Aberdeen’s Haunted Forest: Hiding in the Trees since 1983

When the leaves change color and begin to crunch underfoot, it’s a telltale sign that a favorite Aberdeen tradition is just around the corner.

The Haunted Forest is the harbinger of Halloween. Crowds form in the Wylie Park Pavilion as classic horror movies play in the background. They’re all lined up for the same reason; they want to test their courage and see what new horrors await them in the dark shadows of Storybook Land at night.

Things have come a long way since the event began over 40 years ago. In the early days, LED eyeballs and speakers that played wolf noises were considered high tech. Now, some of their zombie masks are the same ones that are used on shows like The Walking Dead, and a couple skeleton props were snagged before Disney Hong Kong bought up the rest of the lot for their theme park.

Brian Kamerund first started working at the Haunted Forest as an Optimist Club volunteer when he moved to Aberdeen in 1980.

“There were three or four scenes with some candy at the end,” he said. “I put on a werewolf mask and ran from one tree to another, and that was about it.”

The event used to be organized by members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, more commonly known as the Jaycees. Things weren’t as flashy back in the late 80s – the budgets for each scene were about $100, and they didn’t get much more complex than covering some strategically-placed hay bales with black tarps.

In 1983, the Jaycees couldn’t put on the event anymore. They passed the torch to the Optimist Club, and the Haunted Forest is now co-sponsored by them and the Aberdeen Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department.

“There weren’t as many people in the crowds back then,” Kramerund said. “Now, there are four or five thousand that attend. That’s more than some professional commercial haunts see in an entire month.”

The Haunted Forest is usually held the weekend before Halloween. The nightly shows have been around since the beginning. In recent years, a more child-friendly Saturday matinee has been added, where the scarier props are put aside in favor of candy instead. For those looking for extra frights, it might be worth it to attend both nights.

“We always try to tweak things so the scenes aren’t exactly the same each time,” Kramerund said.

Occasionally, the event organizers scope out other haunts to see what scenes are trending. They also go to industry trade shows to stock up on costumes, props, and other supplies. The biggest one they attend is TransWorld’s Halloween & Attractions Show in St. Louis, Missouri.

The machine in the infamous Black Hole scene was on display at one year’s expo, and it boasted a price tag of $7,000. Kamerund and a couple others went through the machine multiple times, taking time to study its components.

“We went in the display and sat in there for a long time,” he said. “We were in there so long, they thought something had gone wrong.”

Once they got back to Aberdeen, they made their own version for a fraction of the cost. It’s since become one of the most memorable scenes in the Haunted Forest.

Forest Icons

Clowns turned out to be an unexpected crowd favorite. One year, they moved the scene to a different location, and Kamerund said that people kept asking him where they went.

“People say that about seventy-five percent of people are scared of clowns, and that’s not true,” he said. “Twenty-five percent hate them, twenty-five percent think they’re funny, and the last twenty-five percent are scared.”

Fifteen years ago, the clown scene made its first appearance. Kamerund painted each wooden panel they used for the scene himself, and he also worked the scene the first night of that year’s event. When Kamerund was hiding behind a slammer – a loud window that clattered to make a distracting noise – a message came over his walkie-talkie.

“Someone told us that there was a lady who was afraid of clowns, and she wouldn’t leave the scene. She kept saying ‘no more clowns’, so we took our masks off and led her out. Well, someone missed the memo, and he still had his mask on when we got to the end of the scene.”

The first scene that guests encounter is a winding walk through the trees, right into a cemetery full of zombies. The scene was created by two brothers that tried to see how many people they could scare out of the park.

“The zombie scenes are always spectacular,” Kamerund said. “They’re always scary because they can’t be reasoned with.”

One scene incorporated Storybook Land’s train tracks through Munchkin Land. They rigged the lights so it appeared that the train was coming through the tunnel. Once everyone was staring at the train, its horn would sound – right behind them.

In recent years, more animatronics and elaborate props have been added to scenes, but no prop is ever as scary as a real-life actor that catches someone off guard.“We use animatronics to misdirect the scare,” he said. “They lure you in and distract you, then the real scare is the guy who snuck up behind you.”

A perfect example of misdirection could be found in an old Frankenstein scene. The monster was strapped to a table and a gorilla was stuck in a cage, and Dr. Frankenstein attempted to swap their brains. People were so focused on the monster on the table that they didn’t notice when the gorilla twisted the bars of its cage and hopped out to “attack” them.

Another classic distraction is the Magic Mirror. Glass panes were set up in picture frames, and a monster would hide in the dark on one side. People walking by would catch their reflection in the “mirror” and once they wandered close enough, the lights would be cut and they’d be surprised by the monster waiting behind the glass.

One favorite scene had to be cut once as the crowds grew in size. A woman would transform into a werewolf, and it was all pulled off with literal smoke and mirrors. The scene took about five minutes to set up and execute, and that unfortunately became too long of a wait.

Behind the Scenes

Setup for the Haunted Forest usually begins in early October. They try to be in the Birdhouse by Columbus Day, and a lot of the work takes place over nights and weekends. Volunteers also help make the setup period run smoothly. In the past, they’ve hired the baseball teams from Northern State University and Presentation College to help, but since the former’s closing, they’ve lost some of that manpower.

“There are a lot of parts that you don’t think about,” Kamerund said. As scenes have become more complex, more props and equipment have been added. Some scenes have elaborate sound systems with strategically placed speakers and others use scented fog to add a layer of realism. For a scene set in a swamp, a layer of foam was placed under floorboards to simulate walking through mud.

In the off-season, all of their equipment and set pieces are stored in three shipping containers. They quickly outgrew the one shipping container they started with, plus the extra space inside the Storybook Land Castle.

Most people enjoy the startling thrill of each scene, but there are always a few individuals who try to act tough and refuse to be scared.

“We do things that you might not expect,” Kamerund said.

With ten to fifteen people in each group, more often than not a few stragglers end up trailing behind the rest. Actors and guides take care to make sure that the scares are evenly distributed.

“Scaredy cats go last, so they can watch what happens to the people ahead of them, and it’s fun to spot them,” Kamerund said. “Some people say we don’t scare them enough. We have radios we use to tell the actors in later scenes who needs to be scared more. It’s always funny to use people’s names.”

A Passion Project

The Haunted Forest has evolved to be much more than just a weekend full of scares. For many volunteers, it’s a passion project. Around 250 people end up helping each year, and that includes setup, makeup artists, actors, guides, concession workers, and security.

“You spend all this time working for two days of hilarious fun,” Kramerund said. “It’s a blast. It’s a lot of work to plan, get ready, and tear down, but the two nights of fun are worth it.”

The Haunted Forest is the Optimist Club’s biggest fundraiser for their scholarships and other events. Kamerund said that they’re not the most well-known club in town, and as a “Friends of Youth” organization, they’re also not the first group people picture when they think of scares and haunts. But a lot of good comes out of this yearly tradition, so the screams of terror are worth it. //

The Haunted Forest is always looking for more volunteers and actors. For more information, visit aberdeenhauntedforest.com or their Facebook page Aberdeen Haunted Forest.