FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The Fresno Fright Night experience is here, and with it comes a cast of dozens and dozens of scare-actors who’ve been waiting all year for the chance to give guests the heebie jeebies.
According to Visit Fresno County, Fresno Fright Nights is Fresno’s first-ever Halloween haunt festival, spanning six acres and featuring four terrifying haunted attractions all in one place. The event started on Oct. 3 and continues until Nov. 1.
Fresno Fright Nights: 6 acres of terror at Island Waterpark
The Island Water Park has been remodeled to house attractions like the Chemi-Kill haunt, designed to scare guests as they walk through.
But the haunt would not be possible without the dedicated scare-actors that work inside the maze as living parts of the attraction.
“The joy of entertaining people. That gleam that they get when they’ve been entertained. It reflects back to me and gives me the same joy,” scare actor Vernon Sanders said.
Sanders says that even now, after his retirement, he still remembers when his obsession with scaring first began.
“My first experience was at a high school haunted house, and I was the victim,” Sanders said. “The scientist would say his lines, and then at the very end and he’d bring a meat cleaver down on a bone, I would just let out a blood-curdling scream.”
Sanders said when he first heard of the auditions for scare actors at the Island Water Park, he jumped at the opportunity alongside his daughter, and they both made it into the cast.
First-time scare actor Carissa Holmes says she’s always wanted to be a scare actor – and getting a chance to do it is a dream come true.
“I love The Walking Dead, and I just love scaring people,” Holmes said. “It’s amazing to do this.”
But the actors and robust sets would be nothing without the expertise of the Head of Make-up and Costuming at Fresno Fright Nights, Stephanie Galvan.
Galvan says she’s been a lifelong fan of horror and has always appreciated special-effects make-up.
“My favorite makeups? I would say Frankenstein,” Galvan said. “I love how they made it out of nothing. The color wheel and stuff they used for those movies was crazy.”
Once Galvan is done putting on the final scary touches on the actors, they are ready for the haunt.
Galvan says she is a big fan of the haunt experience and participates alongside the actors, hiding and scaring unsuspecting guests.
YourCentralValley.com sent one of our own producers, Manny Gomez, to Fresno Fright Nights to experience the haunt as a scare actor for the first time.
“I don’t know how these guys do it for so many days in a row,” Gomez said after a full shift of scaring at the Chemi-Kill attraction.
“There are moments where it’s just tons of people coming through, then there are moments where there are little lulls. That’s what’s fascinating about it is that you want everyone to kind of have your best moment.”
To watch the full version of Gomez’s behind-the-scenes look at Fresno Fright Nights, watch the next episode of Your Entertainment Escape available on KSEE24/CBS47+. The next episode premieres at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
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