It was dark. Cold. Rain was threatening after a brief respite. Zombie bodies hung from trees, monsters were tearing through walls, blood doused windshields as we drove around firepits and through dangling extremities.
Last weekend, we hosted our annual Haunted Hot Laps.
With the lobby in full spook, the sun setting, and guests coming through our doors, we were ready to start our third annual event. All we needed were drivers and cars.
Instructors came flying down the hallway, some dressed as ghouls, vampires, crash dummies or escaped prison inmates. On the lighter (and fuzzier) side, some came clad as tigers, bunnies, chickens. And even Ricky Bobby made an appearance.
Once the sun sank low, it was time. We transited slowly down behind the decomposing smoke stack, through the trees, and then, just ahead, the tiki torches signifying the start line told us to go. Laying our feet on the throttle, we took off past zombie deer, around a firepit, through the graveyard with something moving below the dirt… straight ahead; the bleeding water truck crawling with masked people.
The water truck had moved. A quick diversion from the main road back into the trees and straight to a police car with a body tucked under its wheel. Spider webs ahead. Screaming dead princess reaching for the car, then a tight left through heads on spikes. More fire. Blood on the windshield. More screaming.
It all started with decorating. Mitch Williams, one of our senior instructors and expert in all things ghoulish, led the charge. He went from one corner to another, hanging eyes in the trees and setting lights illuminating monsters. With the help of a few more team members, our regularly jaw-dropping site became shocking for a new reason.
After an eerily long Seattle summer, the rain hit a few days prior to our Haunted Hot Laps, and it hit hard. Dust turned to mud and tires dug deep in it. The talk of the day was how the cars would feel in the quick transition into the rainy night. Verdict? Slippy. Deep. Fun.
The rain made it all the better. If it wasn’t splattering on our windshields, mud was. Or blood was. Or a mix of the two. The fear of sliding into the wall at the end of the road became a little bit heightened, but was nothing our instructors hadn’t seen before, and nothing that stopped them from finding the perfect edge of thrill.
We love showing our property to new visitors, especially when it’s decked out in all things creepy. Haunted Hot Laps will be back again next year, so keep your eyes peeled and ready for fright!
