Lenox Hospital held its annual Autumn Ball on Monday evening, only this time the money raised did not benefit the hospital itself, but its employees. North Shore LIJ Health System announced last week that proceeds from the fundraising gala, which was held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Midtown, would be donated to the health system’s newly established Emergency Employee Resource Center, an initiative created to assist employees whose families and homes were harmed by Hurricane Sandy.

“We as a health system can take great pride in how we responded during the storm,” said North Shore-LIJ President and CEO Michael Dowling. “Our ability to meet the needs of communities we serve throughout New York City and Long Island and assist other New York area hospitals in distress was nothing short of remarkable. While Sandy has passed, much work remains. That includes taking care of our own employees, who continued to work even though many lost their homes, cars and personal possessions in the storm.”

North Shore-LIJ is a 16-hospital system that employs over 44,000 people in New York City and Long Island. The fundraiser honored Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel and included a performance by singer Cyndi Lauper.

HALLOWEEN SURVIVES IN EVACUATION ZONE

Flood damage was not the only scary thing last Wednesday at the Stanley M. Isaacs Houses, a public housing complex along the East River at East 93rd Street. A bunch of ghosts and goblins were out, too, with their parents and big bags of candy.

Despite a mandatory evacuation notice from the New York City Housing Authority before Hurricane Sandy, many residents stayed in their homes after heat and elevators were shut down. Uprooted trees and debris-ridden streets made Halloween look unlikely, but parents in the buildings decided to let their children enjoy the holiday nonetheless.

“It’s good for the kids,” resident Patrick Fraser told NY City Lens. “They don’t need to worry about what’s going on in the world right now.”

Parents walked door to door with kids whose costumes included witches, fairies, Batman, Spider-Man and a bumblebee. Elsewhere in the city, many Halloween happenings were canceled, including the Village’s annual Halloween Parade, the largest public Halloween event in the country.

LOCAL MAN SAVES TAXI DRIVER FROM DROWNING

Jon Candelaria braved Hurricane Sandy last week to pull a taxi driver out of rushing floodwater. The 25-year-old was sipping coffee in his family’s Upper East Side apartment on Monday during the storm when he saw an SUV taxi driving in water on a closed street. A sudden surge lifted the vehicle, then pulled it into deep water.

“I acted on a reaction. I didn’t think of my well-being,” he told CNN of his heroic feat that followed. He rushed outside into waist-high water wearing basketball shorts and a jacket and waded to the vehicle. Wind, water and a rapid loss of strength prevented him from opening the SUV’s door at first, but he told the driver that they were going to work together, and they managed to open the door on the count of three.

“As soon as I got to three, the wind just stopped for that one second,” Candelaria told CNN. “It was like something from a movie.”

The driver left the scene without identifying himself. The rescue was captured from above, though, on a nearby security camera.

“At the end of the day, it wasn’t about what I was getting in return,” Candelaria said after joking with CNN that he should be granted unlimited cab rides in the city. “I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. If I knew that this was going on in front of me, I would have done it for anyone.”

The theme of the annual Village Halloween parade this year was to have been a 2012 Mayan countdown. With the streets of downtown Manhattan already dark and apocalyptic in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, the parade was cancelled for the first time in its venerated 39-year history.

But on Wednesday night, more than a hundred determined revelers whooped and danced through the Village anyway, brightening the darkened streets with costumes fashioned out of blinking lights and glowsticks. More people joined as the parade wound a zigzagging route up from Prince Street, past 14^th and toward the brightly lit buildings uptown.

Photo by Emily Johnson

“Well apparently [the parade] is rescheduled, but the only time to come out for Halloween is Halloween night,” said Christopher Hardwick, whose white coattails and top hat were decked out with blue lights.

“You can’t come out the Saturday before or the night before, its always Halloween where it’s rocking,” Hardwick said. “And there were a lot of people in the neighborhood without power with cabin fever. I walked here from the East Village, which has absolutely no power, down fourteen flights of stairs.”

Hardwick, who belongs to a group of costume enthusiasts known as Kostume Kult, was one of the organizers of the informal event. He regularly emcees the group’s float in the annual parade.

Police accompanied the parade through the streets, and for much of the way, the flashing lights on the NYPD vehicles were the main source of visibility. On Christopher Street, the crowd spilled into the middle of the road and officers had to hem them in with megaphones. Some of the marchers pitched in to restore order.

“Onto the sidewalk, darlings, everybody onto the sidewalk,” trilled an imposing figure dressed as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Some people on the event’s Facebook page had expressed worry that even a small, unofficial parade would be an unnecessary distraction for the beleaguered city. Jim Glazer, another organizer dressed as a red dragon, acknowledged these concerns.

“We had a mixed reaction,” said Glazer, more commonly known as Costume Jim. “Some people didn’t like the idea because they thought it would take away resources. But the people who really get art, I think, understand that helping people’s morale is a very important aspect of aid for downtown.”

It seemed to be working. Smiling faces appeared at windows lit by candlelight, peering down at the street and beckoning more people to come and look. Motorists stopped their cars on the street to take pictures. “Halloween is not dead!” one man yelled from a passing cab, eliciting cheers from the marchers. And occasionally the parade came upon unsuspecting, delighted costume-wearing people who joined in, swelling the size of the crowd as it marched on.

A small band featuring a large tuba-like instrument, akin to something out of a Dr. Suess story, provided the soundtrack for the parade. Cyclists rode alongside, speakers blasting Lady Gaga songs and the theme from “Ghostbusters.”

For fashion designer Megan Bielli, 24, the mob of light and noise was a welcome relief after days of quiet darkness in her East Village apartment, where she and her boyfriend had been steadily working their way through all of their perishable food.

“It’s been really dark and dreary going outside, walking around my neighborhood,” she said, a pair of glowstick ears perched on top of her head. “It was nice to go to work today where there’s electricity and charge my phone, check the internet. That’s where I found out about this. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it.”

She said she intended to join the others in walking up to where the power was back on.

“The whole point is not to be a nuisance,” she said. “It’s Just to shine a little light on a dark time.”

The Village Halloween Parade, a 39-year tradition, is just another check on the list of Hurricane Sandy’s victims, which includes the destruction of much of Atlantic City, Long Island, Downtown Manhattan and the New York City mass transit system.

“For the first time in our 39 year history, the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management and the NYPD have CANCELLED the Parade,” read the official website of the Village Halloween Parade, which was scheduled for Halloween night.

Serra Hirsch started piecing together her costume Sunday evening, moving the tree and the bear around to see where she wanted them. Photo by Sophia Rosenbaum

Instead of intricate costumes and mobs of people taking over 6th Avenue in the Village, clean-up crews will be working to remove fallen trees and bring power back to the millions in the dark since Monday’s super storm.

Destruction around the metropolitan area evoked images of doomsday. A spooky coincidence, perhaps, but this year’s Halloween parade featured an end-of-the-world theme: “Tick! Tock!,” a poke at the Mayan calendar’s prediction of the end of the world in 2012.

Jeanne Fleming, the producing director of the parade, sent an email Tuesday evening to participants and media alerting them to the cancelation of the parade after Mayor Michael Bloomberg made it official on Tuesday afternoon.

Fleming is working diligently to reschedule the parade, but said it is only possible if the organization’s small budget allows for it.

“It seems at the moment as if we cannot afford to do it a week later,” she said.

Meanwhile, Serra Hirsch, a puppeteer who has been active in the parade since 1994, remained hopeful Tuesday evening that the parade will be rescheduled sometime next week.

Hirsch said the cancellation was a “huge bummer” for her, but said mass transit is crucial to the return of pre-Hurricane Sandy New York City.

“We can’t return to normal until the subway returns,” she said. “The city is crippled with no subway, and the police, sanitation, and other services aren’t really available to make the parade run smoothly and safely.”

Hirsch said she understands the decision to cancel the parade, as safety is an issue to begin with because people’s costumes cause obstructed views, and drunk audience members sometimes become aggressive.

“I don’t think they had a choice,” she said. “The light’s are out still throughout the parade route. It’s just not safe.”

Jennifer Weidenbaum, 34, has gone to the parade with Hirsch for five years and started working on her ski-costume in August. She attempted to get into the city Tuesday from her home in Jersey City, but said too many roads were closed. On her drive home, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

“I was actually happy when I was listening to the radio in the car when they said the parade was cancelled,” Weidenbaum said. “I don’t want any of the city’s resources to be directed towards a parade when there’s so many other important things going on.”

Sunday afternoon, Hirsch was busy at work on her elaborate campfire costume scene of two girl scouts at a campfire roasting marshmallows with a bear lurking behind them. Hirsch’s plan was to act as the head of one of the girls and said she planned on pretending she had no idea there was a bear behind her.

While Hirsch is working on her costume at a much more relaxed pace now, she is still set to appear on Kelly and Michael’s live Halloween show, which was moved to November 5 due to the storm. If she wins the costume contest, she could win a $10,000 gift card to Home Goods.

Weidenbaum is still planning on celebrating Halloween this evening in her Jersey City neighborhood. Her costume of an Olympic skier racing down a mountain to the finish line is almost complete, and she plans to use it for next year’s Halloweenparade in the West Village.

“I’ll have a leg up next year,” she said. “I’ll put it in storage.”

Compiled by Rebecca Temerario

Halloween City
1555 Third Ave. at 87th Street 302-932-9109
Come for the cheap prices, leave with all your party decorations and a costume. Costumes can be purchased for less than $20. With a handful of locations on the Upper East Side and plenty more all over the City, Halloween City is crammed with bloodthirsty cups, decorative spiderwebs and Halloween CDs.

Screaming Mimi’s
382 Lafayette St. near East Fourth Street, 212-677-6464
Laura Wills, owner of Lafayette Street’s Screaming Mimi’s, loves Halloween. At the beginning of October, her vintage boutique is transformed into a Fright Night mecca, complete with an elaborate window display. If you can’t wait for Macy’s Christmas windows, head over to Screaming Mimi’s, where you can try on an array of vintage costumes. They offer everything from Tudor-style gowns to cute sailor dresses.

During the month of October, Screaming Mimi’s showcases a daily “Costume Countdown” on their blog. Wills clearly adores Halloween; Target even approached her for Halloween styling assistance. If Halloween is your favorite holiday, look no further than Screaming Mimi’s, where the staff is wild about the Witching Hour.

Spirit Halloween
766 Sixth Ave. near West 25th Street, 845-397-0915
Be an Angry Bird ($34.99), Spider-Man ($49.99) or your favorite videogame character this Halloween ($34.99). With several NYC locations, Spirit Halloween offers a wide variety of costumes for everyone’s inner ghoul. “Little Monster” costumes are available for babies and toddlers ($9.97 – $69.99). Older customers can enjoy sporting Halloween-themed contact lenses ($29), the Barack Obama or Sarah Palin masks ($19.99) or fake braces ($9.99).

New York Costumes
104 Fourth Ave. near 11th Street, 212-673-4546

Spanning an entire city block, New York Costumes is an extensive costume warehouse complete with Mitt Romney masks ($8.99), strobe lights ($14.99-$19.99) and aviator caps ($24.99). No matter how off the beaten path your intended costume is, you’ll find it at New York Costumes. The store is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and offers extended hours during October, often closing between 10 and midnight. New York Costumes has one of the largest collection of masks, props and wigs, and carries costumes for all ages, as well as for four-legged friends. The company also offers an extensive online inventory for customers who know what they want before they shop.

Frankie Steinz Costumes
580 Broadway, Suite 309, near Prince Street, 212-925-1373
Costume designer Frankie Steinz operates her Tribeca design studio by appointment only. She accepts customized, one-of-a-kind orders and rents an array of professional-quality costumes at her upscale boutique. She has even outfitted the likes of Kate Moss and Jack Nicholson. Fittingly, Steinz was born on Halloween.

OCTOBER 6-28
(Weekends Only) Boo at the Zoo returns to the Bronx Zoo with everything little hearts could ask for this Halloween. On top of annual favorites like the Haunted Habitat Mansion of ghosts and extinct animals and a hayride through the animated Creepy Hollows town, magic shows, an extinction graveyard, intricate pumpkin carvings and costume parades will amp up the eerie fun. bronxzoo.com

OCTOBER 6–31
(Tuesdays-Fridays) The giant sculptures at the New York Botanical Haunted Pumpkin Garden will send delicious chills down little spines. Get more thrills from a spooky parade, a scary puppet show and lessons on creatures of the night. If you visit on the third weekend of the month, you’ll also see master pumpkin carver Ray Villafane at work. nybg.org

OCTOBER 27
Join the New York City Police Museum for a ghoulish good time at its annual Halloween party. Kids can immerse themselves in making slime, decorating trick-or-treat bags and winning giveaways while their parents brush up on trick-or-treating safety skills. Children should come in their best creepy costumes! 11 a.m.- 2 p.m., nycpolicemuseum.org

OCTOBER 27
Get ready for a fun-packed night of ghostly games at Ripley’s Boo-lieve It or Not! Slumber Fest. This eerie overnight experience includes adventures like Ripley’s signature laser beam race and costume contests, as well as snacks, pizza and breakfast. Come prepared with courage and spooky sleepover necessities.
ripleysnewyork.com

OCTOBER 28
It’s time for Central Park’s Halloween Parade and Pumpkin Sail! Don your scariest disguise and strut your stuff, then bring your best carved pumpkin to the city’s largest flotilla. As the day of Halloween fanfare fades into twilight, the sight of glowing, grinning pumpkins bobbing down the lake will raise some goose bumps. centralparknyc.org

OCTOBER 28
Bring the kids costumed up for The Queens County Farm Museum’s Fall Festival, where the family can enjoy sack races, hunt for trinkets in the haystack, dance to country music and fill up with goodies from crafts and food vendors. Tip: Stick around after the fall fest for the kids’ Haunted House that has just the right amount of scare. queensfarm.org

OCTOBER 31
The American Museum of Natural History is dedicating a whopping 30 halls to trick-or-treating, crafts and more at its annual Halloween Sleepover. Costumed kiddies can dance to performances from hit stars and possibly even get the chance to hang with big-screen cartoon characters. (Registration required.) amnh.org

OCTOBER 31
Just because it’s your baby’s first Halloween doesn’t mean he or she can’t partake in spooky fun. For babies 0-12 months and their parents, Mommybites’ Baby’s First Halloween Party presents a Little Maestros performance, light snacks and bonding time with other new moms and dads. Make sure you dress to impress for chance to win costume contest prizes! mommybites.com

ONGOING
Hit up Times Scare’s Dr. Blood Show anytime this month (or this year) for kid-friendly blood, guts and gore as the expert magician cuts off his limbs and saws audience members in half. For tweens and young adults, The Haunt, the city’s only year-round interactive haunted house, is the perfect place to enjoy some hi-tech spooks.
timesscarenyc.com

Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, and Horatio Sanz discuss their hilarious Halloween costumes. The Citibank CEO runs away from my questions at a fancy fall gala. This month’s Bash Compactor makes $1.75 million a year but doesn’t want to talk to you.

Celebrity Impersonators

The Upright Citizens’ Brigade has opened a new East Village location, and original UCB co-founders Amy Poehler and Matt Walsh hosted its grand opening in October. The “Parks and Recreation” star introduced skits from up-and-coming comics with Walsh and fellow ex-SNL cast member Horatio Sanz, and she was often seen audibly cracking up by herself, beer in hand, while the rest of the audience was fairly silent.

Amy told me on the red carpet that she didn’t have a costume picked out for Halloween and that she planned to “take it easy” this year since she dons costumes so often for her day job. But when Walsh asked her what her costume was going to be during the show, she said she was thinking about going as Sue Mengers, the recently deceased L.A. super-agent who hosted star-studded salons at her house for celebrities, like Barbra Streisand, Cher, Faye Dunaway, and many of their famous friends.

Walsh didn’t seem to know who Mengers was—and neither did anyone in the crowd except me, since I was the only one cracking up—so Poehler explained. “She was this old Hollywood agent, and she was like so cool,” she deadpanned. “She had this fuckin’ mansion where she invited famous people. And she only talked to famous people.”

Walsh’s costume idea was similarly off-the-beaten-path: “Last year I was a Washington General. That’s the team that plays against the Harlem Globetrotters. I thought that was genius, but not many Americans got on board.” Sanz quipped back: “You should’ve had a black person play a Harlem Globetrotter. Just pay him 100 bucks to follow you around.”

Sanz’s costume idea: “a Che Guevara T-shirt. I put my head through like a T-shirt, and I wear a T-shirt the whole night.” Of all the costumes discussed, only Poehler’s two kids’ ideas sounded pedestrian: “A pumpkin and a policeman.”

From Chelsea to Bed-Stuy

My Halloweekend plans took me to an afterparty for the popular S” show. Part-performance art, part-theater, the regular show has audience members walk through twenty-plus rooms in the sprawling 40s-era “McKittrick Hotel.” Masked and asked not to interact with the actors, you’re an invisible voyeur watching various actors play out their roles. For the “film-noir formal” themed after-bash, I dressed as homo Humprey Bogart, with a sparkly sequin fedora and the requisite tuxedo. Everyone else at the party was dressed just as historically accurate, and it felt like we were in a totally different time era. What a warp!

Runaway Pandit

Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit did not want to talk to this reporter at Accion’s 50th Anniversary Gala, where he was honored for Citi’s financial support of the microfinancing charity. I figured the guy made $1.75 million this year and my taxpaying ass bailed him out a few years back, so he might throw me a quote or two.

Not so: my first attempt ended up with the classic “let’s-talk-about-you-not-me” deflection tactic, with Pandit asking how long I had been a reporter. After finally getting to my question for him, he said he was too preoccupied with taking photos with Accion board member Diana Taylor (Mayor Bloomberg’s girlfriend) to talk.

After photos were done, I gave it one last try. News reports that day said hackers had released personal information of Pandit’s on the Internet in retaliation for the arrest of Occupy Wall Street protesters trying to close their accounts at a Citibank branch, so I asked if his cell phone had been compromised. His handler blocked the interview, and he simply walked away.

For her part, Diana Taylor would not discuss Occupy Wall Street, but she did have a comment for Pandit’s villainous hackers. “It’s ridiculous. It’s horrible. It is absolutely horrible that people don’t have better things to do with their day.”

Veronica Hoglund

Though last Saturday’s weather may have gotten us all a little scared, Monday’s Halloween festivities managed to bring all of the city’s monsters out and about town. At Hotel Chantelle, in Lower Manhattan on Ludlow Street, goblins and ghouls, and everything in between celebrated the spooktacular night with drinks and dancing. In honor of the holiday, the venue hosted a variety of events the week prior, since one day of tricks and treats is simply not enough.

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Kristine Keller & Marisa Polansky

Downtown doesn’t really need a designated day devoted to dressing like Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga or Danny Zuko, but just because we don’t need it doesn’t mean we won’t embrace it. It’s human nature to dream of being someone else entirely. The popularity of Halloween isn’t the candy, the creepy or even the costumes. It’s the freedom we acquire from shedding the old and becoming the new.

One night, tired of looking at our white walls and inspired by Penélope Cruz’s infectiously bold performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, we interpreted Jackson Pollock through wide and talentless fingers and threw paint at our walls. The next morning, we wordlessly and collectively decided the only thing worth keeping from the night before was our memories.

At Home Depot, in the midst of choosing between eggshell and sand, a plucky associate checked our paint-stained hands and said, “Painters huh? Let me show you where we keep our good brushes.” We purchased an entire set. We knew, of course, that one painting does not a painter make, but something about having this stranger believe it made us believe it. If only for a moment. Halloween is like that moment 1,440 times in a row.

As many a good parent would say, the only thing that matters is what you think about you. However, as many a person living in the real world would say, what other people think about you matters a whole hell of a lot. Just ask the participants of the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment. The study made a roar in the ’70s when social psychologist Phillip Zimbardo selected 24 psychologically healthy males and randomly assigned half to play the role of “prisoner” and the other half to play the role of “guard” in a simulated prison.

Though there were no discernible differences between the two groups of participants before the study, once they were administered labels and costumes and placed in a prison context, their fictitious entities soon became a frightening reality. The guards took their position to the extreme and showed a flagrant disregard for the rights of the prisoners with verbal assaults, public humiliation and a total lack of scruples. In concordance, the prisoners succumbed to their new roles as well. Each prisoner was stripped of their birth name and only given an ID number to be used throughout the study—prisoners became emotionally drained and riots ensued. The study was terminated after only six days.

Though the experiment raised eyebrows and ethical concerns everywhere, it brought forth a powerful notion: the theory of deindividuation. This theory is usually used to describe the feeling of anonymity and loss of self-identity that individuals take on when given a certain label or name in the context of a sizable group. When placed in a group setting, individuals are less accountable for their actions and have the opportunity to relish behaviors that they would not have ordinarily been able to commit.

On All Hallow’s Eve, deindividuation occurs the moment you put on your Native American headdress and do a synchronized dance next to a construction worker and policeman. With the right costume and attitude, anyone has the opportunity to become who they’ve always wanted to be, whether it’s a painter, prisoner, princess or president. Not only do you get to dress like a fantasy, but your behaviors, actions and emotions are predicated on that new idea of yourself. This new identity gives the identifier the courage and ammunition to behave the way the costume necessitates. Moreover, the more we are treated like a naughty secretary, Michele Bachmann or a WWE wrestler, the more we will inhabit that persona.

In previous years, we’ve witnessed witches fly, cheerleaders shout affirmations and sailors open doors, but we can’t help but wonder if it’s not just the magic of Halloween but rather, the magic of New York City. After all, there is no place better suited for maintaining your anonymity than the 917. Freedom comes from reinvention and the notion of possibility is paved into the sidewalks of this city. There’s no one to tell you that you can’t be who you want to be. Don’t wait for someone to give you a label.

We say, why not take a cue from Oct. 31 and have the fortitude to be who you dream and let New York be your mask. Of course, our brushes have been long forgotten behind dust and dish detergent and we haven’t painted a thing since that fateful night, but we just may have thought of this year’s costume. Or better yet, a new career.

It’s 6:45 on a warm October night, and Mike Impollonia is patiently waiting in line to get his face and arms spray-painted green, orange and black and covered in fake blood. This is the 27-year-old’s third year working at Blood Manor, “New York’s premier haunted attraction,” located at 163 Varick St., running every night this month except Oct. 24.

What’s your costume for tonight?
An evil-looking bouncer that will take the groups through the Vampire’s Lair, which is where the vampire exotic dancers are. This is the first year we’ve had an official male dancer who’ll be in there all season, wearing hot shorts along with the girls.

I’m sure he’ll have a lot of fun. Do the dancers have a “no touching” rule?
All of Blood Manor has a no touching rule! If a customer touches any of the performers in any way, they’re removed by security right away. The rule is that we can’t touch the customers and they can’t touch us. Sure, we’ll get up in their faces and get real close, but we never touch them.

Does that rule get broken a lot?
Usually not, but some people can be out of control. One time, a very, very drunk woman was going from room to room and propositioning every single one of the male performers. Just grabbing them all over. We eventually had to call security on her.

When do the crowds get the most out of control?
Later on into the night and closer to Halloween, or when people come here after they’ve had a few drinks. Drunks are the craziest. They’re usually the ones who get aggressive, jumping around and touching stuff or bumping into things and breaking props.

Breaking props?
Yeah, but that also happens unintentionally. Some people get really terrified and just go nuts, start tearing things apart. One time, a group of teens—people usually walk through in groups of six—got so scared in a room I was working in that one of them ran right into a huge grandfather clock. There was glass everywhere, the kids were screaming and freaking out like crazy. I had to calm them down, call security to clean up the glass and keep new people from coming in. It was a mess.

Is it hard to stay in character throughout the night?
It can be exhausting. But we unwind during our break, when we all just hang out and relax together. The owners are really nice and always give us food, like pizza and hot trays of Chinese or Italian food. They also keep huge fridges stocked with water and juice, along with multivitamins and cough drops, because our throats get pretty sore from roaring and screaming at people all night. I always lose my voice by the end of the season.

That sounds pretty rough! What keeps you coming back to work at Blood Manor every autumn?
It’s an amazing atmosphere, very high energy and fun. Plus, just the ridiculousness of it, that I get paid to do this—otherwise I’d probably be doing this for free.

What surprised you the most about Blood Manor when you first started working here?
Honestly, how well we all get along and how much fun it is. The people are great and we all bond really quickly every year because we’re working so hard and going through all this awesome craziness together. We try to keep in touch throughout the rest of the year until the next Halloween season, and then it’s like seeing your family again. It actually literally is like my family—I met a girl who was working here last year and after talking we realized we were distant cousins.

Which room is your favorite this season?
The last room, which is called Zombie Apocalypse. But I don’t want to give too much away, because it’s this awesome, gruesome, shocking finale. Let’s just say that they put a lot of thought and work into making it really scary, but also fun and interactive.

What costumes have you worn?
Let’s see…Dr. Frankenstein, a crazed, cannibalistic butcher, a werewolf…I actually had an allergic reaction to the werewolf costume, because something about the mask and the makeup that goes along with it really irritated my skin. I loved that costume though! I begged them to let me wear it again, just during the first night, for old time’s sake. But they said absolutely not, because they didn’t want me to get sick from it again.

How do the performers keep their heavy, elaborate costume makeup looking good all night long? It must be ready to melt off after midnight.
Oh yeah, my werewolf makeup used to fall off in chunks toward the end of the night. But we have makeup artists behind the scenes and we can always ask them to do touch-ups during our breaks. That’s really important, because if the latex paint starts peeling off, then the costume gets messed up, and you have a harder time getting into character. And you don’t want that. You want to be as scary and realistic as possible!

Photo courtesy of Remy Melina

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