnight. Their dark performances would feature decapitations, cremations, disintegrations, and similar macabre illusions [6]. Such magicians were called “Ghost Masters,” but the Spook Shows slowly disappeared in the 1970s as older theaters were closed and rebuilt without stages. Kurt Kuersteiner, the managing director at Terror of Tallahassee, traveled the country to meet the surviving Ghost Masters in 2005 while directing a documentary on their craft. As a result, many of the classic illusions they pioneered have been resurrected at the haunt [7].

Sunland Asylum

Another influence on the attraction was Tallahassee’s legendary Sunland hospital [8]. Closed in the 1980s, it was originally built as the W.T. Edwards Tuberculosis Hospital, where many T.B. patients were quarantined until their death. It was closed and reopened in the 1968 as Sunland, a hospital housing children with mental disabilities. It became infamous for patient neglect and allegations of cruel and “sub-human” treatment. The dilapidated building was closed for good in 1983 and was widely believed to be haunted. The controversial hospital and its unfortunate inhabitants are recreated in a segment of the haunt. It features equipment salvaged from the hospital before it was demolished in 2006 and further boasts, “(that) the spirits came along for the ride at no extra charge!” [9].

Spine Tingler

The Terror of Tallahassee is also the first public testing facility for the “Spine Tingler” [10], a specially designed rotary woofer

Rotary Woofer

The Rotary Woofer is a subwoofer-style loudspeaker which reproduces very low frequency content by using a conventional speaker voice coil's motion to change the pitch of a set of fan blades rotating at a constant speed...

 that reproduces the subsonic sound spectrum (0 to 20 Hz). Although most of the sound is too low for humans to hear, they can subliminally detect it as the air pressure in the building is affected (see: Infrasound

Infrasound

Infrasound is sound that is lower in frequency than 20 Hz or cycles per second, the "normal" limit of human hearing. Hearing becomes gradually less sensitive as frequency decreases, so for humans to perceive infrasound, the sound pressure must be sufficiently high...

). Advocates claim it “tingles the nerves” [11] and enhances the feelings of a supernatural experience.

Community Theater

Terror of Tallahassee is staffed by an army of volunteers, much like a community theater. Many of the actors return year after year. Most of the props, illusions and scenes are custom designed and built from scratch by the same performers [12]. Although the building is closed eleven months out of the year, the staff continues to build and modify it during the off-season. Management boasts that this provides a unique experience not found anywhere else.

Future Fate

Since the first year it opened, Terror of Tallahassee has operated under the shadow of the Gaines Street Revitalization Project. The original goals of the project threatened to demolish the haunt in order to expand the road beside it, but new plans in 2009 called for reducing the width of Gaines Street instead [13]. However, other changing goals of the project and the resulting gentrification

Gentrification

Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...

continue to threaten the long-term prospects of the attraction.

External Links

www.TerrorOfTallahassee.com