The Nest gives thrills and chills to participants
Sarah Evans
The Nest at Rawhide in Chandler has opened to all who are willing to enter the realms of its mazes during the Halloween season.Glenn Rea, owner and founder of The Nest, has many years of experience in scaring people.
“I used to haunt in my garage when I was a kid growing up in New Jersey, my dad thought I was nuts, and so I’ve been pretty much doing haunts ever since then. I’ve been doing professional haunts for about 25 years,” Rea said.
With three different mazes to explore, there are plenty of chances for a thrill.
“The first section is the mirror maze, it’s (kind of) hard to tell where you are going,” Rea said. “The spinning tunnel is cool, it feels like the floor is moving, but it’s not.”
Actors adorned in creepy costumes hid in corners to jump out at passing victims, like actor, James Mauro, who has been working in haunted houses for 16 years.
“The people that act kind of bashful are going to be the (most scared), you’ll get people that, right when they walk in the door, they’re hiding behind their boyfriend, or the boyfriend is hiding behind the girlfriend,” Mauro said.
One particular room leaves everything to the senses.
“(There is) the black maze which we call Bleak. It really pushes you, it pushes your senses. It’s almost irritating towards the end,” Rea said.
The finale waits at the end, a maze called “The Nest.”
“(When) you go into the Nest. we have all the good animatronics in there, and elaborate scenes,” Rea said. “We have the traditional scares, and then we have elaborate animatronics. We want to stay on the cutting edge.”
Rea stated that his inspiration for building three mazes for people to explore was to make the most out of the experience.
“People really want a value. the economy is tough. so we made some really good investments this year, and we wanted people to feel like they got a value so that’s why we did three mazes plus the cemetery plus the mirror maze,” Rea said.
Rea stated that this year they went over the top, but he already has plans for next Halloween.
“We’re always coming up with something new,” Rea said.
Go to www.frightened.com to check out more about this 23,000 square foot haunted house.
