The Elks Lodge of Bridgeport is reportedly haunted, and mysterious things are said to occur on pretty much any given day of the year. In October, they go all out and customize their creepy basement into a terrorizing 
haunted maze with performers at every turn. When Kate and I arrived, they had hit a dead spot in their flow of guests and a sinister, brown-cloaked ghoul asked if we wouldn’t mind waiting to see if more people would be along for the walk-through. We assumed he would be leading the tour. Waiting a couple minutes was fine with us, and it gave us a chance to take in the the horrific landscaping on the outside grounds, such as tombstones, cobwebs, impaled heads and severed arms.Some poor creature was elaborately hooked up to some wires on the front porch, purportedly for
the purpose of electrocuting it. As we took a few minutes to observe these lovely sights, our cloaked leader decided the hell with it, and told us it would just be the two of us walking through! He then said he needed to go in and check to see if everyone was ready at their stations for our walk-through. After we were abandoned on the front porch area, it suddenly seemed a lot more quiet and darker than it did a minute ago. Then we noticed something odd……some banging on the entrance door coming from the inside of the place. Already this was a unique scenario where the antagonists are inside a house, and in the real world, common sense fight or flight logic would prompt you to just walk away. We just kind of stared in confusion at these gruesome faces looking out the side window, as they made beckoning motions. I remembered being told to just stay where I was though, so a miscommunication on the ghoul’s part may have resulted in a prolonged start. Finally someone actually opened the door and waved us in. Traversing through the maze was a little confusing at times when our cloaked leader would mysteriously disappear. He would always reappear just in time to divert us away from the unauthorized areas we were heading. Of course we got lots of one on one attention, but the performers were also conscientious enough not to be too overbearing. There is one encounter with a lady sitting on top of some kind of platform, where your only option to proceed is to crawl underneath her through some tiny wooden passage way. Its just a little bit claustrophobic and a little bit of a nuisance, but its no big deal. Kind of like ducking underneath a fence. Through the entire tour, the guide held up a camera taking non-stop pictures of our reactions. Some guests may not have noticed this due to the nonstop action from all different directions. Your peripheral vision gets a good workout here. Anyway, not sure where the pictures are going. I did try and find them on the Elk’s website, but to no avail. Being in a group of two gives you way more attention than you bargained for……..so much, that at times you can feel obligated to make small talk with the workers when they stop screaming and lock eyes with menacing stares.
This event is the best “value for the money” Halloween Haunted House event that you can hope to find. A lot of work goes into creating it, and I believe it is pretty much all volunteer. The hosts were very friendly and informative. The costumes were creative and I was surprised to see children in on the act too.I think it is every bit as scary as the Bates Motel. We were impressed that for just the price of $10 each, we got this much of a show. It was way more elaborate than I thought it would be considering the price and that they operate as a non-profit. Best part for me is that they lived within walking distance of my house! If you live anywhere near Bridgeport, mark this on your calendar for next year. Definitely worth the trip.
Moments before some ghouls pounded on the door.
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