At Great Explorations, a haunting we will go

[Times photos: Michael Rondou] Great Explorations’ haunted house doesn’t have blood and gore like some other area Halloween events, but some visitors still find the experience scary. Here, glow-in-the-dark monsters line the walls.

By JACKY JOHNSON
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 14, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- It was dark. Low, rumbling organ music could be heard among the shrieks and screams coming from somewhere inside.

Two black coffins containing the decaying carcasses of skeletons "Mummy and Daddy" were mounted against the wall.

"Here lies Murray, she was in a hurry" a solitary headstone proclaimed.

Is this a scene from Friday the 13th?

No, just the scene at Great Explorations, the Hands-On Museum's annual haunted house.

Scary? Some visitors thought the fear factor was pretty high.

"When the man with the stick came out, I was like 'AHHHH!' It was fun," 6-year-old Sam Goodis said about his run-in with the Grim Reaper.

Ryder O’Shea, 4, insists on being carried by his babysitter, Jenn White, as they walk among the horrors of the haunted house at the Hands-On Museum on the third floor at the Pier in St. Petersburg.

The Halloween display was obviously meant for the younger crowd.

"It's for kids. I mean, that's what we design it for," exhibits director Alan Kahle said.

"We won't win any prizes for terrifying anyone, but we will make our visitors laugh, scream and get them to think a little about how certain tricks are rigged up," said Wendy Sikora, marketing director for Great Explorations, the children's Hands-On Museum on the third floor of the Pier in downtown St. Petersburg.

This is the museum's 12th haunted house, four of which have been at the Pier. Last year, the display attracted about 4,000 visitors: Some were tourists; some were from schools on field trips. Still others came just looking for a nongory but exciting place to take their kids.

"We've learned that many families see us as an alternate family room -- a place to hang out, catch up with friends, and relax -- knowing their kids are safe, having fun and maybe learning a little something," Sikora said.

The Haunted House is not the only attraction, though. Great Explorations is open year-round during regular Pier hours, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The Haunted House will be open during those hours through Oct. 31.

Usual features of the museum include the Touch Tunnel (an obstacle-filled crawl space of complete darkness designed to show what it would feel like to be blind); a Fossil Dig; and a section known as Explore Galore which has a pretend fire truck and fire safety activities.

"It's an excellent place to bring your kids," said Melanie Hall, a mother from New Mexico. "It's really entertaining."

"Aidan is the one who always insists we come over here," Keven Hennessy said of his 7-year-old son. "He goes through the Touch Tunnel and plays with the fire things. He likes a lot of the experiments."

Although this year's Haunted House may not be the scariest one in town, it is the last one for Great Explorations at the Pier. The museum is preparing to move to bigger and better facilities.

It will open in spring at Sunken Gardens, 1825 Fourth St. N in St. Petersburg. "We have been working forever on this thing," Sikora, the museum's marketing director, said. "Everything will be new and different."

Among other new features will be a climbing wall, a lie detector, a spot to build your own car and then race it on a track, a pretend pizza station, a longer touch tunnel and, above all, a lot of hangout spots.

"It's a great place for kids and teens. There is no way parents won't get into it either," Sikora said. "There will be something here for everyone."

-- Jacky Johnson, 14, is a ninth-grader at Seminole High School.

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