The Hallow Society

During the last six months, hundreds of young people have come to enjoy our Wednesday and Stranger Things quest rooms. When we opened our doors, we did so determined to be a family-friendly quest business. However, over the last six months we came to understand that the emotional response children (as young as 12 years old) want more than anything else, is to experience genuine fear.

Our "Wednesday" rooms are not what one would characterise as "Horror", but are instead spooky and mystical. Our "Stranger Things" rooms are definitely closer to the horror side, reflecting the fact that the original series is much darker and filled with fright. Although the final room in our Stranger Things quest is illuminated in dark red, blood spatter, and prominently features amputated arms and legs protruding from the walls, this has not fazed our young visitors and they often emerge from the experience with smiles, rather than fear.

Our only possible response? We have enhanced our rooms to make them even more dark, forbidding and scary. We also have decided to open a third room, which will tap into the fanbase of our two other rooms in a way that is both familiar to them, yet will be much darker in vibe and even cross over the line into horror. We do this, because it is what our guests want.

Fear is an emotion which is powered by adrenaline. One questions the logic of wanting to pay someone to be afraid, yet if the number of horror quests rooms is compared with those aimed at young children is any indication of what sells, then the market has spoken for itself. This holds true not just for adults, but especially for teenagers who seek out increasingly scarier experiences. Perhaps this is a natural swing in the other direction as children who grew up during lockdowns from COVID with the boredom of day after day being captive at home, now seek the polar opposite of boredom - the adrenaline kick.

This is the new norm which as been amplified by popular streaming series like the ones which inspired our quest rooms. To support this premis, one must only look at the announced second series of Wednesday. For generations, the Addams Family has rather cleverly embodied two seemingly unrelated topics: The power of a family who sticks together, and dark humor. The latest installment in the franchise relied on too much romance for the fan's liking. Hence, in season two the romance will be supplanted by a much darker and horror feel. Romance is so pre-COVID.

So begins our new scenario....

The year is 2023, in the seemingly quiet English village of Black Hollow, a recent string of changes in the town has gone unnoticed except by followers of five anonymous Instagram accounts. In fact, otherwise in the village residents are completely unaware how different things have become.

Following up from a visitor's anonymous recent tip from Black Hallow, a reporter from The Sun newspaper in London has come by train to Hallow to what appears to be the epicentre of the mystery - an abandoned 19th century manor on the town's outskirts. Researching the posts and reels from social media accounts, most of them originated from the grounds and interior of exactly this place along with the hashtag #HollowSociety.

These posts and hashtags reveal that a group of five people are obsessed with unlocking the evil between worlds. There are bizarre visuals of them conducting experiments using paranormal gifts they claim to possess. The post descriptions tell of their obsession with opening a gate to something unspeakable. The last post is from one of the five who calls herself "The Veil". The image before me is of a surreal blue light with a deep dark red halo shining on what appears to be a bedroom wall with torn stained wallpaper. The post description reads:

The ritual is almost complete, and the fabric of reality is starting to tear.....#TheFinalGate