Stanford’s Haunted Fortress gearing up for opening day

STANFORD — Greg Arent led a devoted team of volunteers on Sunday, Sept. 28, in a final push to prepare Stanford’s Haunted Fortress for opening day.

Final touches included cleaning the bottomless pit, scrubbing the pirate ship, raking the graveyard and dressing the dolls. By 2 p.m., about 20 volunteers had assembled to creepify the beloved local landmark.

Many of the volunteers have been coming back for years, Arent said, dedicating time and valuable skills to the town-owned haunted house that was constructed by the artist Peter Wing.

Arent has been building sets in his free time for forty years, but he started out volunteering with the Haunted Fortress in 2014 when his children wanted to get involved, he said. At that time he would help out one or two days a year. That grew into a leadership position over the course of a decade.

On Sunday, Arent was touring the decrepit grounds checking light bulbs, soundtracks and other set details to contribute to that perfect spooky ambience.

Nathan Miller

When it’s all said and done, the Fortress will be ready to welcome visitors starting on Friday, Oct. 3, with shows running from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Sundays. The Haunted Fortress is entirely staffed by volunteers, Arent said, including the actors that don costumes to scare visitors. Anybody aged 6 and up can volunteer to act in the horror show, and families often will volunteer to take over a scene.

“I love it because every scene is different every night,” Arent said. “Sure there are going to be vampires in this scene, but this family is going to do it different from these three kids from Bard, who are going to do it different from these three middle school kids.”

The sets themselves were all built from recycled material to be as creepy and decrepit as possible, Arent said. Concrete culverts adorn the sides of a bridge over a stream, stacked vertically with a cone on top to elicit a fortress’s spires. Reclaimed lumber bolted to a fence evokes a dark and scary forest blocking any escape. A rusting tractor with a steel box welded above the seat sits on a set of rails with two cars attached to it, mimicking a wrecked train with it’s inner mechanisms exposed and blowing steam on passersby.

This year the Haunted Fortress is following a haunted circus theme featuring clowns and other carnival staples alongside the classic settings of the Fortress.

The team of volunteers is dedicated and numerous, and the Stanford Highway Department lends a hand too, Arent said, but there’s always a need for skilled labor at the local attraction.

And the group appreciates all the help they can get. “Whatever you’re interested in and capable of doing,” Arent said.

The haunted pirate ship marks the spot where groups of visitors are paired with their ghastly guides for the remainder of the Haunted Fortress tour in Stanford.Nathan Miller