So there is actually a castle in Germany called "Castle Frankenstein". It's just a ruin now but it used to be something more, obviously. Several decades ago, some Americans found out that this castle existed and they decided that there should be a Halloween celebration at this castle. So, for three weekends every fall, there is a Halloween "haunted house" at Frankenstein's castle. It's all outdoors, just wandering around the ruins, so it's not an actual haunted "house". There are about 100 "monsters" there who follow you around and scare you. And, since we're not in the US anymore, they are allowed to grab you, touch you, put you into a coffin or cage, etc, without you even having to sign any legal paperwork. Crazy, I know. No worries, parents, there is a special mid-afternoon "family time" at the castle where the monsters are supposedly gentler and less scary...
The castle ruins are divided up into different areas - there's the food/drink/dancing/party area, which is monster-free (usually), and then there's the monster area where you go through a forest filled with wolves, a swamp filled with swamp things, a serial killer area complete with the Texas chainsaw guy with a chainsaw, some sort of viking or "big scary woolly guy" area, etc. Every year there is a theme and this year that was "freakshow" so in the main area there were stalls like at a carnival where you could play some scary games and there was a stage set up where the freakshow monsters performed every half hour or so. They danced to thriller in one performance, of course.
This is the only picture I took of the castle ... just one side, with a few purple spotlights on it. We arrived right at sunset so the daylight faded quickly. Also, the castle is in the middle of the forest so unless you drive a few miles away you can't get a shot of the whole thing.
Below are some pictures of the monsters, most taken while they were on the stage as that was the only time they weren't attacking you so you could get a decent picture. Most pictures below are courtesy of our friend Christian Winter, who came with us and brought a nice camera and took the best pictures.
These two guys were willing to pose for a few pictures, which was nice. I was actually a little disappointed by the lack of scary clowns at a freakshow-themed event but I guess I was confusing freakshow with circus or carnival.
My iphone didn't capture this well, but the guy sitting up on the chair here was super scary. And you never knew when he was going to hop on down and grab you. This was in the "big scary guy" area. Maybe they were cannibals? Whatever - big scary guys.
This guy took Martin's hat. He took a lot of people's hats, actually. He would hold it out then when Martin went to grab it he'd pull it away. He probably had the most fun job of all the monsters. We decided the swamp monster had the least fun job, as that person had to stand in knee-deep water all night long. I'm just glad the swamp thing only splashed us and didn't drag us into that gross water. (sorry no pictures - he was too scary to stop and take a picture of I had to get by him as quickly as possible!)
One of the towers. This would have been much spookier if the people up there were real and moved every once in awhile. But they weren't. I waited a long time for one of them to move though.
