By Rick West

Most guests at Knott's Halloween Haunt have no clue as to the prep work that goes on behind the scenes to bring the event to life each season.  Little thought is given to the design aspect and probably even less thought is given to how the monsters that roam the streets or the mazes of the Scary Farm came to get their inspiration and places in the scheme of Haunt.

I would venture to guess that most people have no idea that Knott's holds "Scare School" nights where each maze crew is introduced to their mazes, their positions and are coached by the vets and management as to what their characters are and how they should act.

Theme Park Adventure visited Knott's to witness Scare School first-hand.  We opted to visit on the first night of the "event", as it featured two Halloween Haunt giants - The Doll Factory and the greatly-anticipated Terror of London.

Scare School gives Knott's management and the Haunt designers a chance to coach and in some cases, coax, the talent as to how they want them to act toward guests as they stream past them in their maze positions by the thousands.  If you thought that being a Haunt monster is just about punching in on a time clock, grabbing a mask and going to bang on a wall for a few hours every night, you're sadly mistaken.  As each maze is designed, careful consideration goes into where each talent will be and what that talent's particular role is.  How many Jack The Ripper spots will there be in London?  Will "sexy" be added to a new maze such as the vampire brides or institution nurses?  Will the talent have accents, or simply creep silently in the shadows?

All of these things are fleshed-out and put into perspective during Scare School.  It really was a unique and eye-opening experience on several levels for us.

The first thing we noticed was the excitement of the crews as they got to see their October homes for the first time.  The excitement is tangible in the air.  One could justify that the men and women that work Haunt each year are the biggest fans of all - because they actually become the cast of Knott's Scary Farm, rather than remain on-lookers.  So to see these people get their first look at their mazes - that was much fun and very cool.

What I thought was really cool was watching the designer of both mazes, Brooke Walters, see the Haunt talent actually begin to breathe life into her creations.  Once the crews are in place, these mazes are much more than wooden walls and painted facades.  With talent lurking at every corner, these mazes become Halloween Haunt.  They are alive.  They are full of emotion and they are nightmares in motion.  I asked Brooke if it was surreal to see her mazes come to life and she said yes, absolutely.

It has to be one hell of a rush and great pay off to see your hard work and artistic planning come full circle with talent being slotted in to their positions.  The only thing greater has to be Opening Night, when the designers get to see guests coming through their creations and experiencing the terror first-hand.  That has to be what drives a Haunt designer.  That has to be the reason management uses Scare School to get it right and get it across to the talent what's expected of them.

Present at Scare School the night we went were Haunt designers, writers and managers Brooke Walters, Jeff Tucker, Haunt Legend Craig Harreld and Lara Hanneman.  These individuals walked room-by-room, instructing talent, observing and making suggestions or offering support to everyone.  At times, it was a painful and awkward process as new Haunt employees struggled to "act" in front of flashing cameras and rolling tape.  However, for the most part, both Doll and London teams were fired up and ready to bring it.

The level of enthusiasm from the Terror of London crew was outstanding.  Wild, excited and absolutely into it - this is going to be a hands-down favorite.  If the maze talent was that good and ready to roll for Scare School, we can only imagine that they will be the force to be reckoned with come Opening Night.  Room by room, we watched Jack the Ripper stalk, ladies of the night fight over "Johns" and various spooks and creeps spring to life over a soundtrack that is going to also be a fan favorite.  As we did our "walk-through", it didn't matter that there were no costumes or make-ups on.  It didn't matter that many of the rooms weren't finished yet or all the props weren't in place.  We were witnessing Terror of London being born for the first time.  And that, folks, was an honor we won't soon forget.  When this maze goes down as one of the Haunt greats (yes, we are already predicting epic status for London), we will proudly say we were there the night the lights went out and the bells began to toll.  It was one of those rare moments when we get goose bumps and realize how truly lucky we are to be a part of it.

Once the Terror of London session was over with, the crew was given an outstanding pep talk by Brooke and dismissed.  It was Doll Factory's turn.

Stepping into The Doll Factory with the 2009 crew was a completely different experience than London just minutes before.  Doll Factory has become a cornerstone of Halloween Haunt.  Now in it's third season at the Scary Farm, the cast and crew have huge shoes to fill and a very hefty reputation to live up to, set by the 2007 and 2008 crews.  Many of the Dolls folks are new this year, although there are a few familiar faces that have returned for their third tour of duty within the Wilderness Dance Hall in Ghost Town.

Fans visiting Doll Factory this year will likely notice the absence of "The Girl" as well as several other team members that have gained high-profile status among the event's more hard core supporters.  The good news about that is, it gives new talent the chance to make their own impressions - to create their own legendary personalities, not in the shadow of existing talent or positions within the maze.  And this doesn't mean the new people will try to act like "The Girl" necessarily.  Some may - which is perhaps nothing more than misguided admiration, props or respect to a character that became a phenomenon.  However, many of the people we watched wanted to bring their own spin to the Doll Factory.

And it seems that they will be just fine.  From rapid head twitching to maniacal laughter and contorted bodies... The Doll Factory should be in very good shape for Haunt 2009 when the fog rolls and the first guests pour through the entrance just a few nights from now.

Each maze had a very different Scare School session.  Terror of London was fresh and exciting with new talent bursting at the seams with eagerness to bring this massive maze to life.  Doll Factory was a rich blend of returning maze vets and new talent that will need coaching along the way as the maze continues its amazing legacy as one of the greatest in Scary Farm history.

We came away from witnessing Scare School with respect for Brooke and the other Knott's representatives as well as the maze talent.  Everyone came excited and ready to let go of sanity and become.

And now... they wait for you.

Class dismissed.

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