"Down the Psycho Path"
(originally published on www.countgore.com)

Fortunately, I say, fortunately, I haven't had hours-on-end to sit my skeletal remains in front of the tube this week. Took a little time to creep out of the crypt this past Friday, to help represent the HHU at the grand opening of the 15th Annual PSYCHO PATH haunted attraction in Xenia, Ohio. My ol' buddy and illegitimate step-daddy Dr. Creep; the Country's youngest horror host, Dr. Freak; and a couple of my Ghastlee sidekickers, Jeff McClellan: American and Suspira were all on hand along with local radio folk from 103.9 "The X" -- AND Evil Dead sweetheart ELLEN SANDWEISS !

Ellen was a true joy to spend time with. I don't know what it is with the folks from The Evil Dead, but they are always very genuine and down-to-Earth. Maybe working with Raimi is so similar to a near-death experience that having survived working for him gave them a zest for life, or maybe they've just never lost touch with their roots, but the cast and crew members I've had the pleasure of meeting have all been a real pleasure to meet. 

Psycho Path already has one tie to The Evil Dead; the event is held at the Caesar's Ford Amphitheater, where Bruce Campbell coincidentally (?)  starred in SHANE over the Summer. ( You can find a finely-crafted review SHANE that someone wrote in the "Movies" section over at www.tvhorrorhosts.com , by the way !)   Thomas Neely aka THE RIGHT REVEREND TOMMY GUNN ( groups.yahoo.com/group/ReverendTommyGunn ) is the organizer of Psycho Path, along with working on the promotions end of the theater's long-running outdoor drama Blue Jacket, and starring in the latest Andy Copp underground film, BLACK SUN. He's also one hellava guy who is a blast to be around, and was the key player in getting both Bruce and Ellen to come all the way out here to the vast outback of the Sierra Umphweephwee region of Southwestern Ohio.

Oh yeah, and he's VERY tolerant of Ghastlee chicanery. I like that in a friend ! In fact, it's a prerequisite...

We arrived fashionably late, of course, and then proceeded to make ourselves even later by accosting and/or interviewing attendees in the parking lot. The sun was just setting, the sky filled with menacing clouds, and combined with the rustic silhouette of the amphitheater in the background it was one of those moments that had to be taken advantage of. So THAT set us about another 10 minutes behind schedule!

We eventually crept into the venue, and encountering no one to stop us, proceeded to "run amok", as one of the actresses so succinctly put it, backwards through the trail. We spotted a bunch of the actors heading toward a well-lighted area and figured that was where we were supposed to go -- but being the natural-born jackass that I am I felt compelled to take the crew and camera on a little romp.

The funniest part to me was the actress who was all but screaming for us to leave her area, "NOW !!!" -- until she found out she was going to be on the tube. Suddenly she was singing another tune. Too funny, and it WILL make great TV ! At one point you can hear Dr. Freak asking Jeff and Suspira, " Is he ALWAYS like this ???".  Ahh, youth. You've only seen the tip of the iceberg, m'boy !

We had very nearly made it back to the entrance, where we were really supposed to be, when a large, frightening man named Wolf stepped out of the shadows and said they were all upstairs wondering where we were when the reports started flooding in from the actors. He asked us politely to scoot our bee-hinds along to where we belonged.

Wolf, in addition to cutting more than a little intimidating figure, breaths fire and such in the Psycho Path Sideshow. We scooted.

Up-top we were warmly greeted by Dr. Creep and his producer Rick Martin. Creepster handed us all copies of the glossy-covered SingleSource News magazine which had a nice write-up on the event's grand-opening and our appearances there -- as well as a mention of the HHU ! As Steve Martin said as Navin Johnson in The Jerk, " This is the kind of spontaneous publicity, your name in print, that MAKES people !".

Well, it makes ya feel all warm & fuzzy anyway.

I wasn't aware that we were going to have a booth to hawk our wares or I would've had stacks o' tapes and shirts there, but having dropped out of Cub Scouts I wasn't prepared. A handful of pictures, back issues of The Monster News,and some business cards had to suffice. That and a couple of locks of hair that are no doubt either being turned into poppets or boiled into a hallucinogenic tea as we speak.

In the course of the night we also met a fellow named Jimi who's acquaintance I'd made via the HHU mailbox. He runs movie nights for Antioch College ( Where Rod Serling graduated ! ) and wants to get as many hosts as possible to come in for a movie fest or two. The college has both and indoor theater and a wonderful amphitheater that would be ideal settings for a good, old-fashioned horror show. Going to be a little chilly in the amphitheater real soon, so unless we show The Thing in CHILL-O-RAMA it will no doubt be an indoor fest the first time around.

Hm, then again... William Castle could've convinced a bunch of people that freezing their keesters off was some kind of special effect... 

Jimi also aspires to be a horror host, and has chosen the unique moniker MR. GRIEVES for his character.  Man, there MUST be something in the Ohio water; that's the third person I've heard from in the past two months from this immediate area who wants to be host -- and there are already THREE of us in Dayton! Looks like we're going to have start exporting them to Kansas, Maine or Hawaii.

Hey wait a minute! I want the Hawaii gig !!!

 Wish I could tell you something about the Psycho Path as a haunted attraction, but in all honesty we never got to see the thing when it was up and running. Thanks to our little rear-entry trick we didn't actually get to see the scenes played out. I can say that the sets were creepy, well-designed and well-crafted. The atmosphere alone evoked a sense of impending doom and had a professional look and feel that a Jaycee house -- at least those I've been involved with or walked through -- can't touch. Gotta love a haunted trail that is sponsored by a real headstone carver ( Dodd Monuments ); many of the props were the genuine article! We'll definitely be going back AT LEAST once more this year to get the full effect.

Well, off to Cinema Wasteland -- where I'll be or be recovering from when you read this. Back next time with a full report!

 

'Til then, the haunted attractions are seeing a big resurgence in many places right now -- support your local fear-monger, and you can check out Dr. Freak's pics from Psycho Path at: henriquecouto.tripod.com
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Ghastlee