The business of terrifying the masses
Open to the public for the past few weeks, the organisers promise a particularly scary experience for Halloween. The interior of the building, formerly Cork City Council’s planning and development department, is shrouded in smoke pumped from a smoke machine.
The tour of the two storey house is quite scary. You are led into a series of dark rooms on the different floors that are occupied by everything from a filthy urchin sobbing beside her cot to a mad professor-type carrying out strange experiments to control contagious disease in his laser-lit laboratory. It’s part Frankenstein and part Victorian lunatic asylum. There are some 20 actors employed in this chamber of horrors, wearing hideous prosthetic masks. They have a habit of sneaking up on you before shrieking manically, making you wish you had never ventured inside this inhospitable house.
A six foot tall rugby player scarpered after encountering just one terrifying character, according to one of the co-directors of The Nightmare Realm, Karl O’Connor. But most visitors are suckers for punishment, tentatively walking from one room to the next in virtual darkness, not knowing who or what is going to present itself. A Nazi soldier is about the least scary of the various characters, condemned to stalk the paying public.
Halloween is really for children, dressing up as ghouls and witches, but the Nightmare Realm is strictly for over-13s. “We don’t want young children here because some of the things we do are a bit controversial,” explains O’Connor. “In previous years, for example, we’ve had a character playing a pregnant woman giving birth to demon babies. Also, some of the characters curse a lot which wouldn’t be suitable for children.” The age group drawn to the house is between eighteen and thirty-five.
O’Connor and the other director of The Nightmare Realm, Ken Tobin, set up the company three years ago in Tralee, Co Kerry. O’Connor has a background in theatrical set design and runs Blue Box Displays which makes sets for themed marketing events. Tobin runs a family play centre in Tralee. Both men, encouraged by the proliferation of scare houses in the US, decided to give The Nightmare Realm a go. It has been a success in Tralee and now in Cork, but it’s purely a seasonal business. However, such is the level of detail involved in making the masks and costumes as well as developing different themes every year, that O’Connor and Tobin will be working towards next year’s event not long after they have shut the door on Navigation House.
“Scare houses are huge in America with at least one in every city,” says O’Connor. “They are often open for six months of the year. Scare houses are not like your typical haunted house. They’re really about taking the scary experience to an extreme level. There are no stereotypical Halloween witches or pumpkins or anything like that.”
O’Connor says he and Tobin carry out “a lot of research to make sure we provide a unique experience. People can watch a horror film at any time. What we’re doing is something new in Ireland. We have studied psychological scare tactics, looking at American DVDs. I spend a lot of time building the set and making the masks. In the dark, they look very realistic because they’re glued to the face and are flexible, allowing the actors to use their mouths and eyes. We use movie quality props. I collect items in junkyards such as giant hooks and massive saws. They all add to the set.”
A half hour visit to The Nightmare Realm costs adults €12 and students €10. Why would anyone pay to be frightened? Isn’t the whole thing a bit masochistic? “People love being scared. I think it’s all down to the adrenaline buzz they get from it. You’re so nervous just going into the house and then you experience shocks when you’re inside. When you come out, you’re grateful to feel safe and happy. You can laugh about it with your friends. Other people, waiting to go in, will hear you say how terrible the experience is and how you were totally taken by surprise. It freaks out the people in the queue.”
Friends are handy for clinging onto in The Nightmare Realm. O’Connor says people come to it in groups. “The laughing afterwards at the reactions of people to the experience is a major part of the whole thing.”
The gruesome characters are played by actors. There are about 20 actors working in Navigation House, paid by the hour. Two hundred applicants applied online and another 50 hopefuls turned up on Patrick Street to be auditioned.
“There is a storyline given to the actors and some of them have to say a few sentences. We have a 74-year-old granny who, as part of her act, has her false teeth clanging in a cup. She is supposed to go right up to people, asking them for their teeth. All the actors have a role to play.”
The actors’ inner monsters were sourced at the auditions when they were asked to pretend to be an egg, just cracked open. They were also asked to imagine their skin being crawled on by skin-eating spiders. All in a day’s work for anyone mad enough to take up duty in The Nightmare Realm!
* www.thenightmarerealm.ie
IF YOU’RE looking for a fright this Halloween, and you’ve already visited the Nightmare Realm, there are plenty of options around the country. Here’s a list of 10 ideas to get you spooked this weekend.
City of the dead: Necropolis comes from the Greek ‘necro’ meaning dead and ‘opolis’ meaning city. This country’s most famous one, at Glasnevin, is running guided tours with gravedigger Jim every day at 11am and 5pm over the period. Jim is known as the Ace of Spades but we think that’s more to do with knowledge of his profession rather than any love for Motorhead. Expect some scary stories.
Visit The Osbourne Bar, Tralee: According to Anthony Kerrigan from www.ghosteire.net this boozer in Tralee has had to have two exorcisms, the last one in 1932. It would appear it hasn’t really worked however; owners have reported hearing things being flung around upstairs, as well as people running up the stairs when nobody was there. It’s enough to drive you to drink.
Visit a coasty ghosty: Hook Head lighthouse in Wexford is one of the oldest lighthouses in the world. Recently, it was voted the nicest by travel guide Lonely Planet. But we wonder did they know it was haunted? A genuinely scary place at night time; some ghostbusters recently spoke to a person named Frank who had drowned near the lighthouse in 1586. The lighthouse is offering tours every evening over the Halloween period. www.hookheritage.ie
Watch a movie: We know it’s not real but that doesn’t make it any less scary. Stay in, rent a movie and hang on for dear life. We recommend The Blair Witch Project if you haven’t already seen it.
Eat Blue Cheese: Yep, you read it correctly. According to some, cheese, particularly the blue type, gives you nightmares. We recommend a good dollop of stilton before going to Nod and you’ll be turning in your sleep.
Take a walk through the woods: Take yourself, a torch and a few friends and walk through some nearby ghostly forest. Make sure you’re not trespassing, though. The ghost you see with a gun and a German Shepherd may be very real.
Who rides the Magic Bus?: Well that’s just it. Nobody knows. Killarney Ghost Bus Tours will be running special Halloween Tours from East Avenue Road. These guys are actors and performers so you can expect some top class scaring. www.killarneyghosttour.com
Listen to a story: Stay indoors, get the fire lit, turn off the electricity and get out the candles. Then make sure your elders are comfortable and get them to do what they do best. Tell ghost stories. Alternatively you could visit www.storytellersofireland.org/ and see if there is anything on near you.
Scare the kiddies giddy: Tomorrow, the third annual Ballyhoura Spook takes place in Ballyhoura Forest Park, Limerick. In Cork the sixth Dragon of Shandon takes place on Monday night while fireworks are promised for the annual Halloween Festival in Thurles on Sunday.
Bored? Get a board: Get a Ouija board going and see if you can contact the dead. We know of one group that did it years ago and got the right result in the FA Cup Final. Unfortunately, they were just a little too young to gamble.
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