The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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Halloween frightful fun hosted in Bucks County

With Halloween just around the corner, it is no secret that local farms such as Shady Brook and Active Acres are kicking off the fall season with some intriguing haunted attractions and gruesome characters, but what about the people behind the scenes?
Shady Brook’s Horrorfest is being hosted every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this month with attractions including an eerie adventure through the farm on the Hayride and Barn of Horror, an out-of-this-world experience at Alien Encounter, and in-your-face mayhem at Carnage.
Meg Davis, of Southhampton, has a fun time tapping into people’s fears as a clown in the hayride in a custom suit she designed and made herself. She also helps create the creepy creatures that haunt the farm, putting her touches on the eerie special effects make-up for the actors in the attractions.
Working at Horrorfest for the past three years, she always keeps busy transforming about 15 to 20 actors each night into some horrifying creations. Atop her personal list of favorite transformations is the horror classic- the zombie! David explains briefly, “To make the zombie, I glue the prosthetic onto the person’s face, then I smooth out the edges using clear latex, after that we airbrush a ‘zombie’ color over him layering grey, green, and black, and finally I finish the look with blood.”
Shady Brook is always adding something new for its anxious guests that dare to enter in the month of October and Davis has put in a helping hand by designing costumes as well as make-up for some of the new scenes added to the haunted hayride this year. This includes frontier women and costumes covered in blood for a new science area called “Source of Evil!”
With all of this to juggle, Davis keeps coming back each year. She says, “My favorite thing about working at Horrorfest is being able to completely transform the actors, and mainly being able to scare people!” After all, who wouldn’t want to get paid to scare people all night?
Another Bucks County haunted farm is Active Acres which hosts Sleepy Hallow’s infamous Haunted Hayride, the equally thrilling Haunted House in the Hollow, and of course the horrifying Field of Fright! Devin Doehm, 19, of Newtown, has worked at Sleepy Hollow, acting in the Haunted House, since the age of 14.
Usually dressed as a bloody nurse or a demon, Doehm takes people’s blood pressure before they walk into the horror ahead of them and has mainly acted in the house. In the past few years he has gotten into the special effects make-up, and helps to get the actors prepared for their scenes in the house.
Doehm says, “My favorite part about working at Sleepy Hollow are the friends I have made there over the years.” Like Davis, Doehm loves being able to scare people and looks forward to it.
Whether you are a thrill seeker or just looking for some Halloween fun, these are the places to come experience for yourself. Shady Brook and Active Acres have been established as go-to attractions in the Bucks County area. For an evening filled with fun and fright that keeps you on your toes, be sure to witness your worst nightmares come to life. Happy Halloween!