As much love as I have for haunted attractions, I must admit that it’s getting harder and harder to justify dropping 20 bucks to walk through a dark building and have costumed actors jump out at me. It’s something I will likely never grow completely out of, but at the same time I must admit to being a little bored of the haunted house formula, now that I’ve walked through so many of them. If you’ve experienced one you’ve kind of experienced them all, is I suppose what I’m getting at.
The people who run these haunted attractions – the smart ones at least – realize this, and have been doing everything they can to spice up their own haunts, adding unique bells and whistles that provide a little bit of a different experience than the norm. It’s quickly becoming a trend for haunts to separate visitors from their friends and make them walk through the attractions all by themselves, and I’ve also seen a few that are advertised as being so frightening that you’re given a special word you can blurt out during the walk-through, if it’s getting too scary for you. There are even a couple of them that allow the actors to physically make contact with you, thus ratcheting up the fear element and really pulling you out of your comfort zone.
No matter what the gimmick is that’s being employed, that’s precisely what these things are; gimmicks. Much like 3D movies, the idea is to pull potential visitors in by offering up something unique and special, which they simply won’t be able to let the Halloween season slip by without experiencing. And when it comes to gimmicks, nobody is doing it more differently this year than Pennsylvania’s Shocktoberfest.
Located in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, Shocktoberfest is a haunted scream park that has been running for 22 years now, and has scooped up all sorts of awards – including being deemed the #1 Must-See Haunted Attraction of 2009, in Haunted Attraction Magazine. Rather than just being one haunted attraction, Shocktoberfest is a park full of them, three individual attractions plus two very special new additions for the impending 2013 season. And one of those new additions is taking something away from you; not your friends, but your clothes!
Dubbed the ‘Naked and Scared Challenge,’ the idea of this most unique of haunted experiences is to take you as far out of your comfort zone as possible – by making you walk through the attraction completely nude. At the end of the night, when all those boring clothed customers have gone through the steampunk-themed haunted house ‘The Unknown,’ you can pay $20 to strip naked in a holding area and then enter the pitch black building without even the comfort of your own clothing. “Shocktoberfest has created this experience so their customers can explore a new level of fear,” they say.
If being buck naked is a little too hardcore for you, you can take the park up on their ‘prude’ option, which gives you the same experience, only you’re allowed to keep your underwear on. Though at that point, you might as well just go for it and walk through as God made you!
All who are taking part in the Naked and Scared Challenge must be 18 years of age or older, and will be required to sign a waiver before entering. Shocktoberfest’s website promises that nobody who is clothed will be able to see you nude, and they also mention that no sexual misconduct will be tolerated. Can’t help but wonder what they’re asking you to agree to on that waiver though…
You can purchase tickets for the various different attractions at the scream park over on the Shocktoberfest website. Since limited tickets are available for the Naked and Scared Challenge, they encourage you to order them in advance. The park will be open from September 27th through November 3rd, and the challenge itself takes place every night except Sunday.
If you make it out for this, be sure to comment below and let us know how it went. Just keep the pictures to yourself, will ya?