The 13th Gate

by Alexis Arms

Recently, the Haynes Academy Theater Department took a trip to Baton Rouge to get a behind-the-scenes preview of 'The 13th Gate'. The haunted house is located in Baton Rouge, approximately 10 minutes from LSU's campus. The tour began with meeting the owner of the Attraction. Dwayne Sandburg has dreamed of owning a haunted house since he was ten years old. After meeting with Dwayne, we began our tour through the first gate getting to see how the special effects worked. As we traveled through each gate, Dwayne would choose someone to stay to the side of a room and hit a button that would either blow a horn or make an object pop out. Dwayne and his employees work extremely hard year-round to alter at least  1/3 of the haunted house each halloween season. The new attraction is a hand carved cave that took the entire year to build. The cave is extremely detailed with a running stream, a pit of live snakes, and even different scents in each room. Also new, is his beehive with its giant mechanical bee that launches its stinger towards you. Even with all the lights on inside, and no actors in the building, there were parts of the house that made everyone scream. There are a total of 180 employees that work between both 'The 13th Gate' and Dwayne's new attraction, 'Necropolis'. In 2-3 hours each evening, 120 actors are transformed into the terrifying characters that haunt you. Some actors wear realistic masks that cost up to $500 each. Dwayne has put 10 long years into perfecting his haunted attraction and it is now ranked as one of the top haunted houses in the nation. If anyone is looking for a real scare, the '13th Gate' is the place to go.