Trimper's Haunted House

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Submitted by Patricia Seidl
Timonium, MD

It is a family tradition to ride through the Haunted House every year since probably 1989. It’s fun to sit back in the wooden coffin and begin to witness the scary movements of creatures within the walls of the HH. I love it, and plan to visit for many, many more years!

Submitted by George LaCross
Editor
www.laffinthedark.com

In August 1964, I celebrated my tenth birthday at the former Rocky Point Park in Warwick, Rhode Island. Scattered thunderstorms broke out throughout the day, and by the time we got to the park the weather was gloomy, but rain-free. And the park, as usual, was crowed. The highlight of the evening was riding the park's one-year-old signature attraction, Bill Tracy's Castle of Terror. A rare double-decker dark ride for our area, it featured such classic Tracy stunts as Old Mill, Torture Chamber, Knit Whit, Mad Scientist and Giant Bat. By the age of ten I'd been on at least a dozen dark rides (New England was a mecca for them) including a Tracy ride at another park. But the Castle of Terror was the creepiest dark ride I'd ever experienced. I'll never forget that night.

Fast-forward almost 40 years to September 2003. Bill Luca and I are driving south to Trimpers to do a feature story on the Haunted House and Pirates Cove for our Web site, laffinthedark.com, and to give Granville Trimper our preservation award. We encountered scattered thunderstorms all the way down, hence delaying our arrival time by two hours. When we finally arrived, the rain stopped, but the sky was overcast and the air was damp. Yet, the boardwalk was packed. We went straight for the Haunted House. The whole day...the ride..was so deja-vu for me -- it was like my first ride on the Castle of Terror. After exiting the Haunted House, Bill and I headed right to a pizza joint for pizza and beer to celebrate the experience. I recall thinking that life doesn't get much better than this.

We spent the next few days touring and documenting the Haunted House and Pirates Cove with Scott as our guide. And we gave Granville his well-deserved award. But my first ride on the Haunted House -- that was like time-traveling back to the Castle of Terror in 1964!

Submitted by Ken Stratemeyer
Baltimore, MD

I'm 27 years old, and I've been going down to Ocean City as long as I can remember. Of course, many of my earliest OC memories take place at Trimper's, but I was always too afraid to try The Haunted House.

It wasn't until the summer of 1993, when I was in OC with my family and my friend Joe, that I finally ventured into The Haunted House. Back then, we would go to OC for a full week, and for one day, we could get a Trimper's bracelet and ride all day from noon to 6pm. Well, we got in our coffin, and conquered our fears. I'll never forget the first time I saw the hand sticking out of the toilet and the pathetic cry for "Help." Or the barrels that still make me flinch. Or the eerie voice that says "There is no escape from The Haunted House." What a blast. I think we rode it at least five more times that day.

My friend Joe and I must have rode The Haunted House about 25 times between 1993 and 1998. We're planning on taking a weekend trip down there to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of our Senior Week. A trip visit to The Count's humble abode will be on the list.

I also remember in 2002, riding through The Haunted House with my friend Shannon after having a few rounds at the original Dutch Bar.

To this day, I still go into the ride at least once a year, waiting in line, listening to the organ music. Then, riding my coffin down memory lane.

Submitted by Jaime Anthony
Sparks, MD

There’s a sort of paradoxical pride and embarrassment that goes with being a lifelong Maryland resident who’s never visited Ocean City. I grew up vacationing the relatively deserted beaches of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and had never set foot on the sands of Ocean City… until March 2008.

I had no idea what to expect as we drove down towards the boardwalk on Friday night. We parked our car in Row J (just outside the Haunted House), but unfortunately almost everything was closed up for the night. It was great to finally see in person the sites I’d heard so much about, but the anticipation of actually going into the HH was practically killing me! I love weird and scary things, and I love rides, so I was sure that the HH would be a great experience.

The next day we arrived, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take in the scariest attraction on the OC boardwalk. Scotty and Fred popped us into one of the coffins and we slowly chugged our way through the doors into the HH. I don’t remember a lot of specifics from that first ride (we went on it 3 times that weekend), but a few of the features definitely stand out. I liked the spooky skulls on the first stairway, and the upside down room was very disorienting. I also really liked the Knit Wit, especially her crazy colors. By far my favorite parts were the sudden track direction changes and the railroad crossing, particularly the third time we rode, when Scotty jumped onto the front of our car just as we should have crashed into the train.

It was an excellent weekend at the beach, and I can’t wait to go back again. Hooray for the Haunted House!