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Day Trip Terror
FIVE SPOOKY SPOTS TO CHECK OUT THIS HALLOWEEN
By David Eduardo music@flagpole.com
L ooking for a spooky spot to take the
family (or just yourself, you brave soul)
in order to really get into the Halloween
spirit? Here are five haunted attractions
within easy driving distance from Athens.
Go with God, and watch for ghouls.
MORTON THEATRE: More than 100 years ago,
the Morton Theatre, at the intersection of
Hull and Washington streets in downtown
Athens, was arguably the most success
ful and celebrated African-American
vaudeville theatre in the country. It
was a tremendous point of pride for
the community, and in addition to
hosting performances from countless
legendary entertainers, the space also
housed assorted businesses, including
a diner, pharmacy and mortuary.
The once bustling cultural and
commercial hub of our city’s historic
Hot Corner is now the forever home to
at least a half-dozen friendly ghosts.
Seriously: The six-page report fur
nished by Lawrenceville-based Ghosts
of Georgia Paranormal Investigations,
after Athens-Clarke County commis
sioned a 2014 examination into oth
erworldly occurrences in the historic
building, is a matter of public record.
When you’re picking up tickets to
next month’s production of The King and I,
inside the box office, peep the pic local pho
tographer Asher Hill donated to the Morton
some 20 years ago. Notice the apparition in
the white tuxedo?
According to Athens Creative Theatre
program specialist and psychic detective
Terry Powell, the well-dressed poltergeist
is one of several mild-mannered charac
ters politely haunting the Morton. There’s
a prop boy running to and fro in the
upper balcony, a stagehand methodically
operating an old panel board offstage, a
middle-aged male patron frustrated by
an obstructed view and others. Powell
believes the Morton was a special place for
these spirits during their living years and
is a comfortable spot to be stuck between
dimensions.
NETHERWORLD: Netherworld is a
60,000-square-foot strip mall space in
Stone Mountain showcasing the wildly
disturbed imaginations of Lovecraft, Poe,
the ancient Greeks, a host of other literary
giants and some bona fide freaks.
This is a world-class production, one of
the premier haunted houses in the industry.
Now in its 23rd year of totally scaring the
crap out of metro Atlanta, Netherworld has
grown to employ roughly 350 live actors,
ticket takers, engineers and other employ
ees who develop unique horrifying themes,
and thus build new haunts, annually. Unlike
your friendly neighborhood Halloween cos
tume store pop-up, Netherworld is a year-
round endeavor.
Noticeably absent from the scare tactics:
Freddy, Jason, Leatherface and any lead
ing man of Hollywood horror. No Michael
Myers. No Pinhead. That’s by design, as
concept founder Bob Armstrong has always
preferred monsters, mythology and the
supernatural over examples of maniacal
antagonists doing horrific things to other
people.
This year’s iteration is breathtaking,
featuring an almost half-mile slog through
a secret city of angry gorgons living under a
mountain, then into an urgent apocalyptic
situation involving genetically enhanced,
weaponized reptiles.
THE BLEEDING HOUSE: In the southwest
Atlanta neighborhood formerly known as
Westview Heights, residents are prepar
ing to prevent gentrification. The work
ing-class area has recently rebranded itself
as Justus—as in just us—to demonstrate
solidarity, and unscrupulous real estate
opportunists should take note.
One home that should absolutely be
protected against property flippers: the
Bleeding House on Fountain Drive. This
modest single-story brick home sits on a
postage stamp corner lot, a craggy cypress
tree grows sideways in the front yard, and
there is no doorbell. On Sept. 8,1987,
longtime residents William Winston and
wife Minnie discovered what was positively
identified as human blood in four of their
home’s six rooms. It ran down the walls and
came up through floors. Hoax? Homicide?
No body or source was ever discovered.
Police could never explain how the blood
arrived in the home.
The current next door neighbor, Corey,
a lifetime resident of the neighborhood,
recalls the Bleeding House getting a lot
of attention from curious folks years ago,
but “things died down, and the house sat
empty for about eight to 10 years.” He also
mentioned that the 1987 incident proba
bly wasn’t isolated. Neighborhood gossip
suggests the Winstons experienced these
bloody episodes on several occasions, but
were uncomfortable with the attention they
were receiving and the lack of any explana
tion from law enforcement.
The house’s current residents, recent
transplants from Philadelphia, have been
living there since 2017 and were unaware
of its storied past. Thankfully, they haven’t
had a single paranormal experience.
BRADLEY LOCK AND KEY SHOP: This list
could easily be composed exclusively of
places in Savannah with paranormal rep
utations. It is, after all, the most haunted
city in America. The Sorrel Weed House,
Bonaventure Cemetery and Moon River
Brewing Co. are some of the most hair-rais
ing, spine-chilling places on the planet. If
you’re looking for ghosts, chances are you’ll
find them there.
But if you’re looking for famous ghosts,
visit Bradley Lock and Key Shop downtown.
The oldest locksmith in the state has been
family-run since opening its doors in 1883.
These days, Bradley’s can be proud of a 4.5-
star rating on Yelp, low prices, courteous
customer service and a reputation for being
home to the ghost of famed illusionist and
escape artist Harry Houdini.
Spend a couple bucks to get a key made,
and maybe have a supernatural experience
with the most famous magician ever. If
you’re feeling especially brave, attend one
of the occasional seances hosted by the
Bradley family in the building, with the
hope of contacting Houdini. Or, you could
just live there. The top floor of Bradley’s is a
(lucky) 13-room boarding house with a long
history of being “totally haunted, but fun,”
according to a former resident who didn’t
wish to be identified.
ZOMBIE FARMS: The quaint hamlet of
Winterville represents the perfect slice of
Americana for 11 months out of every year.
Every October, Zombie Farms interrupts
the peace and tranquility with a terri
fying after-dark experience in a witch-
haunted forest.
The SCP Foundation, under the
guidance of Dr. Hammerstein, a
demented scientist ready to harness
supernatural powers for malicious
purposes, has been tasked with the
responsibility of securing, containing
and protecting the woods. Zombie
Farms patrons unwittingly participate
in the process as Class D personnel
with low-level security clearances.
Despite the fancy lanyards hanging
from their necks, Class D personnel
are, in fact, “expendable and can be
used to handle extremely hazardous
anomalies.”
After a creepy school bus ride deep
into the Witch of Winterville’s stomp
ing grounds, Class D personnel are briefed
in detail on the situation by a bearded old
man who probably taped every “Coast to
Coast” broadcast for reference and poster
ity. The shadowy figure eloquently rambles
on about Area 51, Bob Lazar, the Fountain
of Youth and sophisticated, alien-designed
3D printers.
Armed with this useful information,
patrons are asked to repeat, more than
a half dozen times, the SCP Foundation
motto, “We die in the dark so that others
can live in the light,” before embarking on a
three-quarter-mile hike through terrifying
terrain crawling with zombies.
Because this is Athens, where everyone
needs two or three jobs to make ends meet
and everybody knows everybody else, the
fear factor at Zombie Farms is somewhat
tempered. It’s not so scary running into a
monster who is also the barista that served
you yesterday, a guy in that badass local
rock band or your favorite Classic City
Rollergirl. Still, there is comfort in familiar
ity, especially during stressful catastrophic
events. ®
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OCTOBER 23, 2019 | FLAGPOLE.COM H