EMILY HSUEH
LITCHFIELD Oct. 9, 2020
Monsters, the Ghostbusters and a twelve-foot skeleton: all this and more can be found at Rottingwood Haunt, which has opened its doors again for people of all ages to experience a night of fright.
Darell and Lise McCorriston have been running Rottingwood Haunt for 25 years, adding new monsters and decorations to their collection every year. For the couple, their annual haunt has become tradition.
“It’s a family friendly haunt. It’s a walkthrough, it’s a yard-haunt, it’s a little bit of everything that a haunt could be,” said Darell.
“The haunt is good for all ages, not only for children but it’s also great for adults. Like when they come through, it brings them back in time like when they were children,” added Lise.
The McCorristons have been preparing the massive haunt since . . .
at their home in the aptly named Litchfield since the first week of September, and officially opened for the season on Oct. 9. In the front of their house on chemin Stewart, you can find decorations from dragons and giant spiders to their brand new Ghostbusters setup and towering skeleton with eyes that seem to follow visitors.
“This year we have a few themes, we have the graveyard theme with the tomb and the hearse. We have the Ghostbusters car, Slimer, and one of the Ghostbusters guys so that’s our new theme for this year. And of course our tents are all themed, so each room has its own theme. We try to change the theme every year.”
Lise’s pride and joy is the tents, which she is in charge of and takes two weeks of work to put together. Inside, visitors must brave the darkness and make it past clowns, bloody operating rooms, possessed dolls and even Krampus.
Meanwhile, Darell is in charge of all the electrical, props and animatronics. There are several animated exhibits throughout the haunt that Darell created himself, including a wooden hearse and a hovering ghost that many claim to be eerily lifelike.
While the McCorristons change up as much of the haunt as they can every year, the one thing they didn’t intend to change was how they run the show, which COVID-19 threw a wrench into.
“We were holding off as long as we could because we didn’t know how bad this would get,” said Darell. “There are a lot of other haunts that are not doing it this year because of COVID-19. There are still a few other haunts that are going ahead with it. They’re being more cautious”
“As we will be,” Lise assured. “This year is going to be different. They can’t just walk in, they have to wait because it’s going to be limited to come in. Only 25 in the yard at one time, and hopefully we’ll try to keep them at six feet apart. Masks are mandatory to keep everybody safe. We have sanitizer. If they do not have a mask they don’t come in. It’s just to keep everybody safe.”
Despite the restrictions, Darell and Lise are committed to making sure everyone has a fun evening, and are looking forward to the smiles on everyone’s faces, even if they can’t see them.
“Because everybody’s been shut off from everything. We have no fairs to go to, everything was closed and this kind of gives them a bit of hope that they can enjoy something, still be safe, still come in and be safe and enjoy the evening,” said Lise. “That’s the biggest thing for us. That’s what we’re looking forward to, hearing lots of laughter. And screams.”
Rottingwood Haunt is open weekdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and weekends from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., weather permitting. Updates can be found on their Facebook page.
