Monsters hot on your trail

Ogden’s George Eccles Dinosaur Park has several Halloween events for the public to attend during the month of October.
This weekend, the Dinosaur Park will have a Trail of Terror from 8 p.m. until midnight. The trail is filled with about 30 spooks who will scare the 1,500 to 2,000 customers that are expected to attend within the two nights.
At the beginning, a crazy tour guide will escort visitors through the museum and then lead the way outside where they’ll be on their own to make it through the rest of the trail.
This haunted trail is unlike other haunted Halloween attractions.
“We call it an old-fashioned scare,” manager Kevin Ireland said. “We don’t do the gore. We let your imagination scare you.”
People move around in the shadows and many weird noises can be heard. Occasionally, someone will jump out to scare the people passing by.
The theme of the trail is crypto zoology, which is the true study of legendary creatures. The storyline begins when a shipment of specimens from the Discovery Channel was delivered and accidently dropped. The specimens escaped along the trail, so people can expect to find werewolves, vampires, the abominable snowman, the swamp thing, gremlins and all other kinds of spooky creatures while walking across the trail.
“It’s a whole different element of scare,” Ireland said. “Nobody does just old-fashioned, really dark, ‘you can’t see where you’re going’ kind of scare. Then somebody jumps out from the weeds; ‘you can’t really see who it is but you know something’s there’ type of scare. That’s what we do.”
The staff has put in a lot of time and effort to create a successful Halloween experience. Near the end of August, the staff decided what would be done for Halloween and made needed purchases. Getting all the preparations accomplished usually takes until the last minute when the park opens.
Heather Briskey has worked at Dinosaur Park for the past five years and is now the head clerk. She helped set up for the haunted trail, put up decorations and worked with other staff members to carve over 600 pumpkins.
“It’s funny when customers get really scared but still want to get back on the trail again,” Briskey said. She said the dark side, spookiness and “coolness” is what makes Halloween a fun holiday.
Since this weekend’s Halloween Trail of Terror is not suitable for children under the age of 13, kid-friendly activities were done during the first three weekends of October. About 7,500 people attended within those three weeks. The events included costume contests, trick or treating and slime making. A few refreshments were s’mores, scones and hot chocolate.
“It’s just a fun family night to come out for a couple of hours,” Ireland said. “It’s really unique, and I think that’s why we’re so successful with it and have been doing it for so long.”
Not only do the activities attract attention, the staff does also. The staff dress up in costumes, and one costume that stands out in many people’s minds is the manager’s. Ireland dresses up different every night, but he said his favorite costume is his inflatable fat ballerina suit.
“It makes me look like I’m about 600 pounds,” Ireland said, “and I wear a crown, blonde hair and the whole bit. I love Halloween, to me it’s just fun.”
Weber State University sophomore Colby Cevering shares Ireland’s enthusiasm for Halloween and has a good time going to the different haunted themed events and spook alleys.
“I think people like this holiday so much because it’s a totally unique holiday,” Cevering said. “When else do you get to dress up and be something or someone different than who you are?”