GATEWAYS [PART 3]: JAYCEES HAUNTED HOUSE.

This next installment of g a t e w a y s is all about fear.

Fear is what made me wuss out by not walking through the underground tunnels of an abandoned psychiatric hospital-turned haunted horror house at 7 years old. Fear is what caused the embarrassment of calling my older cousin on the phone to come pick up his chicken cousin from the front steps of the building in the photo above in October of 1992.

But fear is also what implanted fascinating images of horror in my cerebral that I couldn’t shake for months. Images that peaked my curiosity. This after just simply WAITING IN LINE for a haunt that I never even got to experience.

GATEWAYS [PART 3]: JAYCEES HAUNTED HOUSE.

On a chilly night in October of ’92, Pops TNUC drove me, a friend, my sister and her friend to this much talked about local haunted house attraction in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Leading up to this night we did hear some stories. These weren’t tall tales from other kids, but factual “adult talk” from parents and teachers at school. Apparently the actual building where the house was being held was originally a metal institution that had been vacant and abandoned for a long time.

*One angle of the sprawling gothic facility.*

This facility was initially known as the “Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates” and dated back to the 1890s. The hospital handled severe alcoholics for many years but its location was not as ideal as they hoped. Due to its easy access to roads and railways, they experienced problems with inmates escaping. They moved that facility to a new location several miles away. In 1905, the old Foxboro campus began to treat psychotic disorders.

For decades the hospital continued to develop and treat a large number of patients, but as new treatments for mental illness were discovered, there was less of a need for facilities like Foxboro State Hospital. By 1975, it was closed.

The state began using the buildings for different functions and organizations throughout the following years. The community program “Jaycees” found an ideal home for their haunted house. What could be more promising than an old psyche ward (which was most likely haunted!) The attraction proved to be their biggest fundraiser and was one of the largest non-profit haunted houses in New England.

For a long period in the 1990s, Jaycees was drawing large crowds almost nightly during the Halloween season. The evening we visited was no exception as our group began to wait in a long line that zig-zagged through an auditorium room. There were TVs all over the room playing old horror movies. Actors dressed as zombies and grim reapers roamed about. This is about the point when pint-sized TNUC started to get the willies.

As I would find out a couple years later with more haunted house experience under my belt, while waiting in line at these types of places, the haunt workers like to walk around and stare or sneak up behind visitors to scare them. Even though I was with family and friends, this was a new concept that completely freaked me out. I couldn’t take my eyes off this one actor who had a ghostly face and just stood against a wall, staring at me the entire time. The others walking around didn’t bother me so much, but that one ghoulie old dude just standing there blankly…emotionless…those dead eyes right on me.

Looking back now, this guy was doing a spooky job well done but at the time I wasn’t amused. He was probably staring at all sorts of people in line but I was convinced he was exclusively fixated on me.

Between him, the zombies sneaking up behind people and the dread of our spot in line getting closer and closer, I was done.

Pops TNUC called one of my cousins to come pick me up as he stayed with the others to walk the haunt. I realize I was only 7 or 8 years old but it was still a big, wussy moment in life. Of course afterwards when I asked “how was it?!”, any regret I had was turned around because it sounded goddamned terrifying.

Apparently not just the building was an old psyche hospital but the connecting buildings throughout the property as well. The haunt was able to occupy these underground tunnels that stretched from the basement of the building to across the street into other buildings. This proved to be an effective way of scaring the daylights out of people, which is why Jaycee’s was talked about so much at the time.

I can remember my sister saying that a guide aptly named “The Reverend” lead them down almost pitch-black tunnels into different rooms and that the haunt seemed to last forever. Her friend was screaming so loud it was freaking out the entire group even more.

“We are one dozen brave souls, walking through the dark passages, stumbling through the shadows. Unseen dogs bark at us as we cross a shaky bridge. Huge spiders grab at us as we make our way through cobwebs and fog. Rats squeak angrily as we slowly walk by them. In the distance, a train whistle shrieks.” – Robert Gillis, former haunt guide

When I returned to school, I didn’t exactly broadcast the news that I didn’t go through the haunt. Instead I was quiet about it and just listened to others talk about how scary it was. I couldn’t stop thinking about these pitch-black underground tunnels of an old “mental ward”.

Fast forward one year later and I worked up the courage to attend the popular haunt SPOOKY WORLD which I’ve written about many times. This was with a pack of my own friends and there was absolutely no time for wussing out. Spooky World was fantastic but I never went back and conquered Jaycees Haunted House in Foxboro. (Still a wuss!)