Breakheart’s Haunted Mansion discontinued

SAUGUS – Breakheart Reservation is shutting the door on the ever-popular annual Halloween event, The Haunted Mansion.According to Ed Murray, chairman of the Friends of Breakheart, the Friends decided Saturday that despite popular demand the group could not sponsor the event this year.”There are a variety of reasons,” Murray said. “We feel terrible about this but we had a meeting Saturday and after a lot of discussion we decided to end it.”Murray said a leading factor in the demise of the event is the fact that revenues are down combined with the fact that the event is “very, very labor intensive,” for park employees and the state nixed any overtime for the program.”We have a limited number of people to run this,” he said referring to the Friends. “We decided we have to do the best we can with what we have. Please don’t hate us.”The annual event held usually the weekend before Halloween would draw as many as 1,500 visitors that would be taken in small groups on a tour of the ghoulish and often gruesome grounds of “The Haunted Mansion.” The mansion itself was the visitors center turned into a house of horrors.School groups and local businesses were invited to churn out the vexing vignettes that dotted the grounds in exchange for a portion of the take at the door, so to speak.At $5 per head the volunteers generally did very well with the school groups being allowed to keep their portion and businesses donating their take to charity.”It was a good fund raiser for the school groups,” Murray said adding that he would miss the event as well. “How often does a guy my age get to act like a kid and I think that goes for a lot of adults involved.”Murray said he not saying the event is completely dead and buried, “but it’s very, very ill. Maybe it will come back next year in some form. But I just don’t know.”Another factor in the mansions demise, he said is the economy. While the Friends only charged $5 per person, “and we had to, just to barely cover costs,” Murray said he believes a lot of families would struggle this year to pay even that.Canceling the Haunted Mansion also allows the park to continue with other traditions such as the Fall Festival and the spring Maple Sugaring event. Murray said he hates to put more importance on one event over another but he feels the Fall Festival is more of a community based event because of the mere fact that it is free.”It’s different because it gives back to the community,” he said. “It’s free for everyone.”While he is sad to see it go Murray said if the program is going away now is a good time.”It started out as a haunted hayride but what he had last year was a galaxy apart from that,” he said. “We got so much better but nothings forever. If you have to go out that’s probably the best way to go on top instead of just petering out sadly.”