During the day, the Gray Fossil Site is a Museum of Natural History and an active Pliocene-era dig site. But in the dark of the night, the site gets up to frightening work. On Saturday, Oct. 25, the museum opened its doors for Nightmare at the Museum. Having acted in, toured groups through, and attended haunted attractions for years, the Nightmare at the Museum at the Gray Fossil Site elicited excitement from the beginning. I got online the day before and bought my ticket.
As I pulled up to the museum, vigilance arose within me. I moved to walk up to the front of the museum, cast in the dark, bitter cold, to check in. After giving the attendants my name, I received my tag attached to my wristband that read:
Name of Deceased: Waggoner, Jaxen
Cause of Death: Crushed by mastodon
Comments: Send to lab for de-fleshing
Soon after, a butler reminiscent of the Haunted Mansion emerged from the front doors of the museum. The deceased man took the group back about fifteen minutes before our tour time. Tension in the group was high, anticipating what horrors lay in the dark of the fossil site. The zombie-fied tour guide stumbled into the room, silently stared for a few seconds, and eased some nerves simply saying, “Hey.” For the first time, the group seemed to take a collective breath and giggled a bit.
Making our way to our first stop, we lined up and watched an examiner carry off a bloody body bag. Moving down this hallway, normally closed to the public, we passed by ghostly patients looking for a way out. Taking the group outside, our path, lit by hundreds of candles, was haunted by scarecrows, monsters, and masked cults.
Nearing the end, the ghouls exhibited on the outdoor trail began to chase us at a very slow pace. The guide pointed this out, “Oh no, they’re after us!” She began to run, “Good thing they are very slow.”
But it wasn’t over. Re-entering the building, the guide took us by the Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Palentonogy, showcasing the Research/Prep Lab and Collections Room. We finished by making our way back around and down through the Outdoors Discovery Garden. Exiting the building, the guide directed our attention back towards a creature that vaguely resembled a woolly mammoth. My tour guide nervously yelled, “The specimen breached containment.”
She instructed us to move back towards the front of the building when the creature began to chase after us, and the guide ran ahead yelling, “I didn’t know it could do that!”
After escaping the specimen’s territory, I could not stop smiling. Throughout the entire attraction, I felt nervous in the most giddy way. Nightmare at the Museum seemed to blend science, humor and Halloween horror perfectly. The characters were committed, the tour guide was fun, and the fossil site’s real history made the experience spooky and educational.
Now, I can’t wait to return to the Gray Fossil Site during the day to explore the museum’s exhibits, but I’ll remember the monsters lurking in the shadows.
Museum hours are 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. Tuesday to Saturday, and Sunday from 1 P.M. to 5 P.M. Tickets for adults and children (4+) are $11. Children 3 and under get free admission.
