Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Robotic Haunts
‘Oh my, what big teeth you have!’
The 4H Palouse Area Robotics team with students from Colfax, Colton, Garfield/Palouse, Moscow and Pullman high schools have been using some of their pre-season to create animated props, including a toothy dog-boy, for Haunted Palouse. This is the second year they have participated in Haunted Palouse, said Aaron Johnson, mechanical mentor.
A dark highway cuts through a town along a mist-covered river.
It’s best not to stop there in October.
From the safety of a car window, you may see a headless horseman pass by a streetlight without haste, a group of Xenodicans peddling cider and cocoa and a band of skateboarders with a key to the firehouse.
“I just spend my night grinnin’,” said Janet Barstow, a volunteer for the 14th Haunted Palouse to take place the next two Friday and Saturday nights in Palouse.
The fundraiser for various community organizations features a haunted museum and firehouse, and a certain dark mist over Shady Lane – where guests take a slow, spooked ride through the trees on the back of a farm trailer.
“Every year, we say to each other this is the best yet,” said Barstow. “I keep thinking we’re gonna run out of ideas but it hasn’t happened. We’re on track, we’re gonna be ready for Friday night. New people, new ideas - and old, experienced ones who know how to make things happen.”
New for this year will be van-shuttle service from Pullman, operated by College Cab, picking up and dropping off every half hour, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Rides cost $10 round trip with three cans of food for the Palouse Food Bank. The last van leaves Palouse at midnight.
Once on site, guests will take in fortune tellers, food options from hamburgers to wood-fired pizza and baked goods from the Xenodican Club, a photo booth and more street entertainment than in years past.
Admission to Haunted Palouse is $15, limited to ages 12 and older. Tickets are sold each night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., after which each person has an opportunity to go through all three main features - the firehouse, museum and Shady Lane.
For the past month, crews of Palouse volunteers have labored to imagine, engineer and refine the attractions. Groups taking a lead - and sharing proceeds - include Palouse Lions Club, Garfield-Palouse Athletic Club, Garfield-Palouse FFA, Palouse Community Center, Roy M. Chatters Printing Museum, Palouse Area Robotics (P.A.R.T.) and the committee for Tony Kettel Skate Gardens.
P.A.R.T., a group of 27 high school students from around the county, is participating for their second year.
Working with the skate park group at the firehouse, their theme is “Freakshow.” To put it all on, various scares are powered by air with electrical and mechanical control systems.
“Certainly there are some things far more advanced than anything before at Haunted Palouse,” said Mike Milano, a veteran volunteer who has worked on all 14.
But you were warned; it’s best not to stop in that town on the dark highway in October.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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