Welcome to Scare School: As Silverwood becomes Scarywood, actors hone their spooky skills

ATHOL — Over 300 actors converged on Silverwood Theme Park this week to attend Scare School, a boot-camp-style training where they learn the ins and outs of scaring people silly.

This week, Silverwood transforms into Scarywood Haunted Nights, a spooky season experience for thrill-seekers that opened its gates 15 years ago. 

But the transformation doesn't happen in just one dark and stormy night. Today is the last day of Silverwood's regular season. Now crews will swoop in to build attraction sets.

“It’s a lot of work,” Scarywood backstage manager RaeAnn Kuykendall said Sept. 13 during a cast training evening. “When the park shuts for the regular season, we shift into Scarywood mode. For our part, we have little time to get all the costumes put up and the makeup stuff installed so we can start training the haunters.”

The actors have been refining their creepy characters to create ghostly guest experiences this season. Some actors have returned for eight years or more.

Sadie Selby is in her fourth year at Scarywood, which is also the fourth haunted attraction where she has worked. 

“I’ve been haunting for over a decade,” she said.

Her dark clown character, Valentine, is based on her worst fear — sharks.

"If you look up how sharks hunt their prey, they’re like serial killers," she said. "They’re quiet, they’re patient and then it’s like a frenzy, and that’s how I haunt. I’m very quiet, I’m very patient, and then all of a sudden I’m right in your face. It’s very quick — we're in and out in three seconds.”

She has a playlist to get her hyped up and into character. Her husband is joining her as a haunter this year. She and a close friend who also works at Scarywood have a countdown to when the park opens, which will be 7 p.m. Friday.

“We look forward to this day,” Selby said. “It’s like our Christmas."

Terrifying talent

All haunters must attend Scare School and familiarize themselves with the attractions and the scare zones before the season begins.

"Guests are oblivious to everything around them, so make sure you watch where they're looking so you can adjust your scare," marketing and entertainment director Jordan Carter instructed a crew of haunters during a training in the Main Street Theatre.

"Guests will try to scare you, but they will not succeed because we are better than them," Carter said with a grin.

Robert Dickson will be in his first year of scaring the daylights out of people at Scarywood, but he is far from new to the industry. He's worked at Knott’s Scary Farm, Universal Hollywood, Universal Orlando and Warner Bros. Studios.

He loves character work. He got his start in independent films when he was 19.

“From there it just spawned off to working these events,” Dickson said. 

He even served as a monster escort to Elvira, Mistress of the Night when she had an ongoing show at Knott's Scary Farm.

He'll be a roaming zombie at Scarywood, prepared to give guests quite the fright.

“To me, it’s just natural to go after people," Dickson said. "I’ve been doing it so long. It’s really fun to watch the reactions of people. I get a kick out of it.”  

Alora French, who plays the White Witch, is entering her eighth year at Scarywood.

“It’s the adrenaline for me,” French said. "People come to see me to get scared, so I get the adrenaline and the joy out of it. And every reaction is different. You do not see the same reaction twice.”

Wicked wardrobe, supernatural settings

This season will feature 10 scare zones and five haunted attractions, including a new killer pig-riddled haunt, The Swine.

Many of the costumes, such as the denim overalls for the scarecrows, are found at thrift stores. Costumes are stored in a warehouse where they are carefully organized by scare zone.

Scarywood leaders go to the TransWorld Halloween and Attractions Show in the Midwest every year for costume and prop inspiration.

"We bought a ton of new masks this year,” Kuykendall said. "We get a ton of ideas from there, take a lot of pictures and we work with our effects team to create some of those designs and things that we envision.”

Jessica Anthony, who will be a sugar skull in the new Los Muertos scare zone, uses every element to her advantage for the perfect scare.

"When I was in the Dark Forest, I would hide behind trees that were elevated on a hill and then I’d be able to come down at people, and it was dark, so they didn’t know I was there," she said. "The hiding spot can really make it. Body language, the way you use your voice, use your body movement, that really helps. The element of surprise, of course.” 

About 20 crew members construct the Scarywood attractions in less than one week, although it takes a Scarywood village to put it all together and make it work.

The Scare Fam

Jess Frazier will be working as a clown in the 3Dementia haunted attraction. This is her second time working at Scarywood. Her husband will be working in Clown Town.

"I absolutely adore my little clown family," she said. "Two years ago I made some of the best friends ever, one of my clown friends literally officiated our wedding. It’s definitely a big family, and they are just so accepting of everybody." 

She said she it's a good vibe working at Scarywood.

“It’s really hard to find this many weirdos in northern Idaho," Frazier said. "You get to work with all these other like-minded weirdos. It's just nice."

Visit scarywoodhaunt.com for tickets and information ... if you dare.

SIDEBAR

• Average wage of a Scarywood cast member: $17-17.50 per hour

• Average age of a Scarywood cast member: 27, but we have cast members across all generations! 

• How many unique haunters have worked since Scarywood began? We average 200 haunters a season, so with this being our 15th year, almost 3,000

• How many security guards will there be this year? 70 security guards plus our contracted KCSO officers 

• Where is the farthest people travel from to visit Scarywood? We have guests visiting from across the country, Canada and overseas! 

• What has been the most popular attraction through the years? Blood Bayou. It’s been a staple since it was built in 2010!

• The scariest experience you are aware of? We have had many people get here and not even be able to walk through the gates because they were so terrified! 

• The most popular/famous ghoul? Pig Mama. See her make her comeback this year in our new haunt, The Swine! 

• Does Scarywood have a charitable aspect? Hero’s Weekend. Firefighters, active Military, Veterans, Police and EMS get in free with ID on the last night of Scarywood, Nov. 1

    Karen Pixler gets clown makeup done under a black light Sept. 13 during a Scarywood training night. The Halloween haunt opens for the season Friday at Silverwood Theme Park.
  

    Jess Frazier admires her 3Dementia clown jumpsuit in the Scarywood costume warehouse.
  

    Actors have signed their names and character insignias on the dressing rooms at Scarywood for years.
  

    Silverwood Marketing and Entertainment Director Jordan Carter instructs this year's Scarywood actors on how to optimize their scares. Carter is also known to don a ghillie costume and pop out of dark corners to frighten Scarywood's thrill-seekers.
  

    Saige Tolliver gets a scare in Scarywood's Planet Zombie in 2017. This year marks Scarywood's 15th season.
  

    Scarywood's 2024 Scare School graduating class.