Now the portrait room was where a host would get a bunch of guests cramped in close in this little room, and there were various framed portraits, including a life-sized one mounted on a wall above the fireplace. The host would tell you a story about each one to keep you occupied, and then BAM! The actor would suddenly jump out of the picture frame and scare everyone to death. I couldn’t help but think of the tie-in with mannequin modeling and having to focus on being perfectly still in front of a room full of onlookers. They might have to do this more than a dozen times a night, 7 days a week. I’d imagine some of them got really good at being still.
…And the part that scared me the most? The glass panel in the floor in the swamp room. It was supposed to be a coffin with vines growing across the top, and as you were about to walk over it in the dark, motion triggered the light inside. There was a girl laying inside with flowers; she suddenly came to life, pounding and clawing at the glass, screaming “Let me out! Let me out! I’m still alive, but I can’t breathe! PLEASE HELP ME!†I was so terrified as a six year old, that I side-stepped the panel and bolted. When I made it safely outside I asked my dad, “Are you sure she’s ok?†“Yes, yes; it’s all an act.†I was afraid of the dark for a time after that. Totally disappointed me when I went through the following summer w/ our teenaged babysitter and they took that part out. Safety considerations aside, I was told that the actors found it too claustrophobic, hot and very hard to breath inside.
The castle suffered major storm damage in 1982, and closed for good in 1984. It burned to the sand in 1987 under mysterious circumstances (as did the two other haunted house attractions in NJ).
