A lot of emotion has been evoked on the compound of the Chaguaramas Military Museum this year.
In April, after a fire destroyed the library and living quarters there, many people were filled with sorrow and regret.
Then in August, both panic and joy were felt after Kathy Ann Edwards delivered her daughter’s baby boy at the museum.
And now, members of Dream Life Events want to evoke fear and then appreciation with their latest project at the historic site – a haunted house for Halloween – an idea they got from the two major incidents that happened earlier this year.
“You all covered the news with miss Kathy Ann delivering the child here, right, those are associates of us... we came to share in the celebration and we heard of the disaster with part of the museum being burnt, caught fire and I was like, let we do a charity event fund raiser for the museum,” organiser Rodgrico Cabiria said.
He and the two other organisers, Anthony Berkeley and Jovun Thomas, came up with a three-day haunted house event that started yesterday.
From 7 pm, patrons will get a chance to experience the horror for a fee of $100.
Today, there will also be a Halloween party and proceeds from the bar will go to the museum.
“Everything that we used in the museum to design the haunted house came from ticket sales ... to pay the actors,” Berkeley said.
He said they got the inspiration for the design from YouTube and from other haunted houses.
Unfortunately, the inclement weather gave those tasked with scaring people a fright, after many people called to cancel and for reimbursement. But they used the money to put together the sold-out event.
However, they made alternative plans for those people who just can’t make it.
“Well, we have some shaded areas, the bar as well, so if we get some rain we could still function as normal. However, for those who live in certain areas where may have flooding and who really cannot make it, we trying our best to work with the museum to have a grace day, which is Monday...we don’t want them to feel their ticket went to waste,” Thomas said.
Thomas, Cabiria and Berkeley promised patrons that they can expect the unexpected if they attend the haunted house.
For this haunted house, they said they hired unemployed actors and have special accommodations for disabled people who may want to attend.
“Our job is to scare you,” they said.
The group plans to approach caretakers of other deteriorating historical sites with event ideas in the hope of helping them with repair work as well.