Haunted Hasbrouck Carries on a Scary Tradition
Annually, New Paltz Playground Becomes Free Haunted House
Oct 26, 2009
Haunted Hasbrouck Park, which transforms a New Paltz playground into a frightfest that sees thousands of attendees each Halloween, has its roots in a family's appreciation of the large number of trick-or-treaters in New Paltz each year. The event outgrew its original location to take over the park in 2007, and has become a community event visited by more than 2,000 people in the three hours that it is open on Halloween night. Fraught with disturbing and terrifying sets, Haunted Hasbrouck is a free Halloween event that is not suitable for “the real young or the faint of heart,” says co-founder Ann Guenther, who along with her husband Dan has expressed her love of Halloween in this fashion since 1982.
Love of Trick-or-Treaters an Early Motivation
In an email interview on October 26, just as the preparations for this year's haunting reached a fever pitch, Ann talked about how she and her husband came to be the haunted house people in New Paltz. When they first moved into the Village of New Paltz, she explained, they weren't expecting as many knocks on the door as they received.
“We had 30 some treats made up and, being at the end of the parade loop, we had 50 trick-or-treaters!” Having learned their lesson, the following year they were better prepared, but not just with more candy. As Ann tells the story, “instead of just greeting people at the door, we decided to have more fun interacting with them. Dan made a coffin for himself, I was a witch with a cauldron, the kids sat still on a bench looking like dummies, until they suddenly moved - and we had a blast scaring people of all ages.” The Guenther family had found its calling.
Each year a new theme was developed, but planning too far ahead grew problematic. “We'd be overwhelmed with junk everywhere,” and they agreed not to think about the house preparations until just one more ahead of time. They acquired a loyal band of helpers from their friends and other Halloween lovers, and did not charge admission. “Dan and I both so admired and were grateful for so many people serving on local government boards and committees,” Ann explained, and felt that their house was their own way of giving back to the community.
Outgrowing Center Street
After twenty-five years the size of the event was taking its toll on the neighbors, whose trick-or-treat budget had to factor in the hundreds of people waiting on line to go through the Guenther's house. “So we said, 'Enough. A good run. Let's call it over.'” With their own children grown, the Guenthers decided that it was time to move on, but as news spread that the Guenther house was not going to be haunted any longer, people started asking them to reconsider.
“. . . a lot of parents accosted us in town over the next summer saying things like, 'You can't quit now; my son is just 11 and finally ready to go though. It's a rite of passage. What can we do to help?' And finally, one mother grabbed me with tears in her eyes, 'Please keep doing it. It's for the kids.'” The Guenthers were convinced but, as they had rented out their old house, they needed to find a new location. The Village government was open to the idea of converting Hasbrouck Park into the new haunt, but the Guenthers had to adapt to some new conditions.
- They would only have two days to construct the house, instead of the month they had used at their house.
- A multimillion dollar insurance rider would be needed to address liability concerns.
- They could no longer build the sets where they would use them – everything would have to be moved into place in the two days beforehand.
The YMCA sponsored the event to cover its insurance and the Halloween loyalists stepped up to address the other new demands, all with less than a month of planning time until the big day. Haunted Hasbrouck was and is open from 6PM to 9PM on Halloween night, to honor the village's underage Halloween curfew. Ann cautions that “people need to be on line by 8:45.” Hasbrouck saw just under 2,000 visitors pass through in 2008. Ann says that the attendance was “a bit lower than previous years. There are still many who don't know where we are. And that's OK, too.”
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