On a cool early summer evening we headed to Seaside Heights, NJ to visit Hollowgraves Haunted Manor. We were happy to see the new attraction located on the Fun Town pier, the boards only dark ride had been closed the season before, for what had looked like remodeling.

Originally concerned they were located on a pier that drew less traffic, once we found them located next to a large tented freak show, the location seemed ideal to draw the appropriate crowd.

It was a slow night at the house, so we had the opportunity to walk through and talk to the owner Stan and his right hand man of the time, Tattoo'd Steve.

While in a new location, Hollowgraves was not a new house, this would be the third home for Ichabod and Martha Grimm. Stan started with haunted attractions as a teenager and made the headlines of local newspapers when his attraction caused such traffic it caused the township to take notice. The attraction was shut down when the young man could not afford to pay 2 uniformed policemen to monitor the event.

Later it would move to Keansburg Amusement Park where it lasted a few years before making it's current home at the Jersey Shore.
The house was primarily animatronics but we were happy to see the addition of live actors as well. On the night in question, the staff consisted of Stan and Tatoo'd Steve, though in speaking with John who currently handles the operations of the house for the 2004 season, they have added several new features and a slightly larger staff. (And they are still looking for more if anyone is interested!)

We walked through the house, being greeted by Ichabod and Martha. Both were very detailed animatronics, Ichabod a little more worn then the others we would see in the house, but after all, he was the original prop. There had been plans to give him a slight overhaul, which we hear has been done, additional gestures to bring him up to the standads of their more recent work. Later we would be invited into the inner sanctum, where we saw the computer system responsible for the layout of the house, as well as some "bare bones" animatronics props, and we learned a little about their creation. More then the spring action animatronic props that we see utlized in startle scares in many local haunts, the more sophisticated movements of these props is reminiscent of Disney's Pirates of the Carribean... not bad for a crew that started out as home haunters.

Entering the house, the amount of years put into the house is evident. Old draperies adorn the windows, props that could only be acquired through years of searching, acquiring, and creating give a touch of realism usually lacking in boardwalk haunts... the scenes are a tad eclectic... many tie directly into the theme such as the library, dining room, kitchen scenes... and you can even go as far as to accept the bar, but without reading the backstory to the house, one might have a hard time tying in some of the elements... such as the banjo playing hillbilly and the reanimation room... the backstory no longer appears on their website, but in essence, travellers had passed through, or rather, had tried to pass through the house and ended up as guinea pigs...

We hope to make it back to visit again this year, to see the upgrades and how a year of settling in has helped the haunters. In speaking with John it seems they aren't resting on their laurels but continuing to seek out ways to improve. Last year there had been plans of redoing the house's soundtrack, featuring the voices of Katzen and Enigma (their neighbors). Parts of the soundtrack were recorded and may be utilized as they continue to build upon their haunt. Currently they are the only walk through on the boards, so if you're in the area, stop in and see them, and give them our regards.