Cindy Sealy, Michael Anton and Dawn Huss of Clifton put together a “Walking Dead” scene for the 2015 Clifton Haunted Trail. Photo courtesy of Robyn Witschey
A strobe light pulses through dense fog, briefly illuminating rabbit corpses hung upside down under the arch of a bridge. As vines are brushed aside, a tall, white, hairy figure passes by quietly.
The Bunny Man, a decades-old suburban legend of Fairfax County, was among nearly two-dozen elaborate scenes and tableaus set up by volunteers from and around the town of Clifton as part of their annual fundraising event the Clifton Haunted Trail.
The trail, spread out over eight acres of park woods drew 2,800 guests in 2014, according to tickets organizer Phyllis Lovett. By 9 p.m., two-thirds of the way through the night on Oct. 24, Lovett said over 3,450 tickets had already been sold. At $15 per ticket, the all-volunteer event is a boon for the town that dates its history back to the Civil War era when it was known as Deveraux Station.
Having the trail in addition to an annual car show, arts and crafts vendor fair at Clifton Day, and homes tour, the Haunted Trail allows Clifton to “address different focus areas,” said Lovett, whose husband William Holloway is the town’s mayor. “It brings different kinds of people to see our community and draws people together to volunteer.”
The trail walk itself is unguided, but lit with real torches suspended in trees, sometimes illuminating severed heads, massive spider webs or the occasional zombie. Scenes this year included the Salem witch trials, a takeoff from the sci-fi-horror movie “The Purge,” a deranged animal hospital and zombie dance party, among many others. Periodic shrieks and squeals of delight and horror mingled in the crisp fall air with the sounds of revving chainsaws and Bruno Mars.
Steve Bittner of Clifton coordinated the more than 100 volunteers for the event and organized the trail. “It’s exciting,” he said, looking at the hundreds of people in line to walk through the trail. “This is a testament to the trail being a thing that keeps them coming back.”
Good weather and a strong social media campaign helped make the night even more successful, Bittner continued, but he emphasized the trail wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers it brings together, including a planning committee that began meeting in March. “The Community of Clifton really bands together,” he said.
Kimberly Keene of Fredericksburg was among two mothers and their daughters who came to visit an aunt who lives in Clifton. When answering how they liked it afterwards, Keene said, “Let me put it this way, three out of the four of us wet our pants.”
Luke Dietrich of Fairfax Station had a similarly frightful experience on the trail. “A huge spider fell on my head,” he said. “It was awkward.”