Scare actors Saffrina Dylan, Elizabeth Cavanaugh and Willow Farber leer and hiss.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
AGAWAM — There is something deeply unnerving about hearing wild screams coming from human beings, perhaps moreso when you cannot see the people making the noise. Your breathing quickens and your heart beats loudly in your ears, punctuated by slamming doors, scraping metal and unhinged laughter. That is the soundtrack of Fright Fest at Six Flags New England.
Six Flags New England’s regular season ends on Labor Day weekend. As soon as the doors close, employees begin the herculean task of transforming the amusement park into a series of haunted houses, horror shows and scary attractions. Instead of cartoons and superheroes, the park is decorated with skeletons, tombstones and animatronic ghouls. Haybales adorn the streets, ragged fabric hangs from trees.
“It’s one of our busiest times of the year,” said Sydney Snow, regional manager, public relations for Six Flags New England.
Reflecting on the reason people like to be scared, Brand Marketing Manager Raymond Sciarretta said, “It’s that safe, contained fun. You have a certain expectation of you know what’s going to happen, but at the same time you have no idea when or what exactly it’s going to be, so the anticipation is probably the most fun piece for people.” He added, “It’s just a lot of fun to watch your friends and family be scared.”
There are seven scare zones throughout the park. From CarnEvil to Screampunk and Necropolis: City of the Dead, the scare zones are themed areas of the park that guests wander through on their way from one attraction to another. Like most horror-themed entertainment venues, there are mazes and haunted houses. Each room of Nightmares is themed around different classic phobias, such as clowns and the dentist. Meanwhile, Camp Killamore is set up as a haunted summer camp. Slasher Circus 3D, Terror Tales and Midnight Mansion haunted mazes, sponsored by M&M’s, Skittles and Snickers, respectively. Guests can also take in one of five themed shows in which scare actors sing and dance and even do comedy.
Even though many of the scare zones and attractions are the same from year to year, Sciarretta said the experience changes every time people come to Fright Fest. That is largely due to the scare actors that populate the park’s spooky spaces and creepy corridors. The actors perform in locations across roughly 200 acres, and each space must be choreographed for perfect timing and maximum effect. Sciarretta said much of the choreography and timing is trial-and-error, worked out between the actors. Veteran actors will often suggest tips to first-timers or actors will compliment one another on their techniques. Each scare actor has their favorite scare zone.
“I like the midways, which is the scare zones that guests walk through in the park,” said scare actor Brady Russell. Gesturing to the Haunted Mansion in which they stood, they said, “For me, personally, this sort of attraction is a little too intimate. My characters that I bring are super high-energy, so I like having that open space to create those moments.”
Ashton Connor, who usually performs in one of the shows, said, “When I do get my little nights for scaring, I do enjoy the D4, which is Slasher’s Circus and Nightmares. So, a little more high-energy with clowns.”
Elizabeth Cavanaugh said of the Midnight Mansion, “This is my home, my house where I love to scare. I’ve been scaring here for three years. I love the cut-throughs, all the secret passageways that you can get anywhere in the house from any room. Hidden scares. I love the characters that come out. Seeing the characters that people develop in the mansion and taking them out on the midway, like what Brady was saying, that’s what I love about Fright Fest.”
Saffrina Dylan said, “I like getting down and dirty, so mine is more like the Grove, where I can spread out more.” The Grove is the area of the park where Camp Killamore and Terror Tales are staged. “It gives me both of the midway but also of the mansion, where it’s like indoors, kind of, and I can venture out wherever I need to,” they said. “For the end of it, I can chase. I love a good chase, where I can chase them out and make them want to come back for more.”
Scare actors arrive an hour or two before the park opens each day to receive an assignment of where to scare, change into costume and have their makeup applied. In the make-up room, artist Atlas Parker laid out her tools at one of the five stations. An array of paint bottles in a palette of rich colors was lined up on the table, next to an airbrush tool and a set of brushes. To allow me to experience the full effect of being a scare actor, Parker applied makeup to my face. They screwed a bottle of gray-white paint onto the airbrush tool and had me close my eyes, before spraying a fine mist of the color across my face and neck. Parker worked for about 15 minutes, adding layer after layer of make-up, before mixing up a container of dark red “blood” to add the finishing touches. The paint dried almost instantaneously, but the blood remained tacky, sticking strands of my hair to my face when it blew in the breeze.
Occasionally, scare actors fall in love with a specific look and request it each time they get in the make-up chair, Parker said. Generally, though, the make-up artists are free to be as creative as they like, provided they stick to the scare actor’s assignment theme.
Before being allowed to frighten anyone, each scare actor must attend Ghoul School. There, the 200-plus people who are hired as actors each season learn breathing techniques, physical acting, and how to move their bodies, alter their voices and exude menace in a way that will provide the best experience for guests. They also learn how to scare safely. The scare actors are encouraged to get close to guests but never touch them and maintain a certain distance. This keeps the guests safe and the actor safe from guests who sometimes react in unexpected ways.
“I won’t lie about it, it does happen,” Dylan said of guests lashing out of fear. “But our best way of, like, dealing with it is always letting our actors know if you are arm’s length, you’re good,” they said of the distance between a scare actor and a guest.
That said, Cavanaugh added, “If I scare you so bad that you get angry and you paid to be here, I did a good job.”
Scare actors also know when to step back to not overwhelm a guest and to respect people wearing “No Boo” necklaces, which can be purchased to alert the actors that they want a monster-free guest experience.
For more information about Fright Fest, including tickets, visit sixflags.com/newengland.
