Here we are, a few short days till Halloween. This past week we’ve been highlighting the celebration of things that go bump in the night, that hurry past the perimeter of our fears.
One of the Beltway area’s best venues to dive into the dark is HOWL-O-SCREAM at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg. It’s on this weekend, Oct. 26, 27 and 28. A check on the weather shows the 26th and 27th should be okay. But there’s ghoulish stuff brewing off shore and from the northwest. Frankenstorm could put the kibosh on all of the region’s outdoor activities beginning Sunday, Oct. 28.
So, while ye may, make tracks to HOWL-0-SCREAM. Among the attractions:
- Night Beats, a show that serves up music from the twenties till today. Lights, song, dance and a devilishly good time are to be had.
- The Dead Line is a daunting maze that opens wide at 5:30 p.m. It’s a line of the Pompeii Metro. Busch Gardens says workers struck an ancient pipe from whence a thick, sinister mist issued. Suddenly, you’re trapped, and “The difficult decision was made to cut off all communication to the outside world.” This one’s scary folks.
- Love vampires? Wing your way to Bitten, a house set in eastern Europe that’s full of vampire lore and legend. You might consider bringing along a bit of garlic, just for good measure.
- Fear Fair lurks under a big, tattered tent – a place Busch Gardens says houses “a fantastic collection of freaks, psychotic clowns and other insane oddities.”
- Catacombs has nothing to do with fluffy little kittens. Deep within its tunnels lie a bunch of bilious bones. Creep along the dank, dreary tunnel serenaded by the voices of the dead.
The screams may be cool for older kids and teens, but the folks who put on the show ask you exercise parental discretion because all this “may be too intense for young children.”
(Image: Chris Doelle)
