WELCOME TO YOUR NIGHTMARE – GHOST WALK FOR CHARITY 2024
Okay, I admit it, I jumped more than once and my heartbeat was accelerated by the time I finished this year’s nightmarish ghost walk.
Yes, you read that correctly. Anyone who can pass through this gauntlet of horrors has ice in their veins.
And anyone who says “been there, seen that, done that,” needs to take a walk on the scary side at this year’s walk, held on the first floor of the Cornwall Square.
The fun starts as soon as you enter the darkened precinct that leads to the ticket counter. While waiting in this bizarre realm of light and horror, you pass “living” ghosts, monsters, lost spirits and zombies inhabiting a nearby graveyard. To make it all seem real, some of these fiends have an unnerving tendency to eerily stare at you and then follow you within arm’s reach.
Once you reach the entrance to this netherworld, you will be put into a group of six and led through this labyrinth of depravity by a silent escort into a dark tunnel filled with otherworldly sounds, ghoulish images and cobwebs caressing your scalp.
As you move from one horror set to another, your senses will be weakened until some monster suddenly jumps out at you. Now primed you go from butcher’s offering a snack of human “heart” to catatonic murderers, to victims of carnal savagery.
As if this wasn’t enough to put my nerves on edge, our guide now took a wrong turn! When we finally found our way again, I hugged the wall as 19th century freight engine hologram rushed towards me.
And we still weren’t free!
Finally after 20 minutes, my group was released, breathing a sigh of relief.
Animatronics, props and special effects aside, it is the professionally trained and costumed “ghosts,” that make the tour truly outstanding. The 270 volunteers, mainly from St. Joseph’s and La Citadelle Secondary Schools, are brilliantly instructed by volunteer coordinator, Aline Gareau-Hebert, a drama school teacher and former costume shop owner. To my mind, the costumed students lurking over your shoulder at every corner, make the show as good as anything I have visited in Orlando at a fraction of the price.
Go, see how talented Cornwall’s youth are, and let your heart race a little for charity. If you can live without fright, the organizers also offer a scare free tour.
If you haven’t been frightened enough, you can look forward to more terror, as Cornwall Square’s Weaving Baskets Group will be providing Ghost Walk a permanent year round home, behind the Dollarama Store. According to Turcotte, this development will allow the Ghost Walk to stage events such as the “Nightmare Before Christmas,” and others throughout the year. It will also remove the strain of three months preparation and tearing down for each haunted tour.
With the addition of a permanent Ghost Walk to the Haunted Jail Tour, Cornwall may finally have its major tourist draw, and become Ghost Town Ontario!
—-
The brainchild of Michael Turcotte, who took his “haunted garage” theme to organize Cornwall’s first Ghost Walk in 2017, to raise funds for local charities, this annual event has distributed over $150,000 to various organizations. Now a registered charity, listed with Revenue Canada, “to give back to our community,” The Ghost Walk For Charity, is managed by a board of directors, chaired by Turcotte. This this year’s event is presented by Central Healing Counselling, Cornwall with the generous support of Weaving Baskets Group.
To date 2024’s recipients are Habitat for Humanity, Centre 105, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Maison Baldwin House, Aultsville Theatre and OSPCA.
Location: Cornwall Square first floor. Hours, cost and information: Facebook: Ghost Walk For Charity
Instragram: @ghostwalkforcharity and of course THE SEEKER.
