A real scream

When the leaves begin to change and nights grow cold and long, Nashoba Valley Ski Area transforms into its annual Halloween attraction, Witch’s Woods.

“People love Halloween,” Nashoba Valley Ski Area marketing director Pam Fletcher said. “There’s something about getting scared or scaring other people that really seems to have a great effect on at least the folks in this area.”

When Witch’s Woods first began in 2000, it only had three rides and one food outlet in the “midway” common area.

“We didn’t have any of the games and rides and choices of food and beverage that we do today,” Nashoba Valley Ski Area president Al Fletcher Jr. said.

The number of attractions at Witch’s Woods has grown over the years and evolved with technology, allowing employees to develop haunts such as the 3-D Keeper’s Crypt maze, the Nightmare Mansion under the ski lodge, the zombie-filled Castle Morbid and the Haunted Hayride.

“It was very primitive compared to what we do now as far as special effects, actor costuming and scripts… just a very different show,” Fletcher said. “Not on the same level by any means.”

Since the 1970s, live-action role-playing, inspired by the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons, has evolved into an industry designed to give participants a reality experience. Interest in this type of entertainment has grown so much that during the 2014 season of the television show “Shark Tank,” investor Mark Cuban spent $2 million on an entertainment company that creates reality horror experiences.

Witch’s Woods is not for the faint-hearted. Cleaver-wielding monsters chase participants as they view Halloween displays, and a scarecrow holding sickles in each hand was seen last week chasing young girls who fled into the woods to escape him. A disconcerting Sweet Tooth the Clown mingled among the crowd and posed for pictures.

The idea for Witch’s Woods first began when Nashoba Valley owner Al Fletcher began exploring ways for the property to earn income in the offseason, according to his son.

“We started looking into it, and we got into it because we thought it was pretty cool and we figured it would be popular," Al Fletcher Jr. said. “I think the haunted attraction business in New England is fairly vibrant because Halloween has always been popular in New England ... with the witch trials in Salem and the classic New England pumpkin patches."

Preliminary work and planning for the next Witch’s Woods begins right after it ends for the year in early November, with construction, design and development occurring throughout the year, according to show director Brian Brandt.

“This is essentially like a live production,” Brandt said.

Up to 15 makeup artists work for more than an hour on almost 200 actors before Witch’s Woods opens its doors each night.

“We have this property that we can actually utilize and I think we’ve done a really good job utilizing the property to provide these scares and haunts,” Pam Fletcher said.

The actors get into character so much that they call themselves haunters, according to Pam Fletcher.

“You can walk by a wall and an animatronic can pop out at you, but it’s a lot different when there’s somebody following you,” she said. “When you have more bodies, the experience is just heightened.”

But in order to keep visitors on their toes and afraid of what’s behind every corner, the theme of Witch’s Woods changes every year.

“If it was the same every year, we would have very few people wanting to come back as often as they do,” Pam Fletcher said. “We try to produce a new experience for the guests year after year.”

Many of the attractions are modified each year with new scenes, characters and renovations, according to Brandt.

“You can’t do the same thing over and over and over,” Brandt said.

With so much horror-inspired material to work with, coming up with the next theme is always interesting, according to Al Fletcher Jr.

“Everything changes every year, and the sky’s the limit as far as your imagination goes,” he said. “You can haunt an ambulance or you can haunt a spaceship. Or you can create something creepy out of some old junk that’s lying around out back. It’s cool because it changes so much.”

Staff reporter Joyce Pellino Crane contributed to this story.