Category: Haunted House Stories

No haunted house attraction would be complete without at least one chainsaw-weilding madman, and Thrillvania Haunted House Park is no exception. We take great pride in our ability to scare you to death without actually sawing off any of your limbs. But where did the chainsaw/madman idea originally come from? From “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” of course. The most infamous crime in Texas that never actually occurred.

In 1974 the movie “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” splattered onto movie screens across the country and quickly knocked “The Exorcist” out of its number one spot. And no wonder. Promoters took advantage of movie-goer’s love of true-crime stories and used the following message to lure the audience in:

The film is an account of a tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty. For them and idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare when they were exposed to an insane and macabre family of chain saw killers. One by one they disappear to be brutallyt butchered, each murder more horrendous than the last the surviving member of the group making a frantic bid for escape in the horrific climax. This video cassette is based on a true incident and is definitely not for the squeamish or the nervous.”

But did “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” really happen? Sort of. But not quite.

The film does make a connection with the crimes of Ed Gein. However, Gein lived in Wisconsin and he operated alone. And, while Gein was convicted of murdering two women, most of his crimes had to do with the fact that he stole corpses from the local cemetery. He did, however, use bones from those corpses to make freakish end tables and a headboard for his bead and he did use their skin to craft aprons and masks – just like Leatherface did in the movie.

But Gein never used a chainsaw to dismember his victims which leads us back to our original question: Where did the chainsaw weilding madman idea originate?

Director Tobe Hooper says he got the inspiration while staning in line at a Montgomery Ward’s. The store was crowded with holiday shoppers and Hooper found himself musing about a script he was working on, a script about isolation, the woods, the darkness and the unknown. Unnerved by the huge crowd around him, Hooper noticed a large display of chainsaws and thought, “Ooh, I know how I could get out of this place fast – if I just start one of these things up and make that sound.”

And that’s how the idea for a chainsaw weilding madman came about. Ironically, Hooper said he constantly ran into people who told him they remembered when the crime was reported in the paper and they’d actually met or knew Leatherface. But the crime never really happened, and the crime it was loosely based on actually happened in Wisconsin and didn’t involve a chainsaw at all.

But it makes for a heckuva good scare, doesn’t it?

Here at Thrillvania Haunted House Park in Dallas, Texas we pride ourselves on our ability to scare, frighten and terrorize our visitors, but it’s all in good fun. We know, in most cases, you’re going to leave here alive
with a big, silly grin on your face. However, if you happen to meet up with a Banshee or The Grim Reaper after you leave here… well, that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms! We can’t control what happens
after you leave the park.

When you hear the Banshee’s mourning call, someone is about to die

A Banshee can appear in a number of forms. Most often she takes the form of an ugly, old hag, but sometimes she appears as a beautiful young woman, a hooded crow, a rabbit or a weasel. She often appears near the woods, late at night.

You’ll know you’re seeing a banshee by her mournful crying and piercing, ear-shattering wail. Why is she crying so? Because the appearance of a banshee foretells the imminent death of someone nearby. Don’t worry. It won’t be you. But it will most likely be someone near and dear to your heart.

When you see the Grim Reaper, that ‘someone’ will be you

Unlike the Banshee, the appearance of the Grim Reaper usually means you’re about to meet your maker. He’s often referred to as The Angel of Death or the Angel of Dark and Light, but it doesn’t really matter what you call him, he’ll answer to just about anything.

The Grim Reaper also differs from a Banshee in that he typically appears as a man. Generally, he’s dressed in a long, black hooded robe that almost covers his face, but you can tell by his long, bony fingers that you’re looking at Death personified.

In some cases, the Grim Reaper can actually cause someone’s death, which leads some people to believe they can bribe him, trick him or make a deal with the old codger. But he wins – he always wins – in the end.

On Halloween night when the veil between the here-and now and the hereafter is thin and almost non-existent, anything can come through from the other side. Stay away from the woods. Stay away from tall, skinny strangers in robes. And do your best to survive the night.

We’ve all heard the horror stories about gruesome accidents occurring when visitors and monsters collide at haunted house amusement parks but, for the most part, they’re just urban legends. (Notice we said, “For the most part?”) At Thrillvania Haunted House Park we didn’t earn our Number One rating by hacking our visitors to pieces. We do, however, take great pride in our ability to scare you to death without ever touching a hair on your head!

Our monsters don’t just walk in off the street and start swinging machetes. Most of our actors have worked here for multiple seasons and new-hires are brought in before and professionally trained in the fine art of mangling-and-mayhem without bloodshed.

Our monsters will never reach out and grab you or try to knock you down. They will, however, do their very best to terrify you in your tracks, which means they will be reaching for you, they will be lunging at you and you’ll think that chainsaw is coming straight toward your throat.

Many of our sets have very little room to turn and run, and there’s certainly nowhere to hide. We’ve created these sets intentionally to increase the feelings of claustrophobia and fear. As your anxiety mounts you’re apt to brush against one of our props. In your haste to escape you may even stumble into one of our monsters. But rest assured – you will get out alive if we have anything to say about it.

(Don’t worry. We also have emergency exits in all of our attractions if you become too overcome with fear.)

Thrillvania Haunted House Park has been selected as one of the top haunted houses in the nation by Fangoria, Haunted Attraction Magazine, Reader’s Digest, MSN and AOL and our safety record is impeccable – both for our employees and our visitors. None of our monsters has ever gone on a killing spree and all of our dear guests have departed with hearts still beating. However, to further ensure you leave with all limbs attached, we ask that you read our Frequently Asked Questions page to see what we allow and what we don’t allow at the park.