"If as a child you cowered in the back seat during trips through the local car wash, terrified of giant rotating brushes and mitter curtains slapping against the family car, a haunted car wash will trigger those ancient memories. Take the roaring machinery and darkness, add a strobe light and a guy in a hockey mask, and you've got a primal fear package perfect for vehicular adults with a taste for Halloween thrills."
""Our car wash is known for being bright and open, not the claustrophobic brick tunnel feeling," Fullmer says. "But for this event, we black out the windows, we turn down the lights, we run fog machines. Our team members will dress up in costumes. We'll have them walking around our pay lanes as cars drive up for the event, staring in windows, pulling on door handles, seeing people jump from one side of the car to the other.""
Clowns, costumed actors and props confront waiting drivers at haunted car washes, tapping windows, pulling on door handles and creating jump scares amid cleaning operations. The experiences leverage roaring brushes, darkness, strobes and fog to provoke childhood car-wash anxieties and deliver Halloween thrills to adults. Chains and independent operators nationwide stage themed events, with Tommy's Express planning a trademarked Tunnel of Terror at nearly half of its 260 locations. The phenomenon is widespread, particularly in Southern California, though its exact origins are unclear. Operators darken tunnels, run fog machines and station costumed staff to interact directly with customers.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]