Thrillvania - A Haunting Inspiration for Writers

On Saturday night, my husband spontaneously decided we should all head out to Thrillvania theme park. Me being the photo nut, I took my camera along. It was pretty dark and dusty and sometimes pouring rain on our visit, but I managed to get a few good photos out of the trip.

Thrillvania is rated by Fangoria and Haunted Attractions Magazine as one of the best. It was also voted one of America's Best Haunts in 2011.

Here are my tips for travelers:

1) Come as early as possible. There are 8 attractions to see.

2) The bigger your group, the more fun you will have. So bring EVERYONE!

3) Be prepared for mud. It poured while we were on the Trail of Torment. It was slippery and messy, but a great time. Don't wear clothes or shoes you care about.

4) They only take cash, but there is an ATM. Save yourself the time and get cash ahead of time. Better yet, order your tickets online and you can avoid waiting to buy them there.

5) Parking is not free. It is $5. There is no handicap accessible parking available, which is odd. Ask and they will tell you to follow the guy on the cart to see how close to the front you can get. If you don't have cash for parking, they will comp it. They're nice about that or at least, they were to us.

|6) If it looks like it might be raining part of the time you are there, either plan for a different night or bring a parka. Otherwise, you end up shivering and wet while standing in line.

7) Get the VIP pass. It's only $5 more and it means you have shorter lines and can see the attractions more than once.

8) Skip Six Feet Blunder. The other attractions are good, but this one disappoints. You spend five minutes watching animatronic theatre and then go through a boring hall with hardly any creepies. There are a lot of pressure tunnels, but that's about it.

9) If you get motion sickness, you might want to skip the 3D glasses in Cassandra's Labyrinth of Terror. The art is cool without them and the monsters are still freakingtastic.

Without further ado, here are my photos. Please excuse the dust orbs. It was windy out. I hope these inspire you to write something creependous! And if you are looking for writing inspiration this October, you might try visiting a local haunt to scare your imagination into action. Of course, if you're like me, you might be too busy being frightened to use your camera much, so take a few mental notes.

Enjoy!

Carrollton Black Cemetery - Carrollton, Texas

With no competition, this is the creepiest graveyard I've ever visited. Restless last week, I ventured outdoors for some relaxation and writing research, touring a few cemeteries in the area.




This cemetery is a tiny cemetery, sometimes called "Carrollton Community Cemetery", but most popularly known as "Carrollton Black Cemetery". It's about a ten-minute drive from my neighborhood in far north Dallas, Texas, but my GPS managed to get me lost. I ended up in the church/school parking lot nearby and had to ask for directions, which made for some interesting looks from the parents picking up their children from school. Some of the people there didn't even know a small cemetery plot rested right next door.

It's not surprising, considering the cemetery was established in the late 1800s and the last burial took place in 1960. Since then, the Trinity River has wreaked havoc on the little cemetery. So much havoc, that most of the grave markers have been destroyed, which probably accounts for part of the creepy vibe and spirits at unrest. It's not even known how many people are actually buried here.

 

As I pulled up to the field adjacent to the cemetery, I noted the empty back church parking lot and the construction crew working nearby at another place. The men were so small in the distance; they looked like ants, but were quite entertained by the crazy woman with the camera entering the empty graveyard. They stopped working and all gathered around their truck as I approached the gates. If it had been closer to dusk, I probably wouldn't have felt safe by myself. Across the road from the cemetery on the left, lay the train tracks and on either side of the graveyard are new/old construction sites surrounded by vast, empty fields with no other people in sight.

But being the fearless writer and cemetery tourist I am, I entered the gates. I was immediately overcome with an intense wave of sadness and confusion. The feeling left me nauseous and I had to fight not to turn tail and run back to my car with my camera in hand. I have never felt uneasy while visiting a cemetery; I chalked up my feelings to the tumultuous time period when most of the individuals were buried and the damage Mother Nature has caused.

Those unknown souls are not resting easy for all eternity. My writer's imagination ran wild thinking about the many slaves buried there and their descendants and the pre-Civil Rights era in the south. What horrible injustices had these human beings suffered at the hands of men? What were their stories? Were they ever happy? We will never know.

On Juneteenth, June 19, 2010, a group of volunteers, including a descendant of Ned Welch, whose memorial is one of the last standing, gathered to remember the forgotten. They erected these simple white wooden crosses to mark the graves of the dead, but there are still many unknown buried in this cemetery.

This is Ned Welch's final resting place, one of only two markers left standing in the graveyard.

      

And this is the only other memorial left.

I dedicate this post to all the brave souls who suffered through one of our nation's darkest ordeals and hope they will rest in peace. May we not forget where we came from as a nation and may we look towards a brighter tomorrow.

Perhaps, I can help their memory live on by including this cemetery setting in a story or two of mine. It would be an honor.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!