Enter The 13th Gate... If You Dare...
Product: 13th Gate
First of all, this is an article about an haunted house. Secondly, it's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (where GameVortex is based). Finally, yes, I know this is not the kind of thing we would normally cover. But...
Midnight Productions' The 13th Gate is AWESOME! It's been a regular fixture in Baton Rouge for the past several years, keeping a lot of the same stuff and changing a little bit each year, but they've been getting more attention and press over the past few years and were awarded second place in Hauntworld.com's 2007 Top 13 Professional Haunted Attractions. I went with Psibabe and JRNip and I can certainly see why; the "sets" are not only diverse, but are extremely well done. Some of the areas rivaled major theme parks in quality. Yes, they were that good.
I didn't make it to The 13th Gate last year, but it was drastically improved as compared to times I had been in the years prior to last year. The theming is done to a higher quality and the entire thing is, quite frankly, much scarier than ever before. As soon as you turn over your ticket, you step into a themed area and suddenly, you're not in what used to be an antique store anymore - you're in some creepy basement, complete with arching brick columns. This is the entrance to the first gate: the Hellivators. I saw people who didn't make it into the Hellivators. The 13th Gate's policy on refunds is that once you've entered, its their job to scare you. If you get too scared to continue, then they just did a better job with you than the average person.
I decided I had to return to The 13th Gate this year after a friend of mine told me a story about a family with four small children leaving before even getting into the Hellivators. That sounded awesome, yet a bit hard to believe. I had to see for myself. What I saw amazed me; I didn't see children running out, I saw groups of teenagers giving up before the first gate after paying $15 dollars (USD) a piece! That has to be a pact of secrecy. Either that or they're all planning on transferring to different schools after this experience. How could you ever live that down? I mean, really! To top it all off, they have posters in the lobby that explicitly state that they aren't going to touch you. In fact, the only person that bumped into the three of us - and pretty hard, at that - was some ditsy high school girl who was obviously scared out of her gourd at the idea of going in and was rushing towards the gate, past us as we entered to try to stop her friend from going in. I swear she acted as if she feared for her friend's life. I thought that $15 USD per person was a bit steep, but around half way through it, I figured I had gotten at least $12.98 worth, and it just kept getting better. If you're in the Baton Rouge area or anywhere near, for that matter, and you can get a chance to check out The 13th Gate, I highly recommend it. We had an awesome time. If you want to ramp it up a bit, try going on November 1st - 3rd, for "Flashlight Night"... you go through The 13th Gate in complete darkness... with a single flashlight for your group. Sounds scary. I intend to try that out, too. September 20th - October 20th - Thursday, Friday, Saturday 7pm-11pm October 25th-November 3rd - Open Every night 7pm until the last victim gets in! 832 St Phillip Street Downtown Baton Rouge, LA Under the I-10 River Bridge Next to Belle Casino and Pastime Restaurant Hotline 225-389-1313 Admission $15.00 November 1st-3rd Flashlight Night! 7pm-until If you want to know more about it, check out The 13th Gate's website below for information (and pictures) on the different gates and their themes.
-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins
Related Links: The 13th Gate's Website Midnight Production's Website Hauntworld Magazine's 10 13 Haunted Houses for 2007
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