I overreacted the other day and started typing without thinking. I wasn't even sure what I had typed until I re-read it and editted it a few minutes ago.
About the money. The haunt was being done for 2 reasons...to help my family with bills related to my daughter's tumor and another charity organization located here in town call The Rutland Parent Child Center. They were the only organization who answered an email sent out throught The United Way. They were really really interested, but without warning they stopped anwering emails, wouldn't return my phones calls and just basically dropped out. Fine. I have searched for other organizations, even my daughter's visiting nurse has been talking to people and church groups and all that, but no one wants to help apparently, and that is fine by me because I don't need them. Now I have only 1 reason to have the haunt and that is my daughter and the rest of my family.
I don't expect to bring in more than $1000-$2000 with the haunt, and that is if we are lucky. We have way over-extended all our money. The closest Hospital the deals with tumors in children in The Vermont Children's Hospital at Fletcher Allen in Burlington, VT. That is roughly 2 hours from here (depending on traffic and my lead foot). It costs us at least $70 to go up there and back. That is to fill the tank before we leave, and when we return we will have to fill it again, or maybe the next day. The other Hospital is in Boston, MA. It takes about 3 and a half to 4 hours to get there. It costs a minimum of $9 to park, that is with parking validation, with validation it can cost up to $18. The total for our last trip down there, which was Mon-Tue this week) cost us over $200 with gas, parking, and food. We were fortunate enough to stay at the Ronald McDonald house which was free for us.
So, with all of our money going to travel and insurance co-pays, we are left with nothing. I had to quit my job to stay home with Rowan. My wife makes a whole $12.34 an hour. The reason we still have a roof over our heads is because the social worker for Rowan got another organization to cover 2 months of our mortgage. They were only supposed to do it once. Therefor, the money we indended to use to buy a pellet stove is gone. We cannot afford to spend an extra $30 a month on anything, let alone $520 for fuel to heat the house. So basically, the money is going right where it was intended to go in the first place...my family. Yes, originally it was supposed to help other children with cancer or any other diseases, or any charity that was willing, but they left us on our own so I planned on using the money for us, and if possible we would donate to cancer charities and to the hospitals that take care of her. My whole plan back-fired, but all is not lost...yet.
I hope I have cleared things up, and I promise to think the next time I lose my head and not type idiotic crap in my blog. Sorry.
OK, so here is my attempt to write down what it would be like if you walked through my haunt. Not everything is here, some of the details are still in the works and may change. Somethings are planned but do not have a home yet (like a body hanging upside down from the ceiling continuously dripping blood into a bucket. I hope it sounds good on paper...here goes:
You stand at the entrance, not sure what to expect within the dark and creepy structure before you. The door keeper motions for you to come forward. He separates 5-6 people into a group and sends you in.
The first thing you notice as the door creeks closed behind you is that it is very dark in the house, even darker than the cool night outside. Looking around in the dim light you see bloody body parts hanging from rusty chains and barbed wire. A head, arms, legs, and even a torn torso skewered on meat hooks. To your right you see a torn, rotting, and blood-streaked curtain. In front of you is the way forward. Suddenly, the curtain flies open to reveal a silhouette of someone standing there with an axe, watching your every move.
You make it to the doorway and see that the hall turns to the left. As you step through the doorway, a bloody body springs from your right and comes straight at you. You can see it was clearly a victim of the axe murderer.
You continue to follow the short, dark hall. You see someone turn the corner at the end, perhaps someone from the group before you. As you get to the end you hear screams. You turn the corner and see blood-streaked plastic hanging from the ceiling. The plastic is semi-clear and you can see two silhouettes through it and one is wielding an axe. Suddenly the axe murderer swings the axe and chops down the victim! He chops and chops until the victim stops screaming, then he walks away and his silhouette disappears. Having no choice, you push through the gory plastic and find the chopped, bloody victim lying in pieces on the floor. To exit, you must push through another blood-soaked sheet of plastic.
Entering the next room you see what appear to be coffins lying around the room. They are bloody and one of them has an arm and a leg hanging out of it. You are aware of the sound of someone grumbling and coughing. Ahead you see the exit covered (as with most of the place so far) with cobwebs. You begin to make your way there when one of the coffins leaning against the wall slams open and a half-living person stumbles out, reaching for you, then crashes to the floor. There is an axe buried in their back.
You step out of the room and into a hall loaded with cobwebs. In the extremely dim light you barely make out your surroundings, but you realize that this hall has been abandoned for a very long time as there are spiders everywhere. The hall turns you 180 degrees to the right where it turns pitch black. You can see there is a dim light at the end of the tunnel. As you carefully make you way through the hall, you feel the cobwebs touching you, caressing your skin. You make it to the end and see a doorway on the left. As you get to it, a victim drops out of the ceiling, covered in spiders and cobwebs. You exit.
Now you find yourself in a short fog-filled hall that leads to another very small room. The room is barren save for the large brick structure on the right. There is a rusted metal door in the center of the brick structure. The fog is seeping out from around the edges of the door. Suddenly, the door opens and a charred body slides out on a platform. Behind the body you can see the glowing of flames and smoke pouring from within the Crematorium. You exit the room and turn right.
You are now in a long hallway. You start to make your way down the hall when suddenly someone appears at the end of the hall. They are bloody and limping. They look terrified. They open their mouth try to say something when you notice that there is someone else slowly appearing out of the darkness behind them. This second person is wearing a blood-stained pillowcase and wielding an axe. The axe murderer! As the first person tries to warn you not to continue on, the axe murderer brings his axe down into the victim, who falls lifelessly to the floor. The axe murderer disappears around the corner. Suddenly there is a sound behind you and a strobe light comes on. You turn around to see the axe murderer stalking down the hall toward you! When you get to the end, the strobe stops and he is gone.
Turning to your left, you notice a door a window on your right. You look in to see someone strapped to a vertical platform. They are totally cut in half, but somehow still alive! You can see their torn-off legs lying on the floor. Suddenly, another bloody victim drops down in front of the window. You turn to your left and enter the next room.
This room appears to be where the axe murderer stores his victims. There are several bodies wrapped in plastic hanging from the ceiling. You must work your way through them to get out of this room. You look around nervously, expecting the axe-murderer to pop at you, as you make your way through the room. Luckily, you escape unscathed.
In the next small room, you notice a table to your right. On the table is a body covered by a blood-soaked sheet. There is a doorway at the far end. Suddenly, the body on the table sits up. As you focus on that, you don’t realize that the axe murderer has appeared in the doorway in front of you. Behind you a bloody victim appears. You are trapped inside! The axe murderer raises his axe and steps toward you. Suddenly the lights go out! There is a blood-curdling scream. Then…silence. A moment later the lights return. You make your way cautiously to the door the axe murderer appeared in and are relieved to find yourself outside. But you are not out of the woods yet.
You are in a cemetery. This is where the axe murderer buries his victims. You must make your way to the gate at the far side to be home free. As you walk along the path, victims leap out from various hiding places. When you finally reach the gate, you are thankful that it is finally over.
