Baxter Avenue Morgue (Louisville, KY)
“The Year of Butch”
By Noah Wullkotte: Jollypumpkin@aol.com
The Baxter Avenue Morgue is one of the most well known haunts in Louisville and has gained a reputation as one of the scariest in the United States. Going through the basement of a haunted morgue will give anyone the creeps. It’s a unique haunt in the way it’s designed and the actors are some of the craziest you’ll meet.
We showed up on a Friday night and the crowd was rather small. This had been the case with most of the haunts we toured that night There must have been a Football Game going on, but who really knows. While you wait in line, you’ll be entertained by fire perfumers and the Terpischore Dance Company who performs the Thriller Dance. Baxter Avenue Morgue is known for the Thriller Dance at the haunt and during the Caufield’s Halloween Parade. The dance troupe is talented to say the least.
You have nowhere to hide because Baxter Avenue Morgue has a few queue line actors who interact with the crowd. One was dressed as a soldier and the other appeared to be a cross between a clown and a demonic mime. This year Baxter Avenue Morgue has a different intro depending on what time you show up. Sometimes Warren Vanderdark is speaking, while other times his wife Lillian takes over. We showed up just in time for Warren Vanderdark.
Lucian Tomes Jr. plays the character Warren Vanderdark and he’s one of the best actors you’ll see at any haunt. You’ll meet him in the infamous yellow room. You’ll also meet his wife Lillian, their daughter Deidra and her little friend Sid. An undertaker plays a cello as Warren recites the rules and warns you of what you’re about to experience.
Over the years psychics and paranormal investigators have visited Baxter Avenue Morgue and have concluded that it is indeed haunted. Most recently, SyFy’s Fact or Fiction made a visit and experienced a chair moving and other ghostly events. Baxter Avenue Morgue is a hair raising haunt. The rooms are tight and confining. It’s dark and the ceilings are low. The actors will grab your legs, stroke your hair and get in your face.
You’ll come face to face with Lillian Vanderdark multiple times throughout the night as she appears and disappears. This effect was introduced a few years ago and it’s quite startling. Baxter Avenue Morgue has many creative rooms like Granny Vanderdark’s Sewing Parlor, a cannibal kitchen, boiler room, a crate maze, an insane asylum and more. The Spider’s Lair was a little uneventful since we were expecting an actor to be gliding across the ceiling, but nothing happened. Some of the actors were also reused throughout the night like the creature with razor sharp teeth.
Total tour time is around 15 minutes which is less than last season. Tickets are $20 a piece. Speed Pass Admission is $40. These prices are a bit high. There’s a $5 off coupon good for any night in September and there are discounts available at your participating Circle K. Meet Butch Patrick on October 11th and 12th. He played Eddie Munster on The Munsters. Baxter Avenue Morgue has plenty of concessions available in their concessions tent and please don’t forget to check out what they have to offer.
Length-8 Design-9 Props/Animatronics-9 Acting-8 Scare Effect-9
Final Stab: 8.6
www.baxtermorgue.com