Stone Hill Asylum almost ready for tours

Few people know what’s lurking in the basement of Turner Valley’s legion, waiting to frighten those daring to wander through Oct. 26-31. Queen of Halloween Jessie Friesen has concocted a plan to frighten those brave enough to enter the Legion of Monsters in its 10th anniversary, keeping her focus on the asylum theme that has brought the most people through her haunted house last year at nearly 2,700 guests. The haunt takes place at the Royal Canadian Legion Turner Valley Branch #78 with those wanting a mild scare touring through between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. and those seeking medium to extreme scare entering between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. “The beginning of our maze will be pretty tame, they get to see a little bit of the laboratory and it’s kind of spooky,” said Friesen. “Once you get past the third room we shuffle the extreme scares off a different way. We will have some secret passages to control our scare levels.” Friesen is calling the facility Stone Hill Asylum, named after the south-facing hill consisting of a wall of stone that goes down into the river south of the legion. The mythical Stone Hill Asylum, built in 1912, is the largest tuberculosis ward in western Canada, having housed 46,000 patients who died within its walls, Friesen explained. She said the Catholic Church purchased it in 1952 to use as a sanitarium for the criminally and mentally ill, run by Monsignor George Howard and Russian administrator Sister Mary. “Sister Mary opened the children’s ward adjacent to the infirmary and the surgical bay,” said Friesen. “The children were routinely kept sedated and away from public view. Rumour has it once you’re admitted to Stone Hill Asylum you’ll never be seen again.” Those touring through will hear the Russian lullaby, Melancholia, a song Sister Mary often played for the children on the phonograph in the main recreation room. Friesen said spectators will be led through a series of mazes that will take them to 15 rooms, including a sound-proof lab, lobotomy clinic, morgue, crematory, psych ward, freezer room, therapy room, solitary confinement and torture treatment room. People won’t only be frightened by what they see, but also what they don’t see, Friesen said. “There’s going to be jumping snakes and spiders, people hiding in corners,” she said. “We’ll have a screaming banshee and animatronics that are electrified and buzz around. The whole experience of going through the psych ward or mental institution is a little unnerving. It’s real people, it’s real things.” Among Friesen’s pride and joy is a 1912 dentist chair she obtained in Ponoka that she expects will put some fear into people. “I’m thinking of leaving this huge mint green dentist chair in the middle of the room and setting up the doctor’s office all around it,” she said. Helping to raise the level of scare year after year is volunteer Shelby Cox-Dersch, of Turner Valley. “Usually I’m the last scare of the house,” she said. “I like being the last big scare. I want it to have a final impact when you walk out.” Cox-Dersch said she began with a lot of jump scares in her first years as a volunteer, but more recently has been getting into more character work. “I like to be the creepy contortionist,” she said. “It’s more of the fear factor, the creep-out.” Scaring people or getting scared herself has always been a passion of Cox-Dersch’s. “My dad raised me on horror movies and creepy stuff,” she said. “When I was growing up we always did our house up really big and always had scare elements. I can let my weird flag fly.” In fact, Cox-Dersch isn’t afraid to admit that Halloween is her favourite day of the year. “I’m just fascinated by what scares people and why people are wanting to get scared,” she said. “I like to indulge in that. I’m a big horror movie fan and I’m really big into getting dressed up. I like costume parties.” Admission to tour through Stone Hill Asylum costs $7 for those ages 14 and older and $3 for those under 14. The proceeds are used to purchase props and costumes for the following year’s haunts. A children’s costume dance with a concession will take place at the Legion Oct. 27 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is a non-perishable food item for the Oilfields Food Bank.