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NewsOctober 28, 1992

Beneath the half century-old A.C. Brase Arena Building runs a maze of hallways and dead-end tunnels. Mostly used for storage, the lightless and musty passageways are hung with ancient pipes and new cobwebs. A perfect place for things that crawl and hide from the sun...

Beneath the half century-old A.C. Brase Arena Building runs a maze of hallways and dead-end tunnels. Mostly used for storage, the lightless and musty passageways are hung with ancient pipes and new cobwebs.

A perfect place for things that crawl and hide from the sun.

A perfect place for the first Haunted Hall of Horror.

Beginning today, the screams you hear won't all be your own. They might belong to the roaming souls of Freddie Krueger, Jason or the new ghoul on the block, Hannibal Lecter.

Dinner will not be served.

Scott Williams and Penny Wingerter, recreation supervisors for the city, are the masterminds behind this Parks and Recreation Department attempt to frighten the populace.

They work in the Arena Building, and have long recognized its horror potential.

"It's a spooky place," Williams said, "especially at night."

The basement is damp, and with the rusting hinges remaining on the wall from some long forgotten purpose, even resembles a torture chamber.

Music and noise from upstairs descend through the pipes eerily distorted. A door slam sounds like the end of the world.

They declined to divulge all the thrills in store for those who dare to enter the Haunted Hall of Horror, but Williams and Wingerter have devised imaginative uses for landscaping equipment and some unnamed substance used in Japanese cooking.

Patrons won't spend all night under the Arena Building. "Once they go through here they're going to want to get out ...," Williams said from the basement.

About halfway through, the thrill-seekers will emerge to the main floor itself. But chances are they won't know where they are once they get there.

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Friendly ghouls will be posted at appropriate points just in case someone needs to exit quickly. Not that there's really anything to be afraid of. "We're trying not to make anything too gruesome," Williams said.

This Frankensteinian creation has required plenty of assistants, led by Arena Foreman Mike Halter and Park Foreman Mark Sullivan, and loads of bodies from the co-sponsoring Rec Club at Southeast Missouri State University.

About 80 people will be required to provide all the appendages needed to frighten everyone as thoroughly as possible during the hall's four-night run of horror.

Afterward, the Arena Building will return to its dances and volleyball and bingo games. All the ghouls will be gone, since the building isn't really haunted. Is it?

"You hear a lot of things down here," Williams says, shrugging.

The Haunted Hall of Horror will welcome guests from 7-11 nightly, today through Saturday. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children 12 and under. Children must be accompanied by an adult. For information, phone 335-5421.

Other upcoming Halloween events include:

The Safe Halloween Party, free trick or treating and party for kids at Center Court, West Park Mall, Saturday.

The Orchard Manor Haunted House from 7-11 p.m. today through Saturday night, sponsored by the Jackson Jaycees.

Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under. The Manor is located on the Old Toll Road off Highway 72, west of Highway 25. Ghoul-seekers are advised to follow the signs.

A Halloween party membership meeting hosted by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Drury Lodge. Tickets are $15 and reservations are required. Phone 334-9233.

Free fingerprinting of children from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at the Pizza Hut, 215 South Kingshighway. The Cape Girardeau Police Department will do the fingerprinting, and 1,000 pairs of reflective safety strips will be distributed.

A Halloween "fun-raiser" sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County Medical Association Auxiliary from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at the Centenary Methodist Church's Family Life Center.

Admission is free. Games and activities are available for 25 cents per ticket. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

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