Press

ALBANY – When it returns to the New York State Museum October 20, the “Haunted Museum” will be bigger, more terrifying and, for the first time, open on Halloween night.

The tamer “Pumpkin Patch” will also return, offering Halloween fun for younger children. Both will be held Oct. 20 and 21, Oct. 27 and 28 and on Halloween night Wednesday, Oct. 31. The Haunted Mansion opens from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Halloween. The “Pumpkin Patch” hours are noon to 4 p.m. on the two weekends and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Halloween. There also will be a free Halloween Parade every day from 1 to 1:30 p.m.

Back for its sixth year, the “Haunted Museum of Un-Natural History” moves from the Student Center to Exhibition Hall, a space that is larger and offers new possibilities for frightening all who dare enter. The “Pumpkin Patch” will feature a walk-through maze, whimsical cornfield, pirate ship, face painting and a parade, all geared for children up to age 10.

Admission is $6 for the “Haunted Museum” and $2 for the “Pumpkin Patch.” Children are encouraged to wear costumes into the “Pumpkin Patch” but costumes are not permitted in the “Haunted Museum.” Also, Halloween night trick and treaters might want to collect their candy beforehand since no “treats” will be given out at the “Pumpkin Patch.”

All proceeds go to the Museum’s after-school program for city youth, which depends entirely on grants and contributions. Last year the Halloween events raised $10,000. Rather than rely on elaborate props and expensive special effects, the “Haunted Museumof Un-Natural History” uses old, dust-covered books, lifelike stuffed animal specimens, models of human heads and other objects from Museum exhibitions and collections which, when combined with lighting, sound and “scare-acter,’’ are as terrifying as many horror movies. The Haunted Museum is not recommended for children under age 10 and anyone 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

“You know the old cliché-- seeing truth is stranger than seeing fiction? I play into that,”said Truemaster Trimingham, a Museum educator and horror movie aficionado who plans the Halloween celebrations year-round. “We’re not using aliens or robots. This is a homegrown Haunted Mansion and that can be pretty terrifying.”

Those who brave the Un-Natural History Museum’s eight themed rooms will be leered at by giant scarecrows. Clowns are definitely not amusing in “3-Ring Psychos,” a room where angry circus creatures appear to jump out of the walls. In “Gardener’s Rage,” visitors will meet a greenish creature who has been in the greenhouse far too long and “sort of turns into a plant,’’ said Trimingham. Visitors will also endure “The Freezer,’’ the icy, inhospitable space based on the freezers where Museum scientists store the animal specimens. Aheadless horse makes an appearance in “All Hallows Sleep.’’ “Outback Stabhouse,” is a barnyard gone awry.

Perhaps visitors will be most terrified by “Dead of the State,’’ an area in whichpeople in suits have been sitting at their dusty desks for so many years that they turn into zombies, with unpredictable consequences. “You will enter but you will never leave,’’ Trimingham joked.

He suspects visitors will be too preoccupied to notice, but Un-Natural History Museum actually borrows from New York history, using themes that help tell the state’s story.

An Albany resident and Staten Island native, Trimingham received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany and a master’s in education degree from the College of Saint Rose. As a Museum educator he has the creative freedom to engage students in projects such as the “Haunted Museum,” which are not found in school. He is so enthusiastic about theme parks that he works part- time as a Delta Airlines baggage handler for the free travel that enables him to visit them.

The Discovery Squad, the Museum’s after-school program for teen-agers, which benefits from the “Haunted Museum,” devotes several weeks to assisting Trimingham in the design and construction of the “Haunted Museum.” The events are fully staffed by Squad members, who play “scare-acters,’’ collect money and work with children in the Pumpkin Patch.

The New York State Museum, established in 1836, is a program of the New YorkStateEducation Department. Located at the Empire State Plaza 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 and the Museum is fully accessible. Further information about Museum programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the Museum Web site at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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