"Dead Zone" brings scary soldier story to Old Fort

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - Despite a rain out last Saturday, ghouls and haunted spirits of the Old Fort have been pestering visitors to the "Dead Zone" haunted settlement over the past weekend.

The Haunted Fort will be open to bring chills and thrills to visitors Friday and Saturday this week and then Thursday through Saturday next weekend Oct. 26-28 from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. There will also be a kid-friendly event on Halloween Tuesday Oct. 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. for a tamer form of trick 'n' treating.

The costumes and make up are genuinely spooky. So much so that one of the cast members walking to the Fort prior to the entertainment had emergency services called on his behalf as a man walking down Avenue H, soaked with blood.

Fort Madison Tourism Director Jean Peiton said attendance was decent on the first night last Thursday when cast members were able to extend tickets to family members and the cast got some good run-throughs. Friday had more than 80 people come through the haunted Fort. Profits from the event go the Old Fort.

Patrons are escorted through the north walls of the settlement and then through the barracks and quarters where spirits of fallen soldiers and families torment visitors to a story of the perils and death associated with the times.

Trappers and ghostly spirits splattered with blood and suffering ghastly injuries pester the visitors, while kinder and gentler Indian spirits try to keep the peace. Tickets are $10 per person.

Just prior to leaving the haunted grounds of the Old Fort Settlement visitors run into the headless corpses of soldiers gone by at the Haunted Fort running this weekend and next and on Halloween for "tamer" antics. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

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