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AUSTIN, Texas – Halloween is one of the biggest holidays in the United States, but as of now there are very few places dedicated to the preservation and celebration of its haunted history.
The creators of Scream Hollow Wicked Halloween Park have been in the creepy business for more than 20 years. This Halloween they showcase their passion for the holiday’s 6,000-year history. While the museum highlights the greatest moments of Halloween, the historians behind this exhibit are equally fascinating.
Tammy Pruitt is the curator of the Texas Halloween History Museum. The Central Texan appreciates the creepy, creepy things in life. One of her hobbies is taxidermy, a skill she learned as a child. In her free time, she spends a lot of time filling snakes and spiders into jars for museum exhibitions, and also decorates her house with dead animals.
This Tammy Pruitt ahead of the timeline of Halloween history. (Spectrum News 1 / Jamil Donith)
“I think it’s even better than a vase on a shelf or a picture frame,” said Pruitt.
When it comes to Halloween, there isn’t much Pruitt doesn’t know.
“All of my friends probably know me as the creepy Halloween girl,” she said.
One of the big projects for the museum was creating an extensive timeline detailing the history of Halloween from its inception to the present day.
“This is basically our masterpiece in Halloween history,” said Pruitt.
She spent years researching and collecting artifacts from across the country. You can find the original piano on which “Nosferatu” was played in the Hollywood Theater in New York and an exact replica of the Annabelle doll from Tennessee. There are plenty of creepy items from Texas too, including a medical gown from the haunted Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston.
“Anything you can think of somehow touches on Halloween or the origins of it,” said Pruitt.
This is not just a passion for Pruitt. For them, the creepy and frightening is an escape from their own haunted past.
“I came from a pretty lazy, abusive marriage,” she said.
So she ended up at Scream Hollow.
“We call it a haunted family and there’s a reason for that,” she said.
The father of this “haunt family” is Norm Glenn, the owner of Scream Hollow. Glenn started out in haunted houses when he was a boy.
“We turned the basement into a haunted house for my sister’s scout troops,” he said.
His haunted houses are no longer in his basement, but his work is still near his home. He lives on the park grounds in a self-made castle.
“This is where I can get away from it all,” said Glenn.
Pruitt and Glenn still have day jobs, but Halloween is their way of life.
“It’s more than just a job. It’s more than just showing up for a job. We really are a second family and a community, ”said Glenn.
For these Texans, the museum is more about celebrating life than celebrating death. The Texas Halloween History Museum will officially open on October 14th.
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