The ninth edition of the Idyllwild Ghost Town creeps and slithers back into its dank den at the Idyllwild Community Center property. All those murky shadows of which you’ve been frightened since you were a young child, all those creaks and noises from things that go bump in the night, all the unimaginable nightmarish terrors that you’ve long suppressed are waiting to test your hold on sanity. “Come if you dare,” says producer and senior scare coordinator Kathy Wilson who has guided this event from the beginning.
It all starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5 as Wilson and her 125-strong corpse of slayers slyly pull foolishly naïve adults and children into Ida Wylde’s dark world. Other than a penchant for mutilation and evisceration, Ida was a normal youngun’. Come see what she’s accomplished with her talents as you are guided through her monstrous maze.
New this year is Zombie Alley, putting a lie to a recent Center for Disease Control’s assurance that proper preparedness can reduce risk of death or injury by zombies. The report, authored by U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Ali S. Khan and published on the CDC website, noted, “If you are generally well-equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack.” But Zombie Alley, says Wilson, will show that there are many possibilities that are very, very dangerous for which there can be no adequate preparation.
Computer generated surprises, animatronics and assorted dead things add to the atmosphere of deception, decadence and decay. For the weak of heart and the very young, Wilson promises a “less spooky tour for younger boys and ghouls.” For all the rest, the risk is yours, says Wilson.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children 13 and younger. The Ghost Town continues each Friday and Saturday night through Oct. 27 and ends on Halloween night, Wednesday, Oct. 31.
All proceeds go to benefit the Idyllwild School Parent Teachers Association and are used to fund educational programs for K through 8 that would otherwise not be funded. Wilson noted that Ghost Town is a production of the Idyllwild School PTA and is their largest annual fundraiser. But without Wilson’s imagination, belief in and longstanding commitment to this annual event, educational offerings at Idyllwild School would be diminished.
