The Halloween season is a good time to face your deepest fears --  at least, according to the slightly perverted minds behind New York’s third annual NIGHTMARE Haunted House.  The brains are those of acclaimed Off-Broadway theatre director Timothy Haskell and his Psychoclan – an amalgam of designers and… well, psychos.  Their plan: to scare you into oblivion. 

 In preparation for their five-borough freak-fest, Haskell and his cohorts polled thousands of New Yorkers on their phobias.  They then created 13 elaborately decorated rooms in each ‘house’ to represent the most popular fears - Coulrophobia (fear of clowns) and Entomophobia (fear of insects) included. 

Seeing as the event seemed right up our alley, we enlisted the help of Lower East Side-based photographer Aliya Naumoff to test out her local NIGHTMARE at the CSV Cultural Center.  Sure, she holds up fine on (occasionally hellish) worldwide shoots with celebs and rock stars, but can she handle facing her worst fear?  In her own words:

I had no idea what to expect. After having a beer at the cozy bar, my two friends and I were called upon by a man with a headset. As we waited in line, a cute young blonde boy with an accent (Swiss?) came up to us and asked if we wanted another drink. He assured us that it might ease our pain. We declined because we wanted to be fairly coherent for the nightmarish adventure we were about to embark on.

After entering the first room it became clear the room wasn’t getting any bigger. The man in front began by telling us there were 7 exits if we needed to escape, and an ambulance waiting outside. He also mentioned that 5 people in the last 3 days utilized those facilities, mostly fueled by panic attacks and fears. 

Without giving away what lay ahead, the haunted house is based on a study conducted about thousands of New Yorkers’ worst fears. It really is the closest I’ve ever come to being in an actual horror film. I have to admit I’m a pretty fearless person. I can jump off a 50-foot cliff into water, but from the beginning, the little girl stuck in her bedroom with a surgeon coming through her window scenario really freaked me out. Some of it was funny because you know that you’re amongst other likeminded people. But if I had a private solitary visit through the house for the first time, I’d die! Really, if I were aimlessly wandering through the small dark corridors without the safety of grabbing onto my friend’s leather jacket, I’d shit myself. 

Advice for the lovers out there, it’s a great place to take a date. You’ll feel more connected to your partner than you would in bed. It’s survival. At one point, my friend and I took a side entrance to a long smoky hot room with a bloody butcher at the end of the table. He was screaming for us to put our hands on the table. We kept looking around for the others, and eventually they piled in. But in those first 5 seconds when it was just he and I in the room, I felt enormously connected to him.

I also recommend to the fearless heading in first. The buried-alive room was much more effective when there were only a few people in the room. Where is everyone else? Will they be buried too or did they take a detour?

After exiting I wanted more, but felt satisfied that I could go back to the bar for a glass of wine, and buy a rubber stress ball filled with bloody maggots.

And one more thing, I wouldn’t recommend it for kids-under-12. As I was leaving I saw a little girl (about 10 yrs old) screaming and crying as she ran out, gripping her father’s hand.

See It:

Nightmare Haunted House at the CVS Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street, (212) 260-4080 www.hauntedhousenyc.com

Recommended bar afterwards: Barramundi, 67 Clinton Street, (212) 529-6900

For more from Aliya Naumoff, check out aliyanaumoff.com

Fourth photo courtesy of Aliya Naumoff

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