Are you one of those people who squeal with excitement at the thought of riding the ghost train?
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Do you like to be scared out of your wits by a masked skeleton or ghost while you hang on tight in a rickety carriage that takes you through a spooky tunnel in pitch darkness?
According to haunted attraction expert at Deakin University Joel Zika, it has become an uncommon occurrence for real people to be lurking in the darkness of ghost train tunnels.
“It’s a rarity these days. Normally the tunnels have a series of basic mechanics that scare people,” Mr Zika said.
“The idea of somebody jumping out at you came from early horror movies, but that kind of experience has really faded out.”
Travelling ghost train “The Temple of Doom” has been travelling all over Australia since 1992. And over the weekend it could be could be seen looming over Bega Show’s sideshow alley.
Lurking inside the tunnel with all of its fluoro skeletons, shrunken heads and other creepy features were a couple of rare “scarers” including a werewolf.
When he wasn’t busy jumping out at the wide-eyed kids travelling through the tunnel, Gordon Kessey the werewolf gave us a moment of his time.
“It’s been a great weekend, loads of kids have come through,” said an unmasked Mr Kessey.
When asked how he felt about scaring people he laughed cheekily, “It’s all just a bit of fun, the kids love it”
“My daughters like the idea of me being a werewolf.”
Mr Zika said cart-based rides were also becoming a rarity.
“Walk-through tunnels with mist screens are becoming the futuristic realities of dark rides.”
Dark rides that fold out from a truck are the most common type of ghost train in Australia. Melbourne’s Luna Park is home to Australia’s only static ghost train.