Haunted Hickory plies scary seas aplenty
by Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
A haunted ship filled with the ghosts of dead sailors from seas past is a frightening prospect for anyone who happens upon it.
And while scaring old ladies and small children isn’t usually what the U.S. Coast Guard prides itself on, that’s precisely what makes the “Haunted Hickory” so much fun for the crew of 50 U.S. Coast Guardsmen in Homer stationed aboard it. It’s a chance to share the familiar nooks and narrow decks of their ship with the public in a rare glimpse meant to frighten the daylights out of grown men and women.
File photo - A mangled pirate aboard the Haunted Hickory waits for unsuspecting victims.
In fact, more people crossed the gangplank at the Haunted Hickory Halloween Fright Night last year than voted three weeks ago, said Coast Guardsman Scott McAloon, one of the organizers of the event.
“Every year it’s more people,” he said. “It’s always a big event, and people come all the way from Anchorage.”
To show how much the event has grown, McAloon said they collected some 1,000 pounds of food in 2006. It more than doubled the following year.
The crew spends a few weeks getting ready for the haunted house, figuring out plots based on parts of the ship.
“They get into it,” McAloon said. “Typically, a couple of guys each take different parts of the ship and put their own spin on things. We do different themes throughout the boat. You don’t come on a haunted ship to not be scared.”
The preparation means turning the ship into twisty halls of horrors: flashing lights, glimpses of spilled “blood,” crew in frighteningly hideous costumes and gobs of makeup, an assortment of props, webs, an organ pounding out maudlin music – and lots of Visqueen.
The event begins at 4 p.m., Oct. 30. The first two hours are devoted to those who scare easily, like the under-12 set and their parents. Then from 6 to 11 p.m, the full-fledged scaring begins.
File photo - A surgeon with questionable bedside manners displays his recent operating room accomplishments aboard the Haunted Hickory.
The price of admission to the haunted Hickory is two cans of nonperishable food per person. All proceeds go to the Homer Food Pantry, where last year’s effort raised 2,500 pounds of food.
“The crew was really proud of that,” McAloon said. “The food pantry gets one-third to one-half of what they need for the entire year from this one night. It’s the community helping the community, and the Hickory is just part of it.”
The Hickory is a relatively young ship – about eight years old. It took over the role of hosting the Halloween haunting from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sedge, which McAloon said started the event many years ago.
In its everyday life, the 225-foot Hickory is a multi-mission cutter that aids navigation, search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, marine environmental protection and homeland security. The cutter’s primary mission is tending buoy aids to navigation around the Kenai Peninsula, bearing the nickname “The Kenai Keeper.” The Hickory is also on call throughout District 17, able to serve any place in Alaska waters.
If the night turns chilly, the crew plans to have fire barrels out on the pier for people standing in line. They will also provide a food vendor selling hot dogs and hamburgers at cost.
“It’s moderately priced, so everyone can have a cheap night out,” McAloon said. “And it gets Mom out of the kitchen for the evening.”
Posted by Newsroom on Oct 28th, 2009 and filed under Arts, Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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