By Jessica Sierocki, photo editor.
I am not one for anything scary, let’s get that clear right off the bat. Except for the occasional old-school movie, I am not a fan of Halloween. I know, it’s an unpopular opinion but I’m the type of person who needs to know exactly what’s happening to feel comfortable. So imagine my surprise when I was asked to go to the Haunted Temple in Bay City.
But it was okay (for the most part). There was a guide so we wouldn’t get lost and a rope we could cling to. Yeah, that was it. There was nothing between us and the people who wanted nothing more than to watch us wet our pants, which thankfully none of us did.
I was pleasantly surprised that the rooms of the haunted house were decently large. This year, each room representing some sort of horrific scene. As I sit back and reflect on the walk through, I think the way the different rooms were set up were really well done. There was always something different to see and scream at.
My favorite room (well, as favorite as it could get at the time) had to be one of the final rooms that was decked out with at least half a dozen mirrors, some broken and some whole. And to whoever was crawling on the floor and singing a creepy song in a really high pitch, congratulations because you are the reason it’ll take me forever to fall asleep.
The Haunted Temple was my first haunted house ever which isn’t really shocking if you know me and my type A personality. I was blown away by how many volunteers were putting on the show for the poor souls who didn’t know what was coming, such as myself. And the volunteers weren’t blowing off their jobs, either. They weren’t afraid to just jump out at you so you could end up screaming back in their face.
If I had to go back to another haunted house, I would choose the Haunted Temple. It had a nice balance between being scary but wasn’t so gory that families couldn’t tour it together. All of the volunteers did a great job with props, costumes, and scaring the hell out of me.
If my review doesn’t have you sold, check out this video of reporter Phoebe Fries, videographer Max Schofield and myself as we walked the halls of the Haunted Temple.