By RYAN KING
CAPE RAY – The Halloween spirit was strong at the Furlong household this year. Cathy Furlong’s daughters, Abby and Carly, were excited to show off their haunted maze and the trail they put together, along with some help from Mom and Dad.
The tour began by entering the Furlong’s garage, which had been filled with panels to create a winding, spooky maze. Carly would greet visitors through a screen before giving them their first scare.
“I would tell them to come closer, and I would bang this!,” said Carly, letting the board slam down with an impressive, startling bang.
Navigating through the dark, guests were then greeted by various monsters such as a child-sized werewolf in a baby seat with glowing red eyes. The two young tour guides were kind enough to turn the lights on for photos, however.
“And someone hides back there,” added Abby, pointing to a dark corner.
Next came the most impressive installation, an animatronic dragon that shook its wings and let out an impressive roar from its glowing mouth. Thankfully, it was safely behind a wired cage.
In the next room was a disturbing scene featuring severed limbs, mannequins in strange clothes and masks, and a table with what looked like pickled organs. The liquids preserving the organs was made by the two children.
“Carly made some scary potions,” said a proud Cathy.
The following room held a full-sized coffin that looked straight out of a vampire movie, where a co-conspirator would lie in wait before jumping up to scare the unsuspecting.
“Someone was sitting right there, and pretended they were crying, and there was a real person in there,” Carly said, “and then when people would walk past here, they would ‘AHHHH!’ because he jumped out.”
The second to last stop featured a padded room, wherein Abby would bang on the windows to startle the visitors on the way out.
“Abby was in there and she would pretend she was like a crazy person,” explained Carly.
The final room provided a number of spooky figures including a witch and scarecrow, but also featured a hiding place for one of the hosts to give one last scare before exiting. The way out of this little house of horrors was carefully hidden to make the thrill last a little longer.
“Right here – it’s the door, but we had the door closed and so people would think they have to keep going, but they don’t actually,” said Carly.
The fun did not end with the garage, as the family had created a haunted trail that led through the woods on their property.
Walking down from the garage, visitors were greeted with a clubhouse filled with ghoulish creatures including one in a blood-stained wedding dress, a plane crash complete with a skeleton victim, a grave with skulls scattered about, and various spooky items hanging from the trees.
Cathy also shared that this year the family decided to use the haunted house to fundraise for a local cat rescue group.
“We just probably should add that this year we decided to raise money for the cat shelter, and people that came through were asked to give a donation, if they wanted to,” shared Cathy. “It was $200.30, was the grand total.”
If you did not get a chance this year to tour the haunted house fear not. The Furlongs will be back with another thrill fest next Halloween!