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Disaster is haunted house plot

VIENNA – A chemical holocaust may be the region’s biggest nightmare, so what better material for a haunted house.

The Chemical Valley Nightmare Halloween haunted house takes participants on a tour of a chemical plant where, during the seemingly routine walk through, everything goes wrong, terribly wrong.

“We’ve had people run out screaming,” said Brooke Ewing, who runs the haunted house with James and Lynn Stone of Parkersburg.

The haunted house is located at 102 12th St., Vienna, in a warehouse next to the former Yellowbeard’s bar. It is clearly marked.

What distinguishes the haunted house from others is it is dependent less on animatronics and more on trained actors, Ewing said. It is also big on special effects and the sets are elaborate, she said.

“It’s not your typical haunt,” Ewing said.

Up to 30 trained actors from Parkersburg, Vienna and Marietta are in the haunted house, Ewing said.

Among the actors are: Chris and Natasha Parsons, who have acted in shows at the Parkersburg Actors Guild; Arthur Collins, who did a local remake of “White Zombie;” Aaron Guinn on the special effects; and Shawn Coe and Jerry Larew of Betrayed By the Bullet, a popular local band.

“We’re getting a lot of girls coming to see them” Ewing said.

Also numerous models and make up artists from Dirt Candy Photography, Ewing’s photography business, are in the show, she said.

The haunted house starts at the beginning of a tour of a chemical plant. A disaster occurs.

“It’s a cheesy tour of a chemical plant,” Ewing said. “Then things go awry.”

As the tour progresses, there’s people wearing haz-mat suits carry alien beings, mad doctors and scientists, zombies, blood and gore.

“I’m the first person everyone sees,” said Natasha Parsons, who plays a receptionist at the chemical plant at the beginning of the tour

Parsons and her husband are well-known at the Actors Guild. Chris Parsons played Frank N. Furter in the Guild’s successful production of the “Rocky Horror Show” in 2013, of which his wife also had a role.

She improvises much of her dialogue, but keeps to the general scenario of the haunted house.

Parsons said she is enjoying her participation in the haunted house.

“It’s something I’ve never done before,” she said.

The warehouse is large and the haunted house takes about 20 minutes, less time depending on how scared people get, Ewing said.

It’s not for the faint of heart, she said.

“Last week we had a group leave early, screaming and running away,” Ewing said.

Ewing rates the haunted house at R for violence, blood and gore. Children who watch “The Walking Dead,” for example, may be OK, but parents must be warned if they bring young children Ewing said.

“Some kids do fine. Some do not,” she said. “It’s up to the parents’ discretion.”

The hours are from 7 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

For the week of Halloween, which is Oct. 31, the Chemical Valley Nightmare will open on 7-19 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, the day before Halloween. The haunted house will be open through Nov. 1.

Admission is $15 per person. A special $10 admission will be charged on Sundays with a donation of goods benefiting a local organization, such as the Humane Society.

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