EVENTS
CREDIT: ANDY PETTY
the legend lives on
Camp Blood Celebrates 30 Years of Haunted Fun Does the story or themes change from Halloween to Halloween? No, we really just add to it. Camp Blood is from the Jason movies and that’s where the mask and all that imagery come in. The Legend of Camp Blood is basically part of the story, because people talk about it somehow being part of the “original” Crystal Lake camp. But that’s where the fun comes in. There’s not really a lake here but if they want to believe Crystal Lake is near here, then we aren’t gonna stop ‘em. As part of the attraction, we’ve added carnival games, concessions and even a redneck movie theater. We repurpose stuff and add to it every year and always looking for new things for parts of the trail.
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
T
EN MINUTES FROM THE CAMPUS of West Georgia College in picturesque Carrolton, is a clever and literally offthe-beaten-path Halloween attraction. The quirky haunt blends elements of classic modern horror films and lore with rural rednecks and haunted hillbillies. Conceived by Mark “Atch” Atcheson as a Halloween party destination, the half-acre attraction has grown a bit during every year since 1990. The storyline tells a murky tale of the patients of an asylum, the legend of Jason Voorhees from slasher-film fame and Friday The 13th shenanigans. It’s devilishly spooky fun for a good cause with proceeds going to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to purchase toys for Christmas and the THS Homeless Shelter in Carrollton. INsite phoned co-founder Michelle Atcheson for all the scary details.
Walk us through the attraction. When you get here, you’re walking through an outside trail. You follow it down to the ticket window and then you walk in as you’re going through a casket to enter.
Thirty years is a long time to commit to a haunted attraction. It is and it’s been a lot of work but it’s a labor of love for us. It all started right here in 1990 as just a few friends getting together to party. Over the years it got bigger and pretty soon we realized we couldn’t have 300 people in his house! So Mark changed it up so it would be a trail that you could follow and then you could get to the house. Now it’s a little over a half-mile haunted trail with a storyline and some surprises along the way.
So the casket is the portal to the horror scenes? Yeah, when you go through, you start to see the different scenes. It’s a little bit of everything from the classic modern horror lore. There’s Jason, Michael Meyers, the butcher, a dentist, different scenes of scary moments. It’s all outdoors, but it seems to be inside the house because it’s all covered and dark. It sounds labor-intensive to set up. Is Camp Blood up all year around? It’s always up and in the summer it’s paint-ball. It’s just a good, family-owned place to have fun.
Even my mother is a fortune-teller here. We sell souvenirs and merchandise like t-shirts, decals, keychains, just a lot of little odds and ends. The website says you occasionally have some special guests. We’ve had a number of special guests over the year but this year, because of Covid, it’s a little different. We do have Savanna Jade Wehunt from The Walking Dead scheduled for an appearance on October 19. But be sure to check the website for the dates and times in advance on the guests. You mentioned Covid and that’s a very real horror and a constant challenge for distancing and all the standard CDC protocol. It’s a little different for outdoor attractions but to be cautious we only do groups of ten at any one time. Masks are welcome but we don’t require them. It’s optional. How many people are in the Camp Blood cast of characters? We hold auditions every year and we have a core cast who return pretty much every year. So we’ll have between fifty and sixty people every year. We call them all part of the Camp Blood family. Some of them help us all year around because everything is hand-made on site. We’re open Thursday through Saturday every week from the middle of September until Halloween night. Does the show start at dusk? Ticket sales usually begin at 8 and stop at midnight so sometimes we’re here pretty late.
We’ve actually been here until four in the morning a few times. That’s late! Have you ever seen anything strange or spooky? Well someone gave Atch the wood from an old house if he’d tear down the house to get it. It was a little strange. They’d keep hearing windows breaking but no one was breaking any windows. He found a TV in there and it actually worked! He brought it back here and something kept turning the channel to the Food Channel. One day he saw a lady in town who asked if he’d seen Miss Mary. She said the house was haunted by a lady who used to live there. One day the channel changed again when he was watching a football game. He said, ‘Come on now Miss Mary, cut it out.’ And we haven’t heard from her since! Camp Blood is open for Halloween fun every Thursday through Saturday night through October 31. Ticket prices are $25 per person and includes entrance to Camp Blood trail and Cajun Carnage. Kids under 8 are free. For more details, visit campblood.com.
Celebrating 30 Years of Terror! Home of Haunted Hillbillies and Dead Rednecks!
Open every Thursday, Friday Saturday thru Oct. 31
Legendary Camp Blood Trail (Nearly a 1/2 mile of redneck terror) Redneck Theatre, Hillbilly Fortune Teller, Campfire, Carnival Games, Concession Stand & Gift Shop
2277 Whooping Creek Road • Carrollton • (770) 854-2267 • campblood.com Proud supporter of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
insiteatlanta.com • October 2020 • PG 9
