The sun slid west, through a veil of trees, and a gentle autumn breeze sifted through the first few fallen leaves. On this October afternoon, I was traveling a route I had not in some time, along River Road in Berlin.
Housing developments, and of course the Solomon Pond Mall, have sprung up since October 1995, when I drove this way almost every night, in gathering darkness, to the place to which I was now returning.
I had to double back, because at first I passed it.
But once I found it, I recognized it: a solitary, rambling, red barn, sitting on the tract of land once known as Tyler Farm. So quiet now. From the roadway, it seemed far from those raucous midway games, monsters in bright theatrical makeup, and hayride tractors rumbling along a dirt path, with stops in front of campy, gory skits, punctuated by riders’ screams. Waiting for them at the end, emerging from the mist, would be a raggedy youth, laughing, roaring and swinging a chainsaw.
It all happened here, at the original American horror theme park, Spooky World, located here from its start in 1991 to 1998 before moving on to Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium and ultimately to New Hampshire, where it operates as Nightmare New England.
But it was in Berlin that owner and friend David Bertolino first took a chance on a run-down farm, transforming it into what came to be known as a haunted attraction. Over the years, it drew the stellar likes of Alice Cooper, Linda Blair and Tiny Tim, but also many local and regional residents, some simply looking for extra income, and some for a foothold in the entertainment business.
the timing could not be better. So, join us around the crackling fire of our imagination, and travel with us back to a special moment at a special place, where Halloween never ends.
Love at first fright
You might call Ryan Travis a Renassiance man of haunted attractions. “In the haunted world, I am known as Choppy, and this is my 25th year in the haunt industry,” Travis said. “I started in Berlin, Mass., last year they were open, and became the lead actor on the hayride in Foxborough.”
Over the years, Travis took on many guises. “I played the Dark One, Lord of the Realm. After the hayride closed, I was a killer klown for a year and then became a walkaround character. I cosplayed Choptop from ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.’ “
The cult-movie franchise took its story cue from a real-life tragic figure: the recluse Ed Gein, a convicted murderer, grave robber and crafter of home furnishings using human remains.
Travis met his morbid match at Spooky World’s Litchfield, New Hampshire, site, with a haunter named Holly.
It was true romance, Spooky World style: “Our story is, she was a thing in the bookcase, and I was a cannibal with a metal plate in his head, and it was love at first sight.”
“I met my wife while working for Spooky World, and this (year) was our 17th wedding anniversary.” The couple, who now live in Peabody, run a murder mystery company, Shady Bastards Entertainment, with three Halloween-themed shows scheduled in Salem in October.
Voices in the night
It’s important to note that the 1990s saw something of a sea change in horror. From “Frankenstein” author Mary Shelley, and even earlier, women have pioneered the genre. But in film, they were sometimes little more than fiend bait, with observers noting how so often, women and people of color would succumb before the white male hero vanquished the villain.
At Spooky World, women held many roles behind the scenes as well as out in front, including as the narrators on the hayrides. Donna Allen, formerly Porzuc, said, “I worked as a narrator on the hayrides from opening night in 1990 until midseason 1998. I also worked a bit when they were in Foxborough.”
Allen added, “As a resident of Berlin, I drove by the property daily and watched the barn go from a broken-down structure to a newly renovated barn. The first signs called it ‘The Berlin Funny Farm.’ The next sign said, ‘Berlin Fun Farm.’ Daily, I wondered what it was going to be. Eventually the sign read, ‘Spooky World.'”
Bertolino included her in the preopening meetings, to help write the scripts for the hayride skits.
“I will never forget the first weekend,” Allen recalled. “The Risi family had rented some of their cornfield to create a parking lot. I think there was enough room for a couple hundred cars. As I was rounding the corner from the murdering barber set, up the hill to the haunted cemetery, I got a good view of the road that led from Route 290 to the Spooky World parking lot, and it reminded me of the scene from ‘Field of Dreams.’ If you build it, they will come. There was one long line of headlights headed our way. The farmer was immediately contacted to request more land for parking.”
More:Journey into Mystery: Ronny Le Blanc of ‘Expedition Bigfoot’ seeks Bay State’s monsters
More:In the depths of a Milford man cave lurks ‘New England Legends’ podcast
More:Creepy Creators: Of Grave Concern offers works of wax, wood, witchery
‘The most fun job’
In nine seasons, Allen saw a lot. “We had some young men who were designated as The Goon Squad. They would travel around the parts of the property between haunts and jump out at guests.” Allen said, “I saw one, wearing a black cape, jump onto the front edge of the hay wagon. His cape was caught under the tractor’s tire and he was pulled off.” After this mishap, Allen said, “The Goon Squad was reeled in.”
Then came the werewolf. “He would jump onto the wagon, and the narrator would shoot him with a noisy cap gun. In the cold, damp October air, our guns often wouldn’t fire. Almost every time my gun didn’t fire, a guest would say to me, ‘Do you want to borrow mine?’ ” For safety, the werewolf bit was removed.
“At the end of each season, we would have a cast party. I wrote a poem to read, trying to mention as many of the people with whom I worked as I could.” Allen recalled special moments: chatting with celebrity guests, such as the late Tiny Tim. Of the late actor who played Leatherface in the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Allen said, “Gunnar Hansen came out for drinks after work a few times.”
Working as a Spooky World narrator “was not the best-paying job I ever had, but it was the most fun. Every single night was different and almost every trip around the park was different. We had a lot of celebrities who were brought around back to be loaded onto the wagon. Players from the Patriots, Celtics, Red Sox and Bruins.”
The ‘head’ of the table
Richard Pastore worked at Spooky World during the Berlin location’s second and third season, in 1992 and 1993, and remembers working with Tom Savini, famed film director, prosthetic makeup artist, actor, and stunt performer, best known for his work on horror and action films.
Savini, an executive producer of the “Spooktacular!” documentary, was deeply involved in the design of the Spooky World hayride and some haunted house features. Pastore said, “Tom Savini placed me after an ‘audition’ in his first haunted house, the first park expansion after the hayride.”
Pastore enlisted the help of a co-worker from a different job for a peculiar prank. “Best story was my workmates came one Friday night, right from work. As they went in line for the hayride, I snuck one co-worker away and secretly got her into makeup and into my usual spot in the haunted house.” Pastore continued, “When my other workmates finally arrived in the house an hour later, they were surprised to see … a disembodied head, taunting them on top of a bloody table. They nearly fell over laughing.”
The co-worker would receive a paycheck for her hours at Spooky World. Pastore said, “Very fun memory for all of us.”
He came, he sawed
If you took the hayride in 1992 or 1993, the chainsaw-brandishing maniac who might have hailed you at the end was most likely Jeff Docherty, who says he got many of his character hints from the man who knew the part best: Gunnar Hansen, who portrayed “Leatherface” in the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
But the person adding to the visual effect was Jeff’s mom, Linda Docherty, whose many Spooky World tasks included ringing up sales in the haunted barn, but who often operated the fog machine and lights that ran as Jeff seemingly formed in the nocturnal vapors.
“I was on the last stop, as ‘Leatherface,’ ” Jeff said. “It was pretty neat, because the chainsaw we used was a real chainsaw. We just didn’t have a chain on it. The hayride would come along after three or four minutes. Mom would be there, layering it up with fog. The narrators would be telling people what is going on.”
What riders viewed was what appeared to be an outdoor shower stall, and a young woman inside, wearing a body suit and going through the motions of washing up, in a scene plucked almost directly from “Psycho,” also inspired by Ed Gein. “When they came to the last stop, they would warn, ‘Don’t look, there is a girl taking a shower!'”
From a hiding spot nearby, Jeff said, “When they would pull up in front, I’d fire up the chainsaw and kick open the door, so you would see the fog swirling away from the door. I would notice the girl in the shower. They’d say, ‘Look out, look out!’ I’d hit the chainsaw, and she’d go down, like I was chainsawing her.”
A flipped switch would activate a spray of special-effects blood, which Jeff said was the same kind used in many films. “Blood would spatter against Plexiglass. My attention would turn to the hay wagon. I’d gun it around their feet.”
Jeff observed, “It’s not real, but you would think it was at the time.”
‘One of the best things we’ve done’
Originally from Wellesley, the Dochertys moved to Prince Edward Island, Canada, in the 1970s. “Mom and I moved back to Massachusetts for three years and lived in Hudson, which was nice and close to Spooky World,” Jeff said. “Mom noticed an ad in the paper. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but it sounded interesting. We both love Halloween, so (we said), ‘Let’s take a drive down for that meeting and hear about it.’ “
Jeff said, “It was one of the best things we’ve done, it was amazing.” Mom Linda said, “It was great fun. We met a lot of great people. We met the stars. We met the guy who did the chainsaw in the movie. We met Linda Blair, Kane Hodder (the actor best known for playing Jason Voorhees in four ‘Friday the 13th’ films.)”
When they moved to a different apartment, Linda said, “Some of these actors were helping us move.” In a surreal moment of human kindness, Linda said, “We got Leatherface carrying our couch up the stairs.”
Hansen, the horror actor with a great heart, died in 2015. Linda recalled, “He was super nice. You’d never think that was the same person. He was a sweet man. We would go out after Friday night for Chinese food. He was just so nice, he came along with us.”
Jeff said Hansen shared pro tips, including how to swing the chainsaw for full menacing effect. “It was really neat to learn how to do the chainsaw thing from the person who played it.”
Of many of the high-profile guests such as Hansen, Linda said, “It wasn’t like they were big stars. They were happy to come and have fun and hang out with us.”
The scorpion’s lair
I first went to Spooky World with some friends in October 1994. In truth, it mystified us. The wetlands lurking a little ways beyond seemed scarier. But it seemed a way to combine my many performance interests, storytelling, dance, improv acting and singing, and of course, horror. So, the following year, I applied and became part of a gaggle of witches.
Our responsibilities included interacting with patrons, doling out candy and those tiny boxes of Count Chocula, both of which we were allowed to eat in unlimited amounts. It was a financially challenging time, so these treats provided a welcome repast.
The weather grew progressively chillier over the course of the month. The crowds got larger, and everything got busier. Spooky World was becoming a big hit and for some a place of pilgrimage to meet actors from their favorite movies. Bobby “Boris” Pickett sang “Monster Mash,” unleashing a flood of memories of childhood Saturday mornings watching “Creature Double Feature” on Boston’s Channel 56.
But what stands out to me the most is teamwork of the staff. When hordes of candy seekers threatened to overwhelm us, there were those like the zombie maintenance man, who would jump in, passing out candy and yelling, “Here it is, kids! Come on, let’s sugar up!”
I quickly realized I was in my element. I liked what I was doing. The patrons were not mere spectators. We witches and zombies, along with the werewolves and ghouls, were there to make them feel special, a part of this unique experience.
One night, an exotic animal handler approached me and held up a scorpion. “Put out your hand,” he said.
There is a place in my heart for all creatures, scorpions included. All the same, I stepped back. But even as I did, I knew I would regret refusing, so I said, “All right.” A friend snapped a photo that remains one of my favorites, of me, in my witch costume, with the scorpion in my hand.
It was an emperor scorpion, which doesn’t pose a particular risk to humans.
But holding the scorpion exemplified something important: Fortune favors the brave. I have taken this with me in my journalism career and every facet of life.
There are no guarantees, ever, but there is always something to reach for, like the Scorpius constellation, gleaming in the night sky.
