‘Take my hand and come with me,
You’ll see things you can’t unsee.

Screaming crying you will be,
when these dolls say play with me’

If you suffer from pediophobia, you will want to avoid Keepers Doll Factory at Fright Nights.

If you do like a good doll scare, then Playland is the place to be until Halloween night. The Keepers Doll Factory is also the place to be for local actors looking for a gruesome gig. The August call reads: ‘Each year, we hire anywhere from 60-100 individuals to work during Fright Nights. Typically these positions are acting positions to help us scare our guests.’

With creepy sights at every turn, you can also imagine how many artists and set designers have been involved in creating this horror.

The Keepers Doll Factory is not the only Fright Night gig. You will find Vancouver actors (or hellish hosts) featured in six other haunted houses, fifteen rides and two live shows.  ‘Insane doctors perform medical crimes’ in Asylum. The ‘destructive descendants of the Van Horn family’ pace the halls of the Haunted Mansion. And speaking of widely reviled circus beings, Car-N-Evil features, yes, clowns.

If this is sounding a little too terrifying, you might prefer the Stanley Park Ghost Train. The theme this year is a scary take on the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead. Matinee rides might be more palatable for younger kids. The Ghost Train performers range from high school students to professional actors.

The Ghost train conductors invite us to: ‘be serenaded by a mariachi band, ride the train through the illuminated tunnel of flames to meet the Aztec Lord, and join us in a supernatural graveyard where friendly souls return to dance.’

Hats off to all the local actors, designers and artists who are working so hard to terrify us this Halloween.

•••
‘Now you’re here, too late to flee
Screams or shouts won’t set you free.’

Written by Elizabeth Newton
www.creatorsvancouver.com