A Haunted House experience with a difference has opened in Derry for the Halloween celebrations. The Derry News sent its resident ‘Scaredy Cat’, Gareth Cross, along to see what all the fuss was about. It didn’t go well!

When my boss suggested I visit a haunted house and review the experience for the paper I was more than a little nervous.

I tried to back out but was politely reminded that it was non-optional.

Imagine my dread when I discovered that the event was strictly for over 12s.

A haunted house that didn’t allow children in?

Then the fear really began to set in.

A colleague at work showing me a few pictures from the event didn’t help much. It looked truly ghastly.

To help me through the experience I enlisted the help of a friend, a horror movie buff to whom guts and ghouls are an almost everyday occurrence.

As I walked across the Peace Bridge and up towards the spot in Ebrington where the event was being held things began to feel very spooky.
It was a dark night and there was definitely a chill in the air.

We joined the growing queue to enter and seeing many young children in the line wised me up a bit.

If all these children were going how bad could it be? I would later realize how foolish this thought was.

We entered in small groups of eight or so and I was immediately struck by the strange atmosphere inside the old red brick house.

There was a feel of something supernatural in the air.

All my illusions were immediately shattered when I was met by the sight of two men, one writhing on the floor in agony and another chained to the fire place emitting blood curdling screams.

A young boy in our party exclaimed ‘I won’t be getting any sleep tonight’.

He wasn’t the only one.

The next room was a mock butchers shop with what I can only assume were human entrails hanging from the roof as mad butchers with meat cleavers jumped from one table to another.

I resisted the urge to grab hold of somebody for safety as most of the parties were doing.

I felt it would be an action undignified of a journalist so suffered alone in silence.

What followed was room after room of horrors each one more grizzly than the last.

There were faces jumping out of walls, little girls rocking back and forth as they sobbed and deformed madmen in wheelchairs.
 
It was a truly horrifying experience and one that I’ll never forget.

We finally emerged from the horrors back out into the fresh clean air and breathed a sigh of relief.

Imagine my horror when I realized that we had not in fact entered back into the real world but had stumbled upon a graveyard with zombies desperately trying to snatch up any living soul they could find.

Having escaped the zombie horde I finally made it out, against all odds I was free.

One of our party announced that they needed a drink. Some of us would never be the same again.

The only thing I know for sure is that I enjoyed the visit to my first, and almost definitely my last, haunted house.

If you have a story or want to send a photo or video to us please contact the Derry Now editorial team on 028 7129 6600 for Derry City stories Or 028 7774 3970 for County Derry stories. Or you can email gareth@derrynews.net at any time.