Halloween is on Friday and with that in mind, we’re taking on the haunted this week with the Volusia County community of Cassadaga. It was formed in the late 1800s as a retreat for the séance-focused spiritualism religion. Today, it’s the spot for psychics, crystal shops, tarot card readings, and many, many ghost stories – so what better place than the legend-soaked century-old hotel in the center of town for a Halloween haunted house?
This year, the Cassadaga Haunted Attractions company has two, actually – the more family-friendly Urban Legends experience that winds through part of the hotel itself, and CarnEvil, a fully-interactive attraction that might be too much for kids!
Company co-producers Kim Jost and Duane “DJ” Lane cavort in character among the 80 or so scare-actors that fill the attraction in the unique town of Cassadaga, where the community vibe is strong, and the presence of ghosts and spirits are simply a way of life.
Haunted Year Round
“We have the Lady in White, who you'll see kind of up in the top hotel windows,” said Jost, referring to the ghosts who are said to haunt the hotel year-round. “Or we have our lovely friend Arthur,” she added, rumored to be a cigar-puffing former maintenance man at the hotel who loved the place so much that he stayed after his demise, trailing the scent of tobacco in his ghostly wake. “I mean, he has a burger named after him in the restaurant!”
As for the haunted attractions themselves, Jost and Lane stay consistent with Cassadaga’s historic vibe and eschew big-budget animatronics or high-tech scares. Lane said he’s proud to run the two sprawling mom-and-pop haunts, packed with 80-plus trained scare-actors, handcrafted sets, and two meticulously plotted mazes.
That way, he said, it’s never the same experience twice. “We’re always changing. It’s always evolving even after we open,” explained Lane. “We change the sets around, we change the lighting around, we add things, we take away things, to keep it interesting and keep people guessing.”
Community First
Underneath the shocking makeup and behind all the bloodcurdling screams, though, is the beating heart of a community-minded organization, said Jost. The company hosted a Halloween “pin-up ghoul” contest for charity, for example. And some of the scare-actors are local high school students who arrived painfully shy but found their voices in the haunt. “It’s heart-warming to see them fearlessly run up to strangers and do a great scare!” she said proudly.
“We are a small-town home haunt that just loves Halloween,” said Lane, “and we love being able to share that passion with everyone and anyone that we can.”
