The Simpson, Pa., haunt features a 1960s Funni-Frite funhouse
By Tara Adams
Haunt Hunters App
A desolate, wooded stretch just off South Main Street in Simpson, Pa., is home to a frightful step back in time, where a vintage haunted attraction delivers old school ghouls, gags and scares.
Massacre Mansion, near Carbondale, doesn't boast many of the most expensive animatronics or high tech computer-generated effects.
But what it does have is its own throwback niche in an industry that often pushes the latest and greatest in costly haunt innovations.
Open for approximately 10 years, one of Massacre Mansion's biggest draws is an old Funni-Frite funhouse built in the 1960s, which attracts visitors from across the country.
Two visitors trekked from Michigan on a recent Sunday evening to experience the unique Funni-Frite walk-through, Josh Rodney, the haunt's owner, said. There are few Funni-Frite funhouses still operating in the country, he said.
One of the Michigan visitors, who goes by the name, Haunt Wizard Matt, said Massacre Mansion made the list of more than 50 haunts he and his travel partner planned to visit in eight states this haunt season.
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| Owner Josh Rodney |
“They love those Funni-Frite funhouses,” Rodney said of the travelers.
The funhouse is the last attraction visitors experience.
“We save that for last, because that's our favorite, too,” he said. “That's where it started. I would say that's our strong point.”
Visitors can expect to see gag doors, hallway entrances shaped like keyholes, hand-painted character walls, and many scares and tricks inside the old funhouse.
Rodney came across the Funni-Frite structure on an amusement website and made the trip to the Pittsburgh area to haul it back to northeastern Pennsylvania.
After refurbishing it and adding on three trailers to increase the length of the walk-through, he used it for years as a haunted fundraiser in Scranton, before the haunt expanded to its current location - the site of an old sawmill.
“We started growing and getting bigger, and we added a maze that used to be under just a 20’ by 40’ tent - we added that on,” Rodney said. “And then we got big enough to the point where we needed the space, and we found this place. It was an old sawmill, and it was sitting overgrown … there was a ton of work we had to do to get it to the point it's at.”
He and his crew converted the old sawmill building into a black light reactive maze and turned a field at the rear of the property into a haunted corn maze.
“We try to add something every year. We just added the game trailer this year,” Rodney said of the carnival-style games.
The haunt now has four attractions: a corn maze called Pumpkins Wrath, Blacklight, which is the blacklight maze, Harvester of Souls Hayride, and Massacre Mansion.
The haunt's attractions build fear and suspense through quick startles, narrow labyrinth-like hallways that keep visitors guessing where the next scare might be, and committed actors who interact with and often follow guests as they try to navigate their way out.
“I'm old school. I'm not a big fan of animatronics. I like actors that actually startle you, jump scares, or something funny,” he said.
While the attraction does have some pneumatic and animatronic props to fill spaces, Massacre Mansion doesn't focus on those types of scares.
“For the most part, we're all actors,” Rodney said.
The haunt also doesn't rush guests through the four attractions, which gives actors more time to interact with the visitors.
“I don't really push the animatronics or the quick reset. I don't do the conga line. I don't do any of that stuff,” he said. “I know places get busy, but I hate that.”
The attraction has actors of a variety of ages, including his 5-year-old daughter, Mariah. Visitors encounter Mariah in a maze, as she is holding a glowing tray full of spooky goodies, such as eyes, fingers, ears, and insects.
Mariah's mother said this is her first year as a scare actor, and she couldn't wait to have a part in the haunt. She also said Mariah picked out the items for the tray herself and then painted them.
Mariah asks guests if they want to play and then issues are warning as they walk past her: “Run!”
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| Five-year-old Mariah, in her first year as a scare actor |
The couple's older daughter, Mandie, also is an actor in the Blacklight maze.
“It's all friends and family. It's all people who know each other,” Rodney said.
Rodney said Massacre Mansion, while it does have plenty of scares, can also accommodate younger haunt fans who might not be ready for the more intense frights.
“If we're not super busy, and word can get out there … we can accommodate some younger [visitors]. We don’t want to make you hate Halloween,“ Rodney said.
“We're not trying to make the kids not want to come back. That's not our goal,” he said. We try to be scary. Adults have told us that it's very scary. But if they bring kids, the actors will shake their hands and give them a high-five … especially if they're not having a good time, (they) try to make it so they want to come back, so they like Halloween.”
Rodney said he hopes adjusting the scares to each group that walks through will create more fans of haunts and Halloween.
“We're trying to make more fans, instead of scaring people to the point they don't want to come back,” he said.
