Haunted House in Hawaii

This was our first Halloween in Hawaii, so we wanted to try and do all that Hawaii had to offer for the kids. The Saturday before Halloween, we went over to the Haunted House in Ewa put on by the Easter Seals. It was set up in an older home in a residential area, where they parked the cars in a field nearby. It was obviously a popular attraction, because there must have been at least 300 to 400 people standing in line when we got there, and after we had been in line for some time...the number
had to climb to over 500 people. Many people were decked out in their costumes, and most of the kids were very eager to get inside.

As we got nearer to going in, we began to notice some people coming back out the front door (for your info, once you "finish" the Haunted House, you exit out of the back door). They would make comments about how they couldn't go through it, one group of early teenage years kids came back out less than 30 seconds after going in. For my little one (this was his first year for a Haunted House), this spelled doom. These kids were a few years older, and bigger, than him...so why couldn't they make it through?

When we became the next in line to go, they paired us up with three teenage girls...who were in front of us, so three girls...and then three guys (me and my two boys...Mama was taking pictures of all of this from the front of the house...for some reason she seemed eager to volunteer for that job). As we began to enter through that front door that many had walked back out of, I couldn't help myself but to "bump up the excitement" with a high pitched scream...just behind the girls in front of us as we crossed the threshold of that infamous door. I think I got about 8 to 10 inches of height between the bottom of their shoes and the floor, it was a great start.



As we wondered through the maze of kiddy terror, many would have thought it was just me alone behind those girls. But if those in that Haunted House would have looked closely at me, they would have noticed that I had not two legs...but six; those of my two boys, who by the time we had walked five paces into that house had become one with my body. The youngest had become permanently attached under my right arm, the older one an odd growth on my backside. My oldest one later complained to me that he never wanted to bring up the rear like that in a haunted house again, because all of the "spooks" would get bored and walk up behind the group going through...which meant he was constantly getting grabbed and screamed at.

I noticed about a third of the way into it that my youngest one, the one located between my third and fourth rib, had both of his ears plugged with his fingers. This was quite a sight. I don't know how he even managed to walk. I think he was holding onto me so tightly that I was dragging him through the house, instead of him walking. The nail in the coffin for my youngest one was when he had to let go of me and crawl through a small tunnel...here the protests began. He began to tell me insistently that he could not go through there, and that we had to turn back. It is hard to debate with a frightened 10 year old boy while women are screaming, ghouls are howling, walking dead people are on your heels...and the 10 year old is looking at you as if you were asking him to sacrifice himself. The debate was even more complicated with the fact that my oldest one was yelling at me to hurry, because everything scary that was walking in there was coming up behind him...and he wanted no part in this debate. He fully took my side of the debate, and told the younger one that he was going through that tunnel...and he had better be quick about it.



I crawled through first, the younger one trailing me (if you want to call him being one with my legs trailing; he was actually trying to go through a one-person-wide tunnel beside me at one point...I told him that he was going to bust the tunnel if he didn't get behind me...more protests). And of course the older one bringing up the rear was constantly yelling at his younger brother to hurry up...you know, dead people and ghouls coming up from behind.

Well, we rounded a corner shortly after the tunnel episode, and low and behold my youngest one's nightmare was there. You see, some of the "characters" that worked at the haunted house would get everyone "warmed up" by visiting the kids while they were in line outside. My boys were fine with all of the visitors, until Mr. Long Faced Red Demon with a 3 Foot Tongue came out. He is pictured here. My little one instantly froze as he came around that corner, and I...being the good Dad that I am...quickly covered his eyes (it wasn't difficult, remember he was basically one with my right armpit). To make it through this room, I literally dragged him across the room, and again...the older one constantly protesting of our lack of speed. I swore that I heard my little one's toenails scraping the floor as I dragged and his brother pushed...and yes he had shoes on. The boy did not want to cross through that room.

We made it through. My wife took a picture of us as we came out the back door. I won't include it here because I don't like the way I look in the photo. But I will tell you this, the boys look happy and relieved, and I am laughing...but look worn out.

It was a great time there. My hat is off to the Easter Seals for a good time that everyone had. They put on a great show.