Soap Factory Haunted Basement

Last night Pooteewheet and I went to the Haunted Basement at the Soap Factory for the second time (annually). Last year was definitely more scary. Although this year, they claimed to have more "uncles", and we actually saw a woman being escorted out hyperventilating. I suspect the issues were 1.) they went to a lot of trouble to separate everyone individually (something Julie would have hated), and 2.) they put you in small boxes for a while. Scary if you give a **** about tight spaces. Irrelevant if you don't care. Most of the night I wandered in directions where they had to pull me back onto the main path, did as they requested (like sitting on a mannequin, which seemed to be an exception to the rule), wandered around the wrong side of the table of gross food, and laughed when I guy tried to use a stapler on me. Not that it wasn't a little bit creepy, but mostly it tickled. We were paired up with Julie and Alan and we used their names a lot, just to give the actors something to work with. I think the weirdest thing was the photo exhibit at the beginning which was an Asian woman in various states of bondage involving total nudity and ropes. Not part of the haunted house, but definitely a weird intro.

This has little to do with the haunted basement other than that we were walking from Aster to the basement near University.  Pedal Pub has a headquarters right along the street, so we saw all the pedal pubs finishing up for the night.  I have to do this.  Even if it means making more friends.

The bell they ring to announce you're headed into the Haunted Basement.  I asked the gentleman nearby if they tweaked the basement to make it more scary based on participant feedback.  No such luck.  That poster in the background is for the company that makes nasty smells for the haunted basement.  The smells didn't bother me until I got to the old ketchup, which they had nothing to do with.  Old ketchup makes me feel ill.
 

At the end or the haunted basement.  You can watch other folks freak out.  this was more fun last year when you could watch people wander around the maze for 30 minutes. 

Can't tell if this makes sense, but there was a fish dude who puked water.  Having to walk through a floor covered with a layer of water was pretty creepy.  Not because you felt all cthonic, but because you were worried about being electrocuted.