Turning Pool Noodles into Nightmare Fairy Tales
Creating a standout haunted house requires serious imagination, especially when you are building six distinct haunted experiences tucked away in Glade Springs, West Virginia. Every single season, the team guts one of their existing attractions and builds something fresh from scratch. This year, they gutted their Hex haunt in May to build Twisted Tales, a dark reimagining of classic fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the Beanstalk.
Master builder Big John brings these whimsical nightmares to life using ingenious low-budget techniques. For instance, a massive 12-foot-tall beanstalk prop was constructed using plywood, canvas, pool noodles, garden hoses, black pipe insulation, and even green balls nicked from a local daycare ball pit. To give it realistic texture, John smeared the frame with a cheap bucket of drywall mud before painting it. Similarly, the team built an entire medieval castle out of discarded styrofoam blocks salvaged from Tractor Supply trailer shipments and sliced down on a custom hot-wire table saw.
“The pool noodles underneath the canvas give it some depth, and then you just smear the whole thing with a bucket of drywall mud.”
High Stress, Massive Scale, and a Three-Person Crew
While Fright Nights WV attracts over 10,000 visitors each season and hosts up to 1,500 guests on peak nights, the full-time team building the attraction is shockingly small. Only three people work on set every single day to assemble more than 20 individual scenes: Creative Director Ashley Long, Big John, and builder Wade.
The daily workload is staggering. Ashley wears multiple hats, handling set painting, lighting design, vendor logistics, actor training, and even attempting to plant the haunt’s cornfield. Meanwhile, John puts in around-the-clock hours designing, constructing, and troubleshooting props. Despite the grueling workdays, caffeine-fueled stress, and endless maintenance challenges, seeing visitors react makes the exhausting schedule worth every second.
“When there’s less than a handful of people to accomplish that, it gets stressful, but it is rewarding in the end when people come out laughing and screaming.”
Holiday Horrors and Hidden Secret Bars
The creative process does not stop when October ends. Ashley and John keep the scare season alive throughout the year by transforming the haunt for unique off-season events. For Valentine’s Day, they hosted a Cupid’s Crawl featuring three secret bars hidden inside the haunted house, including a Parisian cafe complete with a French waiter and a Cupid-themed lounge.
Their Christmas haunted house is equally popular, featuring holiday-themed haunts like Cousin Eddie’s bar from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Art the Clown’s tree farm. Whether designing a gory horror set or a whimsical holiday lounge, the team focuses on theatrical, interactive storytelling that keeps guests coming back year after year.
“When it comes to Fright Nights, that’s what I love doing, so I could just do that year round.”
Ready to Go Behind the Scenes?
Curious to see Big John’s 12-foot beanstalk in action or hear more stories about building West Virginia’s premier haunt? Check out the full episode of Creepalachia to watch Ashley and Big John dive deep into the chaotic, creative world of Fright Nights WV!
