the night is filled with joyous laughter

Up next: Haunted Saddlemead.

While I was waiting for Fawkes, I sat down on a bench.

Big mistake.



Oh, hey, I remember this bug...

By the time I managed to find my way back, I realized the lady by the Haunted Saddlemead sign was the designer. It's always a bit daunting to walk through someone's haunted parcel while they're watching, so to speak.



Miss Chadbourne was ever so polite, though.

Haunted Saddlemead is small, but has a lovely vintage feel. From the layout of the pumpkin patch to the small graveyard, the carved wooden sign to the manor house, small and precise--the best word we found to describe it was quaint.

Quaint, lovely, esoteric, and prettily designed.



And we mean that in all good ways. This is a small haunted parcel that any Caledonian could attend with nary a qualm in their hearts. Not because it's that blah, but because it's that vintage.



I mean, low ceiling or not--and we found out why later--this is a charming room. Walk in, everything's laid out and lovely, and your eye drifts over the fireplace before you notice the back wall is bright red; drifts over the mantel photograph before you realize it's a skull. Then the music on the Victrola starts up, and you're slowly drawn upstairs...



This was why the ceiling was so low. This was just so clever, I was in awe. We stood in the attic and watched the attic things swirl around and around on their own...



A small but adorable churchyard...



...and an actual hayride complete the piquant tableau.

Do check it out. The atmosphere is wonderful, the sound effects perfection--really, for her space, she couldn't have done better. Well worth your time.

Next up: Killtower's Haunted Water Ride. But that will have to wait until tomorrow...