The Nightmare Factory opened in the mall five years ago, has been here year-round ever since and, naturally, does not like this competition one bit. So, the witches and the zombies went to war.
The first incident, according to Marshall Tripoli, who owns the Nightmare Factory, was when one of the upstarts tried to trip one of his actors out on the pedestrian mall on Essex Street. The woman was wearing a straitjacket, which is not a good thing to trip in. Both houses leaflet heavily on the street, a main drag for October tourists, and where historical reenactors stage an arrest each day.
Tripoli countered on Friday by sending his mall ghouls, all of them very serious about their craft - “I care how I scare,’’ he said - to stand out in front of the newcomers and scream insults at Witch Mansion. When the police came, one of the ghouls said they were chanting “White Sox.’’
Then on Sunday, it got a little crazy: A zombie was hip-checked.
The zombie was walking with a group of zombies - “a family of zombies,’’ Tripoli said - handing out leaflets when one of the upstarts, dressed in a cape and a red mask, allegedly threw his hip into him. The zombie was a 60-year-old man, which is on the old side for a zombie. Police were called again.
John Denley, co-owner of the Witch Mansion, said the only explanation is that the bumping was accidental and that his actor’s vision was limited by the mask.
Tripoli is not buying it. “There is a war, a war has started,’’ he said. This isn’t a two-haunted-house mall, and Halloween is make-or-break. This is their Christmas, when he will pay his rent for the year, and there are only so many dollars out there.
This is not the first run-in between Tripoli and Denley. They have old bad blood, but Denley said he did not choose the location for his new haunted house to ruffle any feathers. But, Denley said, the location was exactly why they were going to win.
By location, he is referring to the fact that his attraction is entered on the outdoor pedestrian mall at the exact spot where the zombie family, which has been working for the Nightmare Factory for five years, goes to get its customers.
The Nightmare Factory has no outdoor frontage.
