There was no business meeting last month, We met at the Salem Mall, ate and then went to the NIGHTMARE FACTORY.
Alley 54 got a jump start on Halloween with a tour of J's 'Haunted House of Salem" in the Museum Place Mall.  First we had the standard treatment, then we had another walk through with the lights on. It was a delightfully frightful experience.  Most of the effects are human - there is relatively little reliance on technology compared to the other haunted houses we visited a few years ago.  Highlights included the surprise door on the crypt, the talking skeleton, and the laser fog tunnel. Many of the effects used everyday items very cleverly.  A string of Christmas lights inside some irrigation piping was surprisingly spooky.  The actual workshop where Marshall (J's partner in horror) fabricates props was part of the tour and looked very sinister. Your writer is eternally grateful that he was standing beside (and not behind!) Alley Oop when that door on the crypt opened quickly and unexpectedly.  You wouldn't believe how fast and how far that man can jump backwards!  If the Reverse Broad jump were an Olympic event, he would win the gold medal.