By JONATHAN WEAVER
The Weston News
WESTON, W.Va. — Father’s Day Weekend is setting up to be a scary-good time at Weston’s Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
Both Friday and Saturday, the former Weston State Hospital will host Mid-Summer Scream with “Malice Revisited,” a continuation of 2016’s haunted house, Operations Manager Rebecca Jordan-Gleason said.
(File photo)
“There’s a mad doctor and he’s been holding people captive performing experimental procedures for a long time,” Jordan-Gleason explained. “You come across different nurses, doctors, ex-patients that have been trapped and part of these experiments for decades.”
The self-guided, $10 tour will be focused on the first floor and in the basement. Tickets will be sold the day of each event.
Tours will be available from 6-10 p.m. Friday and noon-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Saturday.
Up to 10 guests will be able to walk through Malice Revisited at a time.
Gleason’s brother, John Jordan, is in charge of designing the haunted house and graphics.
“He’s very, very talented at scary,” Jordan-Gleason said. “He’s been working 10-12 hours a day for the past two months getting this ready.”
Asylum Office Manager Bethany Cutright also marveled at Jordan’s creativity.
“He gets to work as soon as the haunted house is over and goes into detailed preparation to create the whole story behind-the-scenes. You’re not going to read the story, but it helps him to build the scene the customer goes through as they experience the haunted attraction,” Cutright said.
While she has not personally gone through a haunted house after seeing the work Jordan puts into it, Cutright does hear follow-up reviews from friends.
“He definitely has a flair for scaring people,” Cutright said.
Cutright added that many phone calls about “Malice Revisited” have been answered since the date was set.
“A lot of people look forward to the fall every year because they can come to the annual haunted house to see what’s new and scary with their friends, so this little snippet in the middle of summer is kind of a way to reconnect with their thriller roots in the offseason,” Cutright said.
While all ages are welcome to attend the haunted house, children 12 years or younger must be accompanied by an adult.
“It’s the only one in West Virginia, so whoever wins at our event goes to the Jack Daniels Worldwide Invitational BBQ Tournament in Tennessee,” Jordan-Gleason said.
The annual Father’s Day car show with the Summer Knights Cruzin Association and live Appalachian Wrestling Alliance wrestling will be held at the facility the following day, Sunday.
“We’re expecting 10-20,000 people on the property that weekend,” Jordan-Gleason said. “By opening up these events, we’re enabling them to have more things to do while they’re here.
“It’s going to be a fantastic, fun, family weekend.”
A new haunted house will open this October.
Residents can inquire more about the weekend’s events by calling secretary Amy Jones during business hours at (304) 269-7050.
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