Press

ALBANY – Using objects from its extensive collections and exhibit galleries, the New York State Museum will open its Haunted Museum Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22 and 23; and Oct. 29 and 30, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Student Center.

Admission is $5 and proceeds will go to the Museum’s after-school youth programs, which serve low-income children and depend entirely on grants and contributions. The Haunted Museum is so scary that no one under age 10 will be admitted. Children ages 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

But, this year for the first time, the Museum will also open a Pumpkin Patch for younger people and the faint of heart. Children are encouraged to wear costumes as they take part in arts and crafts, face painting and a Halloween parade through exhibit halls. The Pumpkin Patch, which costs $2 per person, will be open from noon to 4 p.m.

“We wanted to provide a place for people to go that is pleasant and light and fun,’’ said Truemaster Trimingham, a Museum educator and the mastermind behind the Halloween events. “The Haunted Museum definitely isn’t for everyone. ‘’

As guests wait to enter, stalks of corn quiver unexpectedly, “scare-acters’’ appear from nowhere and a piano plays itself. Inside, walls move and horror movies even come to life. Last year, about 900 people visited the Haunted Museum, a number expected to rise as Trimingham makes it bigger and more horrific.

A lifelong theme park aficionado, his hobby is traveling the country to see how parks create illusion. But Trimingham also keeps his eyes on the extensive collections and exhibits at his own workplace for props that help convert the 4,000 square foot Student Center into a hall of doom.

Cases full of stuffed skunks, foxes and birds are the centerpiece for a “Trophy Room,’’ in which a taxidermist shows off his handiwork. Dust-collecting medical and science texts in French and German accessorize the “Die-brary.’’ A bust that was once the head of a character in the New York City exhibit now tops a nine-foot scarecrow in the Haunted Museum’s “Scornfield.’’ Backdrops and décor from fossil

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exhibits and art shows would hardly be recognizable thanks to the macabre touches added.

“Coming Soon, You are Dead,’’ reads the movie marquee that invites people in at their own risk to encounter characters from “Scream,’’ “Friday the 13th’’ and other horror movies. There, visitors sit in real movie theater seats scavenged from an auditorium the Museum no longer uses.

Trimingham warns to watch for blood in the “Emergency Room.’’ “There’s ‘Prison Break,’’ he said. “You see a guard in a coat of armor and the prisoner. But they’ve changed places. The guard is in the electric chair. The criminal is at the controls.’’

A Staten Island native, Trimingham is so enthusiastic about theme parks that he took a part-time job as a Delta Airlines baggage handler in order to use the free travel to visit them. Trimingham received his Bachelor degree at the State University of New York at Albany and a Master of Education at the College of St. Rose.

Eight years ago, he turned down a classroom teaching job offer to become an educator at the State Museum. There, he has the creative freedom to engage students in educational projects not found in schools, including the Haunted Museum.

“The kids participate in some of the construction, and learn about set design and characters and building themes,’’ he said. “And, as it has all grown, they are still the first ones through it. Sometimes, if they’re really scared I take them through there with the lights on.’’

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Department of Education. Founded in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the U.S. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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