2006
THE CHAMBERS OF HORROR-Bringing Evil Home!
The Chambers Of Horror has one of the liveliest 'exit' rooms of any local haunt. This evening, while waiting for owner/operator Ed Short to return from posting the event's signs, we sat back on the padded benches to look it over and to watch the crowds as they left the event. Everyone leaving seemed to enjoy the haunt a great deal, heaping praise upon it and telling the staff of the event how much they liked it. Most of them looked over the haunt bulletin board (which Ed has provided for other area haunts to post their event information, and it's full to overflowing) and checked out the hologram projector cabinet (with several prerecorded talking monster characters), the Phantom Of The Opera's organ, and the animatronic Freddy Krueger. A lot of them looked over the large amount of Halloween masks, effects, and props for sale-including an elaborate head to toe Satan costume standing guard under the Chambers Of Horror banner. Yes, you can bring evil home for only $125!
Ed finally returned from his short trip and began to discuss the Chambers in between performing a myriad of duties. Ed was ready for just about anything as he had on a shredded suit that allowed him to enter into one of the scenes at a moments notice. At various times, he was checking on the line, relieving actors for short breaks, repairing a drywall section that a over-zealous hauntgoer had knocked askew, and who knows all what else! As he ran through the exit room with a power drill in his hand and his costume flying out behind him, one had to wonder whether that drill was going to be used on something-or someone!
The Chambers is truly Ed's baby, and he has probably put more of himself into it than many other haunt owners have done with their attractions. After having been an avid home haunter for several years and also working at the Middletown Haunted Hotel, the Chambers started as the second attraction at the Mddletown Haunted Trail. Ed decided to strike out on his own, and after taking a two year hiatus to get things together, put the first solo edition of the Chambers together in 2003. Wanting a more permanent location, he moved the event to its current location-the old Cambridge Inn building-in 2004. "I knew that a haunt really begins to do well at the box office after it has been established at the same place for 3 or 4 years," explained Ed. This might be a good time for us at the HOD!!! to explain that while a large portion of the general public thinks running a haunt is a way to instantly rack up huge profits and get rich quick, nothing is further from the truth. There's a substantial investment that needs to be made before the first prop is bought, actors hired, or wall put up. Rent, insurance, safety precautions, and other non-glamourous fixed costs put an owner deep in the red before selling one ticket. That's why you haven't seen many new attractions open in the area, and why many close after just a year. However, Ed realized going in that it might be a struggle for a couple of years until the event became an established part of the haunt scene. He concentrated on making the show as entertaining as possible with a unique approach so as to ensure people would be back year after year. The Chambers has had bigger crowds every year and finally this year has shown a profit, which Ed is planning on using to make changes to the event and expand it as well.
The Chambers is known for the many mechanical effects it employs that are not seen elsewhere in the area, and this was by design on Ed's part. "I designed the first part of the haunt to be more like a funhouse or carnival haunted house. This gets the people drawn into the show, excited and ready for the second half of the event". In the first half of the haunt, you'll see doors that open by themselves, the six doors to death room (where doors lock and unlock themselves, lead to loops, open onto walls where there was a doorway moments before, open from he wrong side, and a plethora of other troublesome tricks), the dropping Hellevator, hidden exits, a room of coffins where the right one has to be found to exit through, a hall of paintings-or are they?, tunnels that shrink, and other phenomenon. You might even get the feeling that the walls and ceiling are closing in on you!
Ed continues, "In the second half is where we have our actor-intensive scenes. We have our movie characters here along with the ones we developed to go with the rooms." You'll find movie favorites Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason, and Pinhead here. There's also usually something in each one's room to set it apart from other movie character scenes in other haunts-for example, Freddy's room requires the hauntgoer to enter a boiler to exit. Leatherface uses a legless 'Old Monty' character in a wheelchair to set up his scare. The 'funhouse' also continues in this section with several more effects scattered among the scenes.
The Chambers relies quite a bit on its actors to provide a frightening experience, and they are up to the challenge. Perhaps the most popular room from year to year is the Freezer room. This features a pair of burly blood soaked butchers who force hauntgoers into a series of freezers, closing the doors behind them-setting up a close encounter with no way out! They are usually the most energetic actors in the house. When going through, just check out the metal panels on the inside of the freezers. They are peppered with dents from being pounded on with chainsaws and other blunt objects! The show that the Leatherface character puts on has to be seen to be believed as well-his frenzied, twirling, chain saw attack goes from one side of the room to another, around a corner, and down a hall. On the other hand, the Chamber's Greeting Ghoul is a study in composed menace-his steely gaze and habit of walking through and behind the group as he delivers his speech does a good job of making the crowd leery and uncomfortable, setting them up for all that's to come.
Ed's also a master at finding cool props everywhere he goes. While driving down a road, he saw an organ by the side of the road with a sign on it that said 'free'. He stopped, got the owner to help him load it onto his truck, and along with a nice looking framed portrait of the Phantom Of The Opera (picked up for less than a buck at a yard sale), it now makes for a nice display at the exit of the Chambers (another tip for would-be haunters-while expensive props are impressive and great to have, you can give an entire haunt a great realistic and lived in look for less than $100 at Goodwill or Salvation Army-much less than even a basic animatronic).
This might also be a good time to debunk a couple of Middletown haunt urban legends. While The Mill Of Fear has been looked at by a couple of groups, it's not operating nor has it been picked up by someone planning to do so. "We have a lot of people come here asking about it," mused Ed. "They even go so far as to drive up there, see that there's nothing there, and still ask!" There's also no truth to the rumor that a rather rotund and overstuffed woman got stuck in the Chamber's shrinking tunnel. "Nope, it's never happened. Even at the old Chambers up at the Trail when you had to crawl through a very low and narrow tunnel, it didn't happen. Two ladies went through that I would have sworn would never, EVER, make it through. I went inside the house to tell the employees they needed to get the bypass ready-but by the time I got there, both of them were already past it. I'll never figure out how!" laughed Ed. "We did have one strange group, though. One night, a group got here at 7:30 and was the first group through the house. We never saw them leave, and their car was still out in the parking lot at 10:30. We went through the house looking for them but came up empty. When we came back out to the lot, their car was gone!"
Finally, there's the Halloween shop. This evening it's being run by Ed's mom and dad, along with a couple of friends-all great people. The shop is just another way to infuse the event with the spirit of Halloween along with bringing in a little extra income. There's deluxe masks (along with ones you can pick up for $5), full sized creatures, bat wings, light up novelties, Chambers T-Shirts, food, drinks, and lots more. While the avid Halloween fan can indeed browse the store and experience bringing evil home, the creatures in the Chambers prefer that you leave that job to them!
Beef On The Hoof
...errr, on the hook, in this case!
Lying Down On The Job
A sure way to get yourself killed at the Chambers!
The Chambers Of Horror is located at 1601 S University Blvd in Middletown. From Cincinnati, take I-75 N to Exit 32 (Middletown). Follow Rt 122 and merge left onto S University Blvd 4 miles later. Watch for The Chambers Of Horror signs along the way! Operating hours are 8 until Midnight Friday and Saturday, September 15th through October 28th. Admission is $9 and you can get a $1 discount with a non-perishable canned good. All canned goods donated to Hope House. For more information, visit http://www.thechambers.org .